TV sales, earlier this year, declined a bit in the early days of the pandemic, before growing later in the year, as consumers realized they would soon be spending a lot more time than usual at home. TV sales, globally, jumped to sixty-three million in the third quarter, with Samsung leading the way.

However, according to a recent presentation by Futuresource Consulting, global TV sales are expected to remain relatively stable for the next few years.

“Overall, global TV sales remain stable and will stay that way across the forecast period, with our figures showing growth of less than one percent CAGR between 2018 and 2024,” the report, from Futuresource Consulting’s Tristan Veale, said. “This obscures the underlying turmoil as there has been a boost in sales across developed countries during the year, with consumers looking to improve the home viewing experience during increased periods of leisure time at home. In less developed countries, which were previously driving global growth, a decline in shipments has occurred due to households retaining disposable income during a time of economic uncertainty.”

The report also said that the lowering prices of 4K TVs, since 2018, have led to a price war among manufacturers.

“Although the cost of panel production decreased due to economies of scale and technological advances, price competition pressed down hard, scavenging any profit potential and leading to manufacturers looking elsewhere to gain competitive advantage.”

A great deal of the action, however, is in the smart TV space. The global installed base of smart TVs, globally, will reach 1 billion by the end of this year, with several manufacturers competing with their own operating systems.

“There are a huge number of video services that all require app development. They also need updating and upgrading when necessary to make them work effectively and securely. This can be expensive for a manufacturer, particularly when it’s done on legacy models as well as new TVs,” the FutureSource report said. “If older models are no longer supported, it will save on costs, but can cause consumer backlash. Additionally, if regular upgrades are carried out on legacy TVs, there is little incentive for an owner to upgrade, which reduces manufacturer profit. It is a challenging situation that needs to be handled carefully.”

FutureSource also predicted that media streamers, including those offered by tech giants Apple, Google and Amazon, are headed for a major period of growth.

“These devices are inexpensive, work effectively, update on a consistent basis, can have differing services to smart TV, and prolong the lifetime of a TV,” FutureSource said. “These reasons, amongst others, support Futuresource’s expectation that the installed base of media streamers will increase on a global scale to nearly 300 million by 2024.”

“A TV is therefore no longer a silo’d entertainment device and must at least work with these operating systems. The seamless ability to connect with the operating system of choice for a consumer is fast becoming an important reason to choose one brand of TV or accessory over another, representing the next frontier of competition.”

Most major TV manufacturers are expected to debut new TVs at International CES, which will be held virtually in January.

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.

Image: Reuters.