Chinese TV brands lead world

Chinese brands of televisions accounted for 30 percent of the global market in 2016, an increase of 3.2 percent year-on-year as Chinese home appliance companies stepped up efforts to expand overseas through mergers and acquisitions, according to All View Cloud, a Beijing-based consultancy.

Chinese TV sales were 50.89 million units last year, up 7.8 percent from 2015, with the value reaching 156 billion yuan ($22.5 billion), said AVC.

Chinese TV manufacturers have expanded their global influence by M&A. In 2016, Qingdao-based Haier Group completed the purchase of GE Appliances for a staggering $5.58 billion. LeEco announced in July that it acquired Vizio, a major US TV brand, for $2 billion in cash.

"The export of Chinese TV brands achieved rapid growth, with a year-on-year growth of 26 percent. Chinese brands are reaching out to the world," said Weng Zhenhua, general manager of the TV department at AVC.

He added that TV manufacturers are also making efforts to upgrade technologies, so OLED, laser TV and QLED will become the main direction of the next generation of TVs.

The 55-inch screen TVs were the most favored category among consumers last year, taking up 23.9 percent of the total market share, up 8.4 percent year-on-year, according to AVC. It is also estimated that the demand for large-screen TVs will continue in 2017, with the market share of over 55-inch TVs reaching 39 percent.

Weng estimates that TV sales will reach 53.01 million units in 2017, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, and the revenue will reach 164 billion yuan, a rise of 5.1 percent.

Xie Fan, the sales general manager of TCL multimedia said: "We are excited to see that Chinese TV brands witnessed an explosive growth in global market last year. The global sales of TCL surpassed 20 million units, with the growth rate in overseas market reaching 50 percent."

Xie cited curved screen displays, which give an immersive experience, as an example of the medium－and high-end products, which are a potent new force in the global consumer electronics market.

This is the first time that Chinese brands have surpassed their South Korean counterparts, ranking first in global market in terms of sales, while the shipment of South Korean TV brands dropped about 3 percent last year.