Global shipments of TVs were at 217 million units in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic led to unpredictable effects on the TV market. Supply chains were affected by the pandemic, and demand was as well, with the demand for televisions massively increasing between the second quarter of the year and the third. At the end of the third quarter, Trendforce had projected 216.09 million, a figure the market slightly over-performed.

However, according to a forecast released earlier this month by research firm TrendForce, global shipments of TVs in 2021 are expected to rise to 223 million units. Demand for the units is expected to be driven by a pair of events postponed from 2020, the Olympic Games and the UEFA European Championship soccer tournament.

“These sporting events are expected to drive global TV demand to yet another record high. In this light, TrendForce expects global TV shipment to reach 223 million units in 2021, a 2.8% YoY increase,” the firm said in a press statement. The 2020 shipment number had represented a small decline from the year before, of 0.3 percent. 

The report also predicted that 2021 will be a big year for larger TVs. Shipments of TVs sixty-five inches and larger are projected to rise by more than 30 percent this year. In 2020, Trendforce said in the statement, “TV brands began to redirect their procurement activities towards larger-sized panels. In particular, this period saw a 23.4% and 47.8% growth in 65-inch (and above) and 70-inch (and above) TV panel shipments, respectively.”

This was borne out earlier this month at the all-virtual CES, when most major manufacturers introduced large TVs, and also made clear that in the immediate future, bigger is going to be better. Samsung, for their part, introduced a 110-inch mini-LED TV, as part of its offerings at the show. 

TrendForce also said that 2020 was the first year that the combined market shares of the top five TV brands were over 60 percent, due in part to upstream suppliers having to be more selective of clients during the early days of the pandemic. 

“Whereas the supply of TV panels dwindled in 2020 owing to the reduction in Korean panel manufacturers’ production capacities and the slowdown in new Chinese panel manufacturers’ mass production ramp-up, demand skyrocketed thanks to extended stay-at-home times induced by anti-pandemic measures,” TrendForce said in the report. 

In the third quarter of 2020, TrendForce said at the time, TV sales jumped 12.9 percent year over year to 62.05 million shipments, a new record for the third quarter, and a 38.8 percent increase over the second quarter. Another research firm, Omdia, announced similar figures for the third quarter at around the same time.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.