Parks Associates research finds that by mid-2015, more Samsung 4K TV sets were sold than any other brand. Samsung accounted for 28% of 4K TV purchases made within the last 12 months to U.S. broadband households. Best Buy was the leading retailer, capturing more than 40% of 4K TV purchases. Of the remaining brands, 17% of consumers who purchased a 4K TV in the past 12 months bought an LG, 13% bought a Sony, and 11% purchased a Vizio.
“For both flat-panel purchasers and the subgroup of 4K TV purchasers, 44% made the purchase after seeing the product for a good price, so the major purchase motivator for flat-panel and 4K TVs was not substantially different,” said Barbara Kraus, Director, Research, Parks Associates. “However, 11% of 4K TV purchasers were motivated to buy after learning about the TV’s features, compared to 3% of flat-panel TV purchasers.”
The Market for 4K TVs reports that 19% of U.S. broadband households intend to purchase a flat-panel TV set by the end of 2015. Roughly 40% of those households are looking for a 4K TV set, which is approximately 7.5% of U.S. broadband households, while 42% of U.S. broadband households indicate they are not familiar with 4K technology. Parks Associates reports low familiarity, low willingness to pay premium prices, content concerns, and a cooling market for flat panels in general all present challenges to 4K.
“More consumers value other attributes, including smart TV capability, built-in Wi-Fi, and high-resolution audio, over 4K picture quality—56% of U.S. broadband households planning to buy a flat panel in the next 12 months consider smart capabilities to be important, versus 39% who value 4K picture quality,” Kraus said. “Content availability remains a key inhibitor to 4K adoption. We expect to see lower cost 4K TV technologies presented at CES® 2016, along with 4K Blu-ray players and media, as well as OLED and high dynamic range (HDR), to drive new growth in this market.”
Parks Associates analysts will discuss the market for connected entertainment at the firm’s tenth-annualCONNECTIONS™ Summit: IoT, Entertainment, and the Connected Consumer during CES® 2016, January 6-7. The event features sessions addressing emerging areas critical to the growth of the connected home, including OTT video, wearables, the Internet of Things (IoT), tech support, and more.
The Market for 4K TVs assesses consumer interest in 4K, the content availability adoption barrier, and how much of a price premium consumers are willing to pay to get a 4K TV instead of an HD TV. It is available for purchase at www.parksassociates.com.
