Consumers willing to pay as UHD TV sales take off, says Eutelsat

Over 70% of TV screens sold in Europe by 2020 will be UHD capable and consumers are willing to spend up to €10 extra to receive UHD services, according to research presented at IBC by satellite operator Eutelsat.

Eutelsat commissioned two waves of consumer studies in Italy, France, the UK and Germany in November 2014 and June 2015 that showed that people were willing to pay up to  €10 a month to benefit from Ultra HD in the home. Their investment threshold for new TV sets also matched current price points of between €1,000 and €3,000 for screens within the 50” range. While pay-TV subscribers showed a strong preference for linear Ultra HD channels, viewers used to free TV expressed a preference to gain their first experience through VOD and occasional, event-specific offerings.

Eutelsat also presented new forecasts from GfK on Ultra HD screen sales over the coming six months and coming five years. GfK predicts a 200% hike in Ultra HD screen sales from June to December 2015. It expects sales to hit the five million mark by the end of the year, including (3.6 million in Western Europe, 700,000 in Eastern Europe and 600,000 in the Middle East, representing 9.3% of all TV sales in 21 key markets in these regions. Accumulated sales will result in a potential installed base of 6.2 million TV homes.

GfK also forecasts that Ultra HD screens in 2020 will represent more than 70% of total sales across Europe and almost 60% in the Middle East and North Africa. The annual volume of screens sold in these markets is expected by then to have reached 37 million.