Sony, Samsung, & LG maintain lead in Smart TVs

Due to an increased demand for home entertainment amid lockdown, entertainment has got a new destination in OTT now; Besides TV channels, people are now getting hooked on the OTT platforms as well. Premium entertainment features are also now available at attractive price points. The smart TV market is growing rapidly at 55 percent year-over-year (YoY) in 2021 and 65 percent YoY in Q4 2021 to reach its highest ever shipments for a calendar year, according to Counterpoint Research findings. The overall smart TV share in the TV market also soared to 84 percent in 2021 from 67 percent in 2020.

Smart TV – Brand Affinity Index

*The graphs show the top 5 brands' scores only

In India, a majority of the TV buyers prefer quality and our survey also reflected the same. Like last year, Sony once again remained on the top followed by other two giants in the category, Samsung, and LG. Though there was strong positive sentiment flowing in for Xiaomi (Xiaomi was at the fourth spot last year), it was not enough to get the brand ahead of Haier and OnePlus.

Smart TV – Spontaneous Brand Awareness

3 5

Compared to last year’s findings, we have two new entries in our top five list this time. OnePlus replaced Xiaomi in the fourth spot this year and Panasonic replaced Realme in the fifth spot. The first three spots, however, have been retained by the same set of brands– Sony, Samsung, and LG. 100 percent of respondents recalled Sony, followed by Samsung (95 percent), and LG (89 percent).

Smart TV – Current Usage

4 5

In terms of usage, the top three brands were Sony, Samsung, and LG again. The story, however, became quite interesting after that. Three brands shared similar scores in the fourth spot– Videocon, Xiaomi, and Realme. The fifth spot is again shared by three brands– Panasonic, OnePlus, and Haier. Last year, Samsung was leading the charts followed by Xiaomi, Sony, LG, and Realme. That monopoly ended this time. Consumers have started experimenting with newer brands as well.

Smart TV  – Future Purchase Consideration

5 6

Though consumers experimented with different brands, when it comes to future purchases, they still prefer the leading ones only. Sony led this segment with a 65 percent score, followed by Samsung (54 percent), LG (33 percent), OnePlus (32 percent), and Panasonic (23 percent). Last year’s top five brands were Sony, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. Xiaomi, however, could not make it to the top five this time. OnePlus and Panasonic’s ranks got better.

Smart TV – Overall Brand Satisfaction

6 5

Samsung and OnePlus users were most satisfied. Philips, which was not able to make it to the top five list last year, surprisingly became the first runner-up in this segment. Haier, Realme, Sony, and LG shared the third spot together. Compared to last year’s results, there is no major loss this time except for Videocon and Xiaomi, which slipped to the fifth position. Vu grabbed the fourth spot.

Smart TV – Brand Loyalty

7 6

Now, when it comes to loyalty, we witnessed a complete u-turn. The top five names are – Realme (95 percent), Haier and Samsung (94 percent), LG (91 percent), and Vu (88 percent). Although the difference in scores was not much this time, Sony slipped to the fifth spot with an 86 percent score. Last year the winner was Sony, followed by Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and Haier.

Smart TV – Brand Advocacy

8 5

When we asked respondents whether they would prefer to recommend their brands to others, their loyalty toward the brand was reflected in the scores. Like loyalty, in advocacy also, the top five names were Realme (95 percent), Haier and Samsung (94 percent), LG (88 percent), Sony  (86 percent), and Vu (82 percent).

Smart TV – Reasons for using current Brands

9 5

Sony was considered for its brand name and quality of the product. LG and Samsung for their quality and after-sales service. Haier and OnePlus attracted their customers for their quality.

Highlight - Significant change in the Brand Loyalty, Sony loses grip

By Satya Sundar Mohanty, CyberMedia Research

Ashok Pandey & Soma Tah, PCQuest

  pcquest@cybermedia.co.in