1080p models accounted for nearly one-third of all flat panel sales

Menlo Park, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/05/2007 --Pacific Media Associates, the global market information experts on large-screen displays, reports that unit sales for consumer flat panel televisions in North America were up 101% for the fourth quarter of 2006 over the same quarter in 2005. Their Flat Panel Display Tracking Service also shows that unit sales in December were almost steady from November’s record levels, dipping just 2%.

“In December, we saw the average street price for consumer models rise slightly over November’s average even though prices for many individual models continued to decline,” according to Rosemary Abowd, PMA Vice President. ”The reason for the increase in average street price was due to buyers moving to premium-priced models, higher resolutions, and bigger screen sizes. As a result, revenues for December actually grew by 2% over November, resulting in the highest revenues for the year.”

The move to higher resolution models was clearly demonstrated by the fact that 1080p models accounted for nearly one-third of the total unit sales, and the majority of these were LCD models. 1080p demand has grown rapidly; just six months ago, it accounted for just 5% of the total unit sales.

Sony was the top-selling brand in consumer flat panel displays 30-inches or larger, with Samsung close behind in both unit and revenue share. The best-selling consumer model was the Panasonic TH-42PX60U, a 42” plasma HDTV with an average street price of $1,331.

Note: Data cited here is based on a sample of retailers and resellers, and is subject to sampling error.

About Pacific Media Associates
Pacific Media specializes in global display market information, covering all large-screen display categories: front projectors, plasma and LCD TVs, and rear-projection displays. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service family of publications provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on large-screen display markets, newsletters on new products and other key industry developments, monthly advertised price tracking, ad hoc analyses, and annual Web surveys of North American end users (including organizations and individual consumers) and both North American and EMEA resellers/retailers. Their Large-Screen Displays Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of large-screen displays sold by leading North American retailers, resellers, and distributors. Pacific Media Associates was established by Dr. William Coggshall, who was previously a co-founder of Dataquest and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. The company headquarters is at 1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Telephone +1 650-561-9020 www.pacificmediaassociates.com