2009 was a notable year for the TV industry as unit growth proved quite successful given the state of the global economy, but not all results were good. Average prices fell year-over-year for the first time on a total basis and LCD TV prices fell more than twice as much as they did in 2008. All of this led to the first global decline in revenues since DisplaySearch started tracking TVs as consumers clearly loved buying TVs but were attracted to ever more commoditized sizes and styles. What can be done?

TV innovation has always been present, but each subsequent innovation gets reduced in price and margin more quickly. As a result, we’ve seen the pace of major innovation increase from every 2-3 years to a year or less. In 2010, three major TV innovations are set to take off; 3D TVs, LED backlights in LCD TVs and Internet connected TVs. All three offer a strong opportunity to offset the pace of price erosion while at the same time enhancing the value proposition of the TV itself. All members of the TV Ecosystem from component makers, to OEMs, to brands and even retailers need to be aware of the issues surrounding these innovations, as well as other potential new technologies, in order to get the most out of them and avoid yet another round of rapid devaluation.