2016 is the most difficult year for the industry, but the color TV market still has opportunities to break through

“2016 may be the most difficult year.”

At the "2015 China Electronic Information Industry Economic Operation and Color TV Industry Research Conference" jointly organized by the China Electronic Video Industry Association and AVC, Dong Min, general manager of AVC's (AVC) black-and-white electronics division, pointed out the future prospects of China's color TV market.

2015 is considered a watershed year for China's color TV industry. On the one hand, affected by the macro-economy and industry characteristics, the color TV market has been sluggish in growth; on the other hand, due to the evolution of intelligence, the attractiveness of the living room as an entrance has continued to soar, and more brands have entered to grab market share. Under such circumstances, the Chinese color TV market in 2015 was full of open and covert struggles: new brands poured in, old brands transformed, and foreign brands declined; the price war from upstream to downstream is still going on, and the battle for ecology has begun; the technological competition is endless, and cutting-edge technologies such as OLED, quantum dots, curved, ultra-thin, and split have emerged one after another. So where will the color TV industry go in 2016?

Be prepared for hard times

In 2015, China entered the era of home Internet. The charm of large-screen televisions brought users and manufacturers back to the living room. Videos, TV games, applications, education and other content flourished on large-screen televisions, allowing television to move from the hardware era to the era where content is king. This also brought greater challenges and opportunities to terminal manufacturers and content providers.

According to the user public opinion data of Aowei Cloud Network, the average daily TV viewing time in December 2015 was 5 hours, an increase of 1.5 hours from December 2014; the TV power-on rate reached 62%, an increase of 11 percentage points from December 2014. TV content has nurtured a trillion-level market, and the IP value of "The Journey of Flower" exceeds 2 billion. In 2016, the value of TV will continue to ferment, and the living room economy has become a popular existence in the color TV industry.

However, it should also be noted that the world economy will still show a weak recovery trend in 2016. The developed economies are facing insufficient total demand and low long-term growth rates. The overall growth rate of emerging economies is difficult to effectively curb. It is expected that the global GDP will maintain a growth rate of about 3%. In this context, China's economic growth rate will also slow down and enter a new normal of structural adjustment, which will affect the development of the color TV manufacturing industry to a certain extent. According to the forecast data of AVC, the retail volume of China's color TV market will reach 47.39 million units in 2016, a slight increase of 1.4% year-on-year, and the retail sales will reach 161.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%.

Under the disruption of many emerging TV brands, the color TV industry has also begun to expose many problems. Price wars and technology wars will continue to ferment. In the early stage of slowing sales growth, it will be even more difficult for TV terminal manufacturers and peripheral manufacturers with TV platforms as the core to break through in users' living rooms in 2016. The hard days that color TV companies will have to go through in 2016 are not only the harsh external environment, but also the industry's own operating methods are more complicated than ever before: there are many opponents, it is difficult to predict what moves the opponent will make, and the attack may be dimensionality reduction; there are many user needs, and it is necessary to judge the matching of subdivided groups, niches, narrow audiences and products; there are many product directions, and the trend is difficult to foresee, follow and benchmark.

There are still opportunities in the color TV market

When the market is not good, there will always be people who will grow against the odds, and color TVs may become a classic case.

At present, there are many participants in China's color TV industry, and the right to speak is dispersed. The industry is undergoing a transformation of the entire industry chain. Dong Min believes that "2015 is a year of integration and differentiation. Integration is mainly reflected in the integration of traditional brands and Internet brands, the integration of online and offline channels, and the integration of products and content; differentiation is manifested in the differentiation of business models towards diversity, the differentiation of channels towards multiple platforms, and the differentiation of products towards differentiation. In the future, the color TV industry will enter an era of multiple screens. This is mainly reflected in the three aspects of numerous screen brands, numerous screen functions, and numerous screen types."

In terms of brands, facing fierce competition in the color TV red ocean, traditional brands and Internet brands are no longer independent and competitive with each other, and the brand field has evolved into a great integration of you in me and me in you. This integration is mainly reflected in the following three points: First, the cooperation between Internet companies and OEM manufacturers. Internet companies combine their own content advantages with the hardware manufacturing capabilities of manufacturers. Through this cooperation method, Internet companies have gained access to the TV field, while providing TV users with richer content, opening the era of smart TV. Second, the cooperation between traditional manufacturers and content providers. Through this cooperation method, traditional manufacturers have realized the intelligence of TVs, and content providers have gained access to the living room with TV as the carrier. Third, the in-depth cooperation between traditional manufacturers, Internet companies and content providers. Through the establishment of subsidiaries or sub-brands, the two have become one and developed together.

At the same time, the diversification of user needs has also led to a wide range of functions and types of TV screens. According to the forecast data of Aowei Cloud Network, the retail volume of smart TVs will reach 39.6 million units in 2016, accounting for 84%; the retail volume of UHD TVs will reach 20.46 million units, accounting for 43%; the retail volume of 55+ TVs will reach 13.74 million units, accounting for 29%; the retail volume of curved TVs will reach 3 million units, accounting for 6%; the retail volume of ultra-thin TVs will reach 3.8 million units, accounting for 8%; the retail volume of high color gamut TVs will reach 7.2 million units, accounting for 15%; the retail volume of OLED TVs will reach 200,000 units, accounting for 0.4%; and the retail volume of laser TVs will reach 10,000 units, accounting for 0.02%. Whether in terms of hardware configuration, functional attributes, or screen technology, TVs will present a state of flourishing.

Looking ahead to 2016, with the further deepening of domestic supply-side reform, strategies such as Made in China 2025 and Internet+ will be steadily promoted, and their positive impact will be more in the medium and long term. Bai Weimin, executive vice president of the China Electronic Video Industry Association, believes that "the market structure is full of variables, but new opportunities are also emerging. Innovation is still the unremitting driving force for sustainable development, and adhering to quality is the inevitable choice for comprehensive development. The whole industry must work together to build a healthy industrial development ecosystem."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.