DisplaySearch downgrades LCD TV market outlook

The global TV market is expected to post lower-than-expected growth this year, hit by the stagnant recovery of the U.S. and European economies, a market researcher said Monday. According to DisplaySearch, the global market for liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs is forecast to stand at 210.49 million units in 2011, down 6 million units from its earlier estimate. In the first quarter, the Santa Clara, U.S.-based company put the annual global LCD TV market at 216.82 million units. The downgrade is due to the weaker-than-expected economic growth in advanced countries, such as the United States and Europe, which are the biggest destinations for TVs, it said. Public debts, the instability in the Middle East and the March earthquake in Japan are feared to put a crimp in the developed economies and weigh down on consumer spending. A forecast of demand in the North American market has been lowered to 39.3 million units, compared with a previous estimate of 40.5 million, DisplaySearch said. The European LCD TV market is estimated to reach 56.29 million, it added, revising its original estimate of 61.34 million. The market researcher also revised down its forecast for the global TV markets in coming years and high-end TV markets, casting a grim outlook for TV vendors that are already struggling with stiff competition and rising raw material costs. The global LCD TV market will stand at 232.06 million units in 2012 and 250.17 units in the following year, it said. The high-end light-emitting diode (LED) TV market, which brings fat margins to TV makers, will fall short of the original estimate of 100 million units, it added, logging 99.89 million this year. But the researcher gave one silver-lining for TV makers, forecasting that the overall LED TV market will make an explosive growth starting next year. The global LED market will likely surpass 100 million units for the first time in 2012 and then more than double in 2013, it said, adding the portion of LED TVs within the LCD TV products will jump to 67.2 percent next year, from less than half this year. LED TVs will become the dominant models from 2013 with 81.6 percent of LCD TVs to be made using LED backlighting, DisplaySearch estimated. On the 3-D TV industry front, the company gave an upbeat outlook, saying that it will grow eight-fold this year and continue to post high growth going forward.