What Display Daily thinks: For TV manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL who bank on major sports events to boost TV sales, it’s all good news, but we won’t be really know how good the news really is until we get a full accounting of the year’s sales. The most we know, for now, is that inventories were stacked up in anticipation of sell-through and there are indications that the results are positive.
However, you have to consider that the numbers below may have some impact on broader trends. Streaming coexists with television viewing but it seems to be moving the dial towards other devices, and the more you dig in you the more you realize that it is clips and replays that really seem to attract the most growth.
Maybe there is something to be said for a rethinking of the format of a television. On NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, there was an option to watch a multicast of events, and be able to zoom in and out of any particular event that attracted your attention. It’s kind of like how we instinctively get ADD when we are on a device or computer and using it to watch video.
How does that relate to the future market for TV? The changing role of TVs means that they are no longer the idiot boxes of boomer childhoods. Well, they are, but they shouldn’t be. They are advertising platforms, they are home hubs, and they probably need to be giant monitors that can adapt to the app-centric view of life that is becoming prevalent.
I dare say that refresh rates, lag, and aspect ratio don’t start to play a bigger role than HDR and color gamut. Someone is going to have to pay for all that investment in big screen OLED fabs, but the smart money is going to be on MiniLED backlights, QDs, and the realization that price wars are coming.
If you go into your local Best Buy here in the US, you will find some really good deals on Roku TVs, and the boxes are massive, by comparison to the small price, a 65-inch for under $400, and I don’t really need anyone to argue about the screen tech because it matters very little when you have a product that is designed for users who are raised on user experience. It’s a self-contained, app-centric TV at a size and price that is very accessible.
I hope the market for 65-inch Roku TVs goes to $200-300 and it ends up being a situation where Roku can afford to lose money on the TV because it makes it all back on ads on subscriptions. I hope that it ends up with better displays at much lower prices, and the money is made up in ads and subscriptions.
Why? Because if I have to live in an app-centric world, and have all those subscriptions and services to trawl through, I do not want to end up stuck with a big investment in hardware. At some point, I hope that with the exception of niche TVs – aimed at gamers or people who don’t watch TV but like expensive stuff – the market works on investing in better user experiences. That seems to be the real future of television. Sure, let’s have the best screen technology, the brightest and best colors, and the blackest blacks, but maybe at $300-400, not $3,000-4,000 because television is just another device and it needs to know its place.
Paris Olympics Streaming Numbers Exceed Expectations
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games set new streaming records, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch the events on both BBC and Peacock platforms.
The BBC reported over 9 million viewers on BBC iPlayer and a total of 218 million streams, more than doubling the 104 million streams from the Tokyo Games in 2021. Key moments included Keely Hodgkinson’s win in the women’s 800-meter run, which attracted over 9 million viewers, and Adam Peaty’s silver medal performance in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, watched by 8.5 million viewers. BBC Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski highlighted the successful coverage of the Games, emphasizing the role of BBC Sport in championing athletes and showcasing their stories.
NBCUniversal’s coverage of the final Thursday of the Paris Olympics attracted 28.5 million viewers through NBC, Peacock, and other NBCU platforms, nearly doubling the 14.5 million viewers from the comparable day during the Tokyo Olympics, as reported by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
From the Opening Ceremony onwards, NBCUniversal averaged 31.6 million viewers over 14 days across both live Paris Prime (2-5 p.m. ET) and US primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) slots, a 77% increase compared to Tokyo’s 17.8 million viewers. Streaming was a significant driver, with Peacock leading the charge to deliver 20.3 billion minutes of Olympic coverage, a 21% increase over previous Summer and Winter Games combined. The US men’s basketball team’s comeback win against Serbia drew 13.5 million viewers for the second half alone, with the full game garnering 7.9 million viewers across all platforms.
