New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group found that 34% of U.S. households have at least one HDTV set, about double the percentage of households that had such TVs two years ago.
The growth of HDTV sets has largely been driven by on-going consumer purchasing of TV sets coupled with a dwindling supply of lower-end non-HDTV sets being sold, according to Leichtman. Overall, 22% of all households purchased a new TV set in the past 12 months, with 43% of this group spending over $1,000 on a new TV.
These findings are based on a survey of 1,302 households throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study, HDTV2008: Consumer Awareness, Interest and Ownership. This is LRG’s sixth annual study on this topic.
Other findings include:
-- Combined, 38% of HD owners say that replacing an old/broken set or wanting to buy a new TV set was the most important reason for getting their HDTV, compared to 22% citing picture quality, and 7% the quality of HD programming or the number of HD channels.
-- 44% with annual household incomes over $50,000 have an HDTV compared to 20% with annual household incomes under $50,000.
-- 33% of HDTV owners have more than one HDTV set, and 25% are likely to get another HDTV set in the next year.
-- 9% of HD owners say that they switched multi-channel video providers when they purchased their HDTV.
-- 42% of HDTV owners say that they were told how to receive HD programming when they purchased their set.
-- LRG estimates that about 58% of all HD households are now watching HD programming from a multi-channel video provider – up from 53% last year. However, about 18% of individuals with an HDTV continue think that they are watching HD programming, but are not.
“About 40 million U.S. households now have at least one HDTV set, and LRG forecasts that this number will double over the next four years,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said in a prepared statement. “While more people than ever before have HDTV sets, educating consumers on HD programming remains an issue.”
