A possibility that this year’s global TV shipments will not reach 200 million has risen as COVID-19 continues to spread globally. As the market continues to struggle even in the second quarter, there is a chance that the number will fall short of 200 million that was an initial estimation. It is estimated that this year’s global TV shipments will be the lowest ever since 2010.
According to global market research companies, it is estimated that this year’s global TV shipments will be in the front end of 200 million.
Omdia and TrendForce estimated this year’s global TV shipments to be 203.5 million and 205.21 million respectively. Both of them greatly lowered their estimations compared to their projections that were made earlier this year as COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly throughout the world.
As COVID-19 continues to linger longer than expectations and spread throughout Europe and South America, some predict that COVID-19 will have even greater negative effects on the market. As a result, some predict that this year’s global TV shipments will fall short of 200 million for the first time since 2010.
Since 2010, numbers of global TV shipments excluding TVs with Braun tube remained between 210 million and 220 million. If it were not for COVID-19, the number was estimated to be 227.53 million.
However, COVID-19 has had significant impact not just on the global TV market but many other markets. After starting in China, it has spread to Asia, Europe, the U.S., South America, and Africa. While situations in China and other Asian countries are starting to improve as numbers of confirmed cases in these countries have reduced significantly, numbers of confirmed cases in the U.S., Europe, and South America are still on a rise.

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As countries have enforced their own measures that restrict economic activities, TV productions and sales have taken huge blows.
In case of China, which is one of the world’s biggest TV markets, quarterly sales in this past first quarter fell short of 10 million for the first time in 9 years. First quarter’s sales were 9.38 million which is the first time that quarterly sales fell below 10 million since the second quarter of 2011. As COVID-19 started in China, stoppage of factories and lack of sales within China have had huge impact on the global TV market.
The percentage of global TV shipments by Chinese TV manufacturers such as TCL, Hisense, and Xiaomi recorded only 32.5% due to aftereffects of COVID-19 and it fell short of that of South Korean companies (36.1%) such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
The forecast of the second quarter is also not bright. Although it may be slightly better than the first quarter, the market is still expected to take significant blows to its business. Although the situation in China is getting better as China starts to manage COVID-19, the U.S., Europe, South America, and Africa are still in critical situations.
It is expected that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics that had fought well in the first quarter are expected to have lower sales in the second quarter. It is heard that their sales in April were significantly lower than their sales from April of last year.
“As the U.S., Europe, and some Asian countries have started to experience serious situations since the beginning of the second quarter, there have been many measures such as production stoppage, limited distribution, and store closure implemented by these countries.” said a representative for a South Korean TV manufacturer. “Excluding daily necessaries, most of products including TV have had their production, distribution, and sale cut off.” This representative also added that this year’s sales have been so poor that they cannot be compared to last year’s sales.
However, situations in some countries are starting to improve as major home appliances stores from the U.S., and Europe have partially resumed their operations. TV manufacturers have also implemented various methods of online marketing in order to recover their sales. However, it is expected that it will take some time before they are able to completely recover their sales.
“Considering the current status of the global TV market, projections by market research companies will likely change again.” said a representative for the TV industry. “A possibility that this year’s global TV shipments will not reach 200 million is gradually rising.”
Staff Reporter Kwon, Geonho | wingh1@etnews.com