Driven by rising demand for affordable smart television sets, shipments of TVs in India grew 15 per cent annually to reach the highest-ever level of 15 million units in 2019, according to a report by Counterpoint’s TV Tracker service.

This was mainly driven by budget smart TVs, with 32-inch TVs leading the segment and penetrating sub-$150 price bands.

“India is one of the largest markets in the world with more than 200 million potential TV households and is still underpenetrated, which makes India a more attractive growth market for the entire TV and content value chain,” Counterpoint Senior Analyst Karn Chauhan said. “The growing number of smartphone users in India is also driving a need for smart TVs as users look to continue with their streaming content consumption on the bigger screens when at home.”

“The broader broadband penetration in the home will further drive the overall smart TV usage; tough affordability and value for money are the key growth drivers. The new crop of brands such as Xiaomi, TCL and others are tapping their existing relationships with e-commerce channels such as Flipkart and Amazon, to successfully distribute the TVs affordably with a direct-to-consumer model,” he said.

Non-smart TV grew 7 per cent YoY in 2019. While Samsung, LG and Sony are experiencing a YoY fall in their non-smart TV business, brands such as BPL and Sansui are still banking on that segment, which mainly caters to the rural market, B2B segment and second bedroom TV segment.

“Samsung continues to lead the overall TV market but the emerging smart TV segment is being cornered by the newer players,” Counterpoint Research Analyst Debasish Jana said. “Smart TV was the fastest-growing segment, up 25 per cent YoY. The smart TV market in India was mostly driven by brands like Xiaomi, Samsung and emerging tail brands such as TCL, Vu and others, which are leveraging their growing channel presence both online and offline to target the new users and upgrade users.”

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