First down and 32 inches to go
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
By Ross Rubin, Executive Director, NPD Connected Intelligence
Traditionally we’ve seen consumers prepare for the SuperBowl by purchasing ever-larger flat-panel HDTVs — a competition for bragging rights that was almost as intense as the gridiron rivalry itself and sometimes ending with the same dramatic lament, even for the winners. (”Unnecessary use of return privileges. 15 percent restocking penalty)
This year, however, a perfect storm brewed by the economic recession, rising HDTV penetration, Circuit City’s liquidation, and perceptions of an imminent analog cutoff, that my colleague Paul Gagnon at DisplaySearch blogged about last month, drove big game shoppers to smaller screens. LCD televisions with only a 32″ screen size became the most popular screen size purchased the week before the SuperBowl, growing from 17 percent unit share the week before the 2008 game to 28 percent in 2009. Comparing the same two weeks, sales of 40″ to 52″ inch LCD TVs dropped from 39 percent of units to 30 percent.
LCD TV growth has long been fueled by falling prices, and the dramatic decrease in this high-volume screen size was no exception. Sub-$500 LCD TVs swelled to 56 percent unit share for the week ending January 31, 2009 up from 21 percent the week before the 2008 SuperBowl. And the average selling price for 32″ LCD TVs was comfortably below the $500 mark.
With more consumers having already invested in their best and biggest TV for their living room, size may not be as dominant a play for next year’s game. Higher refresh rates and interactive features may play a greater role in appealing to fans in future years as well as Blu-ray based home theater systems to highlight the bone-crunching audio during the game and something for the football-averse to watch after it.
Consumer Technology | Ross Rubin, Executive Director, NPD Connected Intelligence | 
February 19, 2009 4:29 pm
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By Isaac Kim, February 20, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Nice to read this article. Regarding 32″ volume share increase during superbowl season, I think the increase came more from low price of Samsung 32″, $497, bestbuy and walmart, and basically end users hope to change their 2nd TV. Those things only explains why small size LCD TV 32″ could be sold during superbowl season which was traditionally season for bigger size like 46/47″, 42/40″. thanks