Medium of entertainment are many, but TV is just irreplaceable. With time, it has been evolved and now we have smart TV that has made it possible to enjoy everything on the bigger screen. Viewers get better viewing experience while watching their favourite content. This situation has escalated the demand thereby TV brands have significantly boosted their productions as well as there has been a huge innovation in the smart TV industry. Due to this, the competition is quite high and the market players are putting all efforts to stay in the race. SPPL is one of the leading manufacturers of smart TVs and serving the demand across India. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently had a word with Mr. Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO at SPPL - Blaupunkt TV who told us about the innovation that their brand is focusing on and how they are working towards developing more consumer centric TVs for their customers. Read below the excerpts:
Rajeev: This was the first normal year after the pandemic, what were the significant consumer trends that you noticed in 2022? And which of them are going to continue in 2023?
Avneet Singh: The most evident trend that we saw this year has been the audiences’ shift towards bigger screens and how they are rapidly adapting to the newly available technologies faster than we anticipated. Additionally, the growth figures that the OTT space has seen since the pandemic have been phenomenal too. These figures were charted out for the next three years but the growth happened faster. It is a big reason for the rise in demand for larger screens. The government is also pushing the agenda and working towards improving the reach of 4G and 5G across the nation. The infrastructure for it is being rampantly developed and in the coming months, we will see a large number of customers from the rural sectors too.
Rajeev: What kind of consumer demand have you seen in the current(festive) quarter, as compared to the previous year’s same period? How was it for the whole year?
Avneet Singh: This year consumer demand has been positive. It is a big improvement from the almost black out like scenario we faced right after the 2nd wave of covid in 2021. Most people’s incomes went directly into healthcare and purchases of electronics etc were not on anyone’s radar. This resulted in a fairly lull festive season too. It is in 2022 that people seem to have come out of the pandemic. Talks of recession have also been going on globally but India has held its ground. Till now our economy has been fairly immune to the global market.
The last few launches across all our brands and categories have done very well. Customer response has been tremendous. The growth trajectory for SMART TVs and bigger-screen TVs is positive too. Our products for this year are going to be very innovative and loaded with technology. We have been working relentlessly, ever since our inception, to make great TVs and other devices that suit not only our buyers’ preferences but also budgets.
Rajeev: What is the future of displays - TVs, monitors, etc.
Avneet Singh: The future of displays and screens looks very promising right now. The kind of growth that is yet to come, as per our estimates, will be phenomenal especially with India being one of the largest TV markets in the world. However, having said this, the figures can be bigger and manufacturers can work on their market strongly seeing the multipurpose role that screen-led devices played during the pandemic. The market truly is huge and is only set to grow so one must take advantage of it and give the customers more technological developments.
In terms of trends- the Smart TV category will hold a 95% share of the market soon, if not more. And one of the main reasons for that is, as discussed above, the many roles that the TV played for a single household. People converted their TVs from entertainment devices to video conference devices and this has been the biggest disruption for our industry. It has given us access to a whole new market. The adaptability of SMART TVs has grown very aggressively. People tuning into OTT content far more than they used to also helped. It has also made people come back to larger screens to enjoy quality shows.
Rajeev: Will LCDs become obsolete in the future?
Avneet Singh: LCD backlight technology (LED TV) will not be obsolete anytime soon. It still holds a very large share and because the technology is so mass, it enables new TV buyers to enter the market. Hence, for instance, LCD technology is very popular in entry-level TVs such as the 24-inch, 32-inch, 40-inch, and 43-inch FHD too. When one is going for a TV that is larger than a 43 inch then we do see the buyer going for an enhanced visual experience such as a 4K and so on. In the future when QLED and OLED technologies become larger scaled and more affordable.
Rajeev: What is the future of OLED?
Avneet Singh: As of now, the OLED technology is held by few brands, therefore they are earning huge margins. Once it is shared with more brands, the accessibility of OLED and its affordability will grow too. We do not see this happening in 2023 but once this does happen it may overtake 4K in the market soon.
Rajeev: Will OLED be taken over by Quantum dot?
Avneet Singh: There is a huge debate over this- OLED vs Quantum Dot. in our opinion, both have their role to play in the customer user journey with their advantages. Both are great technologies and have their USP that makes a buyer choose one over the other. Having said that, the Quantum Dot does have more of an edge in recent times given its manufacturing capability, and its affordability factor.
