LCD TVs have taken over the world. Market research firm DisplaySearch estimates in a new report that of the 205 million total TVs shipped in 2009, 140.5 million, or 69 percent, were LCD TVs (the rest were plasma and CRTs). In 2010, that percentage is forecast to rise to 78 percent for LCD TVs, when total shipments will rise to 218 million.
Total TV shipments have actually been on the decline since mid-2008 as demand for older CRT TVs plummeted. Only in the third quarter did the increase in shipments of LCD TVs make up for the decline in other kinds of TVs. For the year as a whole, DisplaySearch still expects a 1 percent decline in shipments in 2009, followed by a 6 percent increase in 2010.
Worldwide TV revenues fell an estimated 10 percent to $101 billion, from $112 billion in 2008. But revenues are expected to rise in the first quarter of 2010 for the first time in six quarters.