Over the past decade, customers' television viewing experience has significantly changed with the introduction of Smart TVs enabling them to replicate their smartphone experience on a larger screen while having an immersive experience. This coupled with the rising popularity of OTT platforms, TVs offering a theatre-like experience have also led to an increase in demand for wider screens across the country.
According to insights from Flipkart, the demand for 43-inch TV (4K especially) over 32-inch TV has more than doubled in the first half of 2022 over 2021, representing a noticeable shift in the consumer’s preference from previous years. During the January-July period, the platform witnessed over 2 million increase in searches for premium large screen TVs as an increasing number of customers are looking for better resolution (FHD or 4K) and features such as 4K UHD, Dolby technology, smart assistant for a delightful experience. This trend was also consistent in the recently concluded Big Billion Days with TVs and larger screen TVs being one of the most purchased items.
The availability of large screen TVs coupled with affordability constructs like Buy Now pay later helped customers to upgrade. While metros accounted for over one-fourth of the demand, tier 3 cities and beyond hold nearly 50% of the demand share. Affordable payment constructs such as No Cost EMI, Debit Card EMI helped over 30% of customers upgrade to large screen TVs using the former constructs from January-July this year over the same period last year.
Hari Kumar, Vice-President, Large Appliances at Flipkart said, “The Television segment has been a rapidly evolving category in India over the past few years and Flipkart has been at the forefront of enabling customers to upgrade seamlessly and in an affordable manner. In the first half of this year and during the Big Billion Days, 43’ inch TVs have emerged as a clear winner as an increasing number of customers are preferring larger screens to have an immersive TV viewing experience. At Flipkart, we believe that we’ve democratised the ‘big screen experience’ for India and Bharat and are dedicated to meeting the changing demands of our consumers by working with our seller partners.”
The increase in demand for large Screen TVs has also led to brands introducing new models with technologies such as Google TVs, QLED and GloLed from brands such as Sony, LG, VU, Thomson, Kodak, Blaupunkt, Infinix and Mi to name a few. This festive season saw more than 100 new models being introduced collectively across brands.
