It was something that many expected hence the official announcement that Vizio is now tops in the LCD market is not entirely surprising. This along with the report that the demand for LCD has been strong despite the recession are highlights on the latest DisplaySearch Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

“Vizio is a relatively young TV brand in the US marketplace, but their strong alignment with mass merchant and warehouse club retailers seemed to put them in the right place at the right time with growing channels,” said Paul Gagnon, DisplaySearch Director of North America TV Research. “As LCD TV panel makers quickly return to nearly full capacity and simultaneously push panel price increases, the industry will have to carefully monitor the impact that slower retail price declines may have on consumer demand during the second half of the year to avoid a potential repeat oversupply situation.”

Funai, another company that predominantly sells value priced products to discount retail channels, also saw their share improve from Q4’08 to Q1’09, rising from 7% to 8.5%, with shipments nearly unchanged from the previous quarter. Funai sells the Sylvania and Emerson brands in North America, and the Philips and Magnavox brands since last quarter. Premium brands like Samsung and Sony lost share as consumers became more price sensitive, looking both for better value and smaller screen sizes than last quarter.

The premium brands are stronger in the 40” and larger screen sizes, as well as offering advanced features such as 1080p resolution, 120 Hz or higher frame rates, and higher-quality image processing—all of which add to the retail price.

(Source) Press