Hong Kong, China, September 5, 2017 /ChinaNewswire.com/ - Consumers worldwide are increasingly willing to pay more for enhanced TV viewing experiences, as reflected in GfK’s latest findings revealing rising take-up of UHD and OLED TVs. Around the world, some 478,000 units of OLED TVs were sold in the first six months of 2017 — an increase of 94 percent from the same period a year ago. Ultra HD, also a growing segment globally, now makes up nearly half of the entire TV market value (48%).

These are some of the findings for the global TV market shared by GfK at IFA 2017 in Berlin.

Although the overall Southeast Asian TV market in the first half of this year registered marginally improved sales by 1 percent in volume and 2 percent in value terms, the Ultra HD, also known as 4K, and OLED segments of the TV market reported 92 and 69 percent surge in sales volume, and 53 and 85 percent respectively in value terms.

“OLED is the latest in TV technology that is generating a lot of interest in the market currently, especially since more brands are starting to offer this type of technology after a single player has been dominating the market for a while,” highlighted Gerard Tan, senior director, Technology Retail Tracking, GfK Asia. “With this heightening competition, we are likely to experience more vibrancy in the market as more brands and retailers compete to win the consumer dollar.”

Within Southeast Asia, consumer spend on UHD TVs totaled USD725 million in the first half of 2017. However, due to the higher demand for the lower priced, smaller screen size models, the average price in this segment fell by 20 percent within a year to USD836.

As the competition heats up within the UHD TV market, GfK tracking reports rising number of brands launching more affordable, and smaller UHD TV models in the local markets. In Vietnam, UHD TV choices in 2017 surged by more than 50 percent, from 192 to reach 303 models within a year.

“With consumer interest continuing to revolve around UHD and 4K TV, we foresee TV makers seeking more ways of differentiating themselves from their competition, one of which is to utilize it’s smart TV function to develop more unique apps that appeal to consumers,” said Tan. “The increasing popularity and availability of over-the-top content is also likely to entice more consumers to upgrade their current TV sets for better viewing experience.”

Demand for the UHD TV segment is predicted to maintain its uptrend to end 2017 with at least 60 percent growth in sales volume across Southeast Asia.

According to a separate GfK study based on Point of Sales (POS) Tracking, the product life cycles of TVs have significantly shortened with new models being launched at a faster pace. This translates to brands now having a shorter time window to effectively market their products. Hence, it becomes even more important that they understand and constantly obtain insights on how their marketing mix efforts and investments impact the sales performance of their products so as to optimise strategies swiftly to achieve maximum returns on their portfolio.

GfK will share the global insights for the TV market at the IFA 2017 in Berlin, 1-6 September 2017.