Pacific Media Survey Quantifies Why LCD Is Dominating Plasma In Flat Panel TVs

Sony dominates mindshare but shoppers opt for lower-priced brands [The following is a release from Pacific Media Associates]

January 4, 2008

Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the global market information experts on large-screen displays, has just completed their End User Survey, which provides quantitative evidence of some notable and sometimes surprising consumer behavior. One key result is a measure of the reasons that consumers increasingly choose LCD over plasma for flat panel HDTVs. “All else being equal, consumers shopping for a new flat panel TV are willing to pay $162 more for an LCD than a plasma,” according to Rosemary Abowd, PMA’s Vice President of flat panel and rear projection TV research. “Shoppers rated LCD HDTVs ahead of plasma models on all major decision criteria except Sex Appeal and Picture Quality. Unfortunately for makers of plasma sets, new shoppers are considering price increasingly important relative to picture quality.” Price is important, but size is even more important, according to the 500+ consumers who provided data regarding their current usage and future plans. While the most popular size range for future purchases is 40 to 42 inches, a total of 40% of shoppers want to buy a set that is larger than 42 inches. And they are willing to pay an average of $187 more for it. Sony enjoys the largest share of the TVs currently in use in U.S. households, whether measured for all technologies combined or flat panel TVs only. “For years, Sony has demonstrated the highest mindshare of any brand, and this year they accounted for a full one-third of votes on both ‘best’ brand and intention to buy,” according to Abowd. “But even more interesting was the surprising finding that lower-tier brands like Vizio and Westinghouse did not score in the top ten on ’best’ but did score there on intention to buy.”

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