Over eight million 4K Ultra HD television sets have been sold representing an impressive 114% growth sport from Q2, 2015.
The 4K sales performance is in line with predictions that 2016 would be the breakthrough year for the Ultra HD TV market.
Research from the Digital Entertainment Group(DEG) has revealed that 1.4 million of those sold were in the United States with HDTV penetration approaching the number of households. Roughly 95% or104.1 million of all US homes now have at least one HDTV, the report found.
Meanwhile, Video on demand (VOD) platforms continued to grow in the period, up more than 7% for the quarter, consistent with first quarter growth.
A recent Consumer Technology Association (CTA) report forecast that in 2016 shipments of 4K/Ultra HD displays would reach 15 million units (a 105% increase year-over-year), while revenue would exceed US$12.9 billion (a 69% increase). CTA added that 4K/Ultra HD Blu-ray players would further build the ecosystem with 700,000 units sold and US$63 million in revenue.
The DEG report found that 4K is now driving consumer spending on home entertainment, which was up 6% in the second quarter to reach US$4.3 billion. Blu-ray sales were up 35% with consumers purchasing about 288,000 4K Blu-ray Discs.
Electronic sell-through of both digital and physical content combined was US$1.7 billion, up 4%, while digital sell-through specifically grew 9%.Meanwhile in Asia-Pacific, GfK reports that the market size for Ultra HD televisions has doubled over the last year. Ultra HD TV sales are in vogue with over 590,000 units sold across 11 markets surveyed. Korea is currently the largest Ultra HD market, while Singapore and Hong Kong have the highest sales penetration, with one in three TVs sold supporting 4K resolutions, while Vietnam has proven to be the fasted growing market.
