Internet usage habits are constantly changing, with users accessing the Internet not only via their computers but also from smartphones, tablets and TV sets, which is happening more and more often.
The way people use TV sets has fundamentally changed in the last few years, with the TV set becoming a means to access multimedia content on the Internet, video-on-demand content, and games.
The overall TV set market will go up by 3% to 5% compared with 2013, when local sales amounted to EUR250 million, with smart TVs accounting for almost half of the total, says Sorin Spinu, senior sales manager of the home entertainment division of LG Electronics Romania. The TV market increased by 4% year-on-year in 2013.
“I expect the market to be stable and grow by 3% to 5% in value in 2014. I think smart TVs will account for 50% of the market this year, considering they already did in the last quarter of last year,” LG Electronics Romania representative told ZF. He added the trendy technologies are now 3D, OLED and UHD (4k resolution) technologies.
Smart TVs allow users to connect to the Internet and browse the web, as well as install various applications for multimedia content and games. OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TVs are thinner and lighter than regular LCD TVs and the UHD 4K technologies enables users to watch content at a resolution four times higher than the Full HD.
Total sales of TV sets in Romania stood at 730,000 units in 2013, as many as in 2012, while smart TVs accounted for 30% of the total.
“Smart TVs accounted for about 30% of the local TV market, and 42% of LG’s sales,” Spinu said, who explained that a smart TV is a TV has a web browser, not merely several applications such as YouTube. LG wants smart TV sales to reach 50% of its total sales of TVs in Romania.
Less than 1% of the households in Romania had a smart TV in 2011 and the percentage increased to 2.6% in 2012 and to 6% in 2013, according to the estimates of Direct One, the operator of Seenow, a video on demand service available via computers, smart TVs, smartphones and tablets. The company estimated the number of smart TVs connected to the Internet in Romania was 330,000 at the end of 2013.
LG had a 20% share of the overall TV market in Romania in 2013, while its share of the smart TV market was 23% and went up to 25% in the first three months of 2014, according to its estimates.
The South Korean-held company was the leader of the 3D smart TV segment, with a 35% market share.
The TV market is price-driven up to the 2,000 lei (about EUR450); above that level people start looking at features such as 3D, smart TV and how it can connect to other devices to make a purchase decision, Spinu says.
LG’s best sellers last year were two 42” models, the 42LA620 and the 3D-enabled 42LA660.
LG wants to see TV sales go up by at least 25% and will focus on OLED and UHD devices. Average shelf price of a 55” screen UHD TV will be about EUR1,600.
LG launched its 2014 TV range this week, which includes OLED TVs – among which the curved OLED TV (55EA9800) and the wall mount model Gallery OLED (55EA800), as well as UHD TVs and the LED TVs.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)