Chinese brands have had a large impact on the global TV market recently, due to their aggressive pursuit of export growth, according to research company IHS. IHS adds that in large part because of these efforts, monthly LCD TV unit shipments returned to positive year-over-year growth in March 2016 after three months of declines, increasing by 4.8 percent to 16.2 million units.
“Major global TV brands have adjusted their strategy this year to focus on profitability, avoiding severe competition in pursuit of market share,” Ken Park, principal analyst of TV sets research at IHS, says. “Chinese brands, in particular, have started to play a more critical role in the global TV market over the last year.”
Chinese TV brand shipments, which fell 63.5 percent month-over-month in February, rebounded 88.9 percent in March, from 2.4 million to 4.5 million units, IHS states. Chinese brands accounted for 28 percent of all LCD TV shipments in March, an increase of 11 percentage points from the previous month.
“E-commerce-focused brands like LeEco, Xiaomi and newcomer FunTV have also been aggressive in increasing production and shipments in the TV market this year, leveraging their online content portals to attract new customers,” Park adds.
In contrast, year-over-year South Korean TV brands’ shipments dropped 7.8 percent in March, according to the IHS TV Sets Intelligence Service. Both Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics recorded contraction in March, but their reported operating margins in the first quarter of 2016 increased relative to a year ago.