North America TV Shipments Surge 28% Y/Y in Q2'08; Samsung Achieves Record Share

AUSTIN, TEXAS, August 14, 2008—Despite a weaker US economy and rising energy prices that directly impact consumers budgets, North American TV shipments climbed a remarkably strong 26% Q/Q and 28% Y/Y in Q2’08 to more than 9.3M units, according to preliminary results from DisplaySearch’sQuarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. This Y/Y growth is the strongest since DisplaySearch began tracking TV shipments in 2004. LCD and Plasma TV technologies both posted strong sequential quarterly gains, rising 30% and 35%, respectively. PDP growth in particular was influenced by strong initial shipments of Vizio’s 32” HD PDPs; LCD growth was also very strong at 32”, rising 35% Q/Q.

Some other highlights from Q2’08 include

• LCD TV shipments rose a stronger than expected 52% Y/Y in Q2 to nearly 7.5M units, driving the total TV growth to such strong levels. Much of the growth came from small- to mid-range screen sizes, such as 19”, 22” and 32” where price points are lower and consumers don’t have to stretch budgets as much to afford a new digital flat panel TV.
• PDP shipment growth surged in Q2 by 35% Q/Q and 34% Y/Y as 32” HD shipments were initiated by Vizio into the US market, quickly rising to almost 13% of all PDP shipments for the quarter. 42” PDP shipments also rose in Q2, climbing 86% Q/Q, but 50” PDP shipments were flat Q/Q as LCD proved a tough competitor at 50-54”.
• Overall LCD TV gained share during the quarter, rising from 77.5% to 79.8% unit share, a new high. LCD TV also gained against PDP in the 50-54” size category, rising to a new high of 46.1% with most 52” LCD TVs selling at a substantial premium to comparable PDP models. LCD did drop from 97.7% to 93.6% of shipments at 32” though, as 32” HD PDP entered the size category during the quarter.
• Samsung was the leading brand with total TV shipment share surging to a record 19.1% of all TV unit shipments in North America during the quarter. Samsung continued to have the leading LCD TV unit share in Q2, climbing from 13.5% to 18.3% as their shipments rose 76% Q/Q. Additionally, Samsung overtook Sony for the top LCD TV unit share of the 40”+ category.
• Sony remained #2 in LCD TV, although their share dropped from 13.4% to 11.7%. Despite gaining share in the 32” category, they lost share in the 40”+ space to Samsung. Sony also rose from #3 to #2 in total TV shipments, although unit share fell from 10.6% to 9.4%.
• Panasonic was still the North America market leader in PDP TV at 31.2%, down from 35% in Q1’08 as both Samsung and Vizio posted strong share gains. Panasonic led 50” shipments by a large margin, while barely edging out Samsung for #2 at 42”. Q2’08 also marked the first full quarter of 46” 1080p PDP shipments for Panasonic and easily led all other brands in 1080p PDP shipments.
• Vizio moved up to #2 in PDP, overtaking Samsung, with their share more than doubling to 25.1% on the previously mentioned strong 32” HD PDP shipments. In LCD TV, Vizio fell from #3 to #5 at 7.5% unit share, as intense price competition from top brands at a wide range of retail outlets which pushed them from #2 to #3 in total TV unit share.

More extensive Q2’08 results can be seen in the following tables:

Table 1: Preliminary Q1'08 – Q2'08 NA Flat Panel TV Unit Share and Growth

Rank	Brand	Q1'08 Unit Share	Q2'08 Unit Share	Q/Q Growth	Y/Y Growth
1	Samsung	14.0%	18.9%	75%	147%
2	Sony	11.7%	10.4%	15%	185%
3	Vizio	12.7%	9.5%	-3%	18%
4	LGE	8.5%	8.2%	23%	80%
5	Sharp	8.1%	6.9%	9%	28%
	Other	45.0%	46.1%	32%	22%
	Total	100.0%	100.0%	29%	49%