The Winter Olympics are approaching, and whether the color TV market can take advantage of the opportunity to get out of the cold winter

In about half a month, the Beijing Winter Olympics will officially kick off. Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that a number of color TV manufacturers have begun to market the event, such as Changhong through the ice and snow variety show deep implantation of color TV products, and Hisense directly participated in the live broadcast of the event technical support. At present, China's color TV market is in the "cold winter", last year experienced a round of decline, the industry urgently needs an opportunity to stimulate consumption. In the eyes of industry insiders, the upcoming Winter Olympics coupled with the promotion node of the Spring Festival, the color TV consumer market may appear a round of long-lost market.

Marketing varies

Every year, large-scale events are a good opportunity for home appliance manufacturers to market, especially color TV manufacturers, because watching events and color TV products are closely linked, they are more enthusiastic about sports marketing than other categories of home appliance manufacturers.

So, for the upcoming event, what kind of warm-up and preparations have been made by domestic color TV manufacturers? The Beijing Business Daily reporter interviewed several mainstream manufacturers in China.

The relevant person in charge of Sichuan Changhong introduced that in the past, Changhong usually participated in the event communication by signing a team, but considering that the brand itself has a national badminton team IP, it chose to take another route this time, that is, in the ski variety show of major video platforms, mango TV's "Follow the Champion to Ski" was selected, and through the variety show IP, the event was deeply implanted with the "Changhong 8k Devil King", showing the various viewing advantages of Changhong 8K TV.

At the same time, online and offline marketing activities closely follow the variety show content. The use of variety + marketing is not only a way for the Changhong brand to connect young audiences and enhance exposure through variety reality shows, but also another way to promote the popularity of ice and snow projects. The above-mentioned person in charge said.

Hisense was directly involved in the technical support of this event. It is reported that the company not only developed a "display plan" for the first domestic snow wax car, but also jointly developed an 8K ultra-high-definition professional monitor with the Central Radio and Television Corporation, helping CCTV to produce and broadcast 8K ultra-high-definition programs for the Winter Olympics.

According to Mei Jian, director of the Data Application Department of the Technology Bureau of the Central Radio and Television Corporation and executive deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Ultra-high-definition Video and Audio Production and Presentation, the Beijing Winter Olympics will use 8K ultra-high definition to broadcast to the world.

"8K display only on large-size products can perfectly show its picture quality effect, and laser TV is the best display technology carrier of 8K TV", the relevant person in charge of Hisense told the Beijing Business Daily reporter, the company launched the world's first 8K laser display technology program and the world's first 120-inch laser TV new product 120L9 Pro, the first to achieve BT.2020 color coverage fully accurate coverage of the full precision of the laser TV.

Weak demand due to declining volumes

2021 has passed, and the color TV sales data of major research institutions have also been released, but no matter which institution's data, it reflects that the domestic color TV industry is experiencing a difficult situation in the winter.

According to the data released by Lotu Technology, the brand shipments in the Chinese TV market in 2021 were 38.98 million units, down 12.2% year-on-year. According to the data released by Qunzhi Consulting, 40.3 million color TVs were shipped in the Chinese market in 2021, down 14.2% year-on-year.

In fact, this sluggish market performance has become the norm in the color TV industry. Dong Min, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronic Video Industry Association, pointed out that first of all, the attributes of TV durable goods and the lack of smooth old products are eliminated and replaced by a new closed-loop model, resulting in the weakening of the demand for upgrading products in this category; secondly, the display of television sets and furniture attributes in Chinese homes have caused a decline in demand for new purchases; in addition, the fragmentation of Chinese consumers' time and the experience of color TV human-computer interaction are not as good as mobile phones have reduced the operating rate of television sets.

If from the short-term reasons, Dong Min believes that on the one hand, due to the economic impact caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, consumers' purchase willingness has been withdrawn, and the purchasing power of TV products is insufficient; on the other hand, the high price of the panel has caused the terminal price to rise, consumers are more sensitive to the price fluctuations of non-just-needed products, and the company has no enthusiasm and price difference space for large promotions.

In such an industry background, enterprises can only seize every possible opportunity for publicity and marketing, hoping to stimulate consumer consumption in the color TV market.

"The arrival of the Winter Olympics will set off a consumer climax of ultra-high-definition large-screen TVs." The relevant person in charge of Hisense said so. The relevant person in charge of Sichuan Changhong said that this is because the return of large events to the big screen is a trend, coupled with the fact that the Winter Olympics will be held to cover the second half of the Spring Festival, the possibility of TV viewing is greatly improved.

Event communication drives consumption

People in the industry are also generally optimistic about the pulling effect of the Winter Olympics on the color TV market. Dong Min said that the role of sports events in color TV consumption has always been obvious, enterprises will make full use of the Winter Olympics events to do corresponding promotions, consumers also need more suitable TV to watch wonderful programs.

It is worth noting that the event will use 8K live broadcast, which is expected to stimulate the explosive growth of 8K and large-screen users. According to the "Ultra-high-definition Video Industry Development Action Plan (2019-2022)" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the Central Radio and Television Corporation, by 2022, the overall scale of China's ultra-high-definition video industry will exceed 4 trillion yuan, 4K TV terminals will be fully popularized, 8K TV terminal sales account for more than 5% of total TV sales, and the number of ultra-high-definition video users will reach 200 million.

Xu Yiqiang, a home appliance observer, pointed out that 8K live broadcast will drive some users who dare to try new technologies and new products, and the superposition of the Spring Festival node of this event will drive the consumption of large-screen TVs, especially high-quality and large-screen TVs.

"The first use of 8K live broadcasting, for the promotion of 8K advantages, the retail of 8K TV, the production reserve of 8K content and 8K application software and other whole industry chain will play a positive role, and will effectively obtain user recognition and recognition, as well as pull TV brands in this area of resource tilt and market occupancy; from the experience of watching sports programs, consumers are more inclined to large size, high refresh rate, high definition, high dynamic contrast, especially color TVs with more event content playback capabilities." Dong Min said.

As for the development of the color TV market in 2022, Dong Min predicts that it will be restorative development, but it cannot be too optimistic, after all, there are variables in the macro-economy and the development of the epidemic, and the changes in user habits, China's living room and TV attributes have been irreversible. How companies can pull users back to the TV is a topic worth paying attention to. Xu Yiqiang also believes that although the current expectations of the outside world are more optimistic, it is undeniable that the era of general rise in the industry has long ended, and some head companies and high-end large-screen markets may maintain a certain rebound growth.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Shi Feiyue