The Winter Olympics bring fire to the 8K TV market

The just-concluded Beijing Winter Olympics used 8K ultra-high-definition technology for the first time to broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and broadcast important events, allowing the people to harvest the ultimate audio-visual experience through outdoor large screens and 8K TVs, becoming a highlight of the "Science and Technology Winter Olympics"; it played a role in cultivating consumers' awareness of 8K TVs and promoting brands to actively lay out the 8K TV market. The Winter Olympics boom has injected living water into China's 8K TV industry chain, and the scale of China's 8K TV market is expected to double in 2022.

The Winter Olympics activate the 8K industry chain

With a resolution of 4 times 4K and 16 times that of 1080P, 8K is the highest standard of current video display technology and an important highlight of the "Winter Olympics of Science and Technology". The just-concluded Beijing Winter Olympics achieved the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that 8K video technology was used to live broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies and broadcast important events.

Before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the 8K ultra-high-definition channel of the Central Radio and Television Station and the 8K ultra-high-definition test channel of the Beijing Radio and Television Station's Winter Olympic Documentary Began broadcasting and entered normal operation. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the 8K integrated broadcast control platform of Beijing Radio and Television Station has broadcast about 200 hours of CCTV's 8K Winter Olympic games.

Beijing has built 20 large screens of 8K ultra-high-definition urban public spaces and 170 community 8K TV demonstration pilots to broadcast 8K ultra-high-definition programs such as the Winter Olympic Games. About 15,000 people in the city's community demonstration sites watched the 8K display of the Winter Olympics.

This also means that the 8K direct broadcast of the Winter Olympics has played the most direct role in promoting the market penetration of China's 8K TV.

Dong Min, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronic Video Industry Association, told the China Electronics News reporter that the Beijing Winter Olympics have a huge impetus for China's 8K TV market. Whether it is the living room or the outdoor large screen, the whole industry chain such as the promotion of 8K advantages, the production reserves of 8K content, the 8K ultra-high-definition centralized control platform and the 8K application software have played a positive role, especially more users have formed an effective cognition and recognition of 8K. Under the background of the current "push high and sell excellent" tv market, it is foreseeable that leading TV brands will increase the resource tilt of 8K and complete the market occupation in time.

Liu Haijiao, research manager of the consumer electronics division of Aowei Cloud Network (AVC), pointed out to the reporter of China Electronics News that the widespread use of 8K ultra-high-definition technology at the Beijing Winter Olympics has promoted brand owners to actively layout the 8K TV market. With the help of 8K direct broadcasting at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the passenger flow in the 8K experience area of offline stores has doubled, narrowing the distance between users and 8K TVs.

The 8K TV market is expected to double in size

The rapid development of 5G networks and the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics have created good external conditions for the continuous growth of China's 8K TV market.

According to Aowei Cloud Network (AVC) data, china's TV market will "increase in volume reduction" in 2021. In the high-end TV market of more than 6,000 yuan, 8K TV accounts for 1.3%. In January 2022, the size of China's 8K color TV market increased by 38.2% month-on-month, of which the offline scale increased by 92.8% month-on-month.

Although the market size is not large, the growth of the 8K TV market in the past two years is quite eye-catching. In 2020, the size of China's 8K TV market was 65,000 units, an increase of 329.8% year-on-year; in 2021, the scale was 76,000 units, a year-on-year growth rate of 17.8%, but it was still much higher than the overall market. Driven by the Beijing Winter Olympics, it is expected that in 2022, the size of China's 8K TV market will reach 150,000 units, doubling year-on-year.

Looking back at the development process of China's TV industry, it can be found that the decline in TV prices is accompanied by the maturity of display technology, and the same is true for 8K TVs. In 2020, the average price of 8K TVs in mainland China was 21,780 yuan, down 53.5% year-on-year; the average price in 2021 was 16,479 yuan, down 24.3% year-on-year, and the price downward trend was obvious.

In 2021, the average retail price of 65-inch and 75-inch products sold by 8K TVs fell by more than 21% year-on-year. The low, medium and high price coverage routes presented by each size can meet all kinds of consumer needs. TV panel prices are expected to remain low in 2022, which will further increase the market penetration of 8K TVs.

Dong Min pointed out that at present, in the consumer market, the development of 8K is not as expected, on the one hand, the current consumers for the large-size psychological construction of living room TV is still insufficient and obstacles, and large screen is a necessary condition for 8K TV to ensure visual effects; on the other hand, the rise of 8K needs the support of the whole industry chain, the most prominent problem at present is that the richness of 8K content and application software is not enough, affecting the user's newness.

Liu Fei, research director of the consumer electronics division of Aowei Cloud Network (AVC), also told reporters that the high price and lack of 8K content are still the core problems, making the current 8K TV functional experience less than expected.

Promote the popularization of 8K TV from upstream to terminal

At present, in the 8K industry, the mainland's mid-range transmission and terminal equipment is relatively leading, and the production reserves of front-end content and applications are relatively weak, which also inhibits consumer demand for terminal equipment.

Dong Min pointed out that at the industrial level, if 8K TVs want to achieve great progress in terms of scale, first of all, manufacturers need to continue to increase the supply of panels, reduce costs, and improve the hardware industry chain including chips; second, it is necessary to improve the acceptance of 8K in terms of user minds and reduce the psychological barriers to purchase; third, it is necessary to increase the content richness of 8K. At the same time, we will actively develop large-scale applications of 8K video in the fields of culture, education and entertainment, security monitoring, medical health, intelligent transportation, and industrial manufacturing.

At present, the 8K industry chain has made new breakthroughs in core devices and display panels. In October 2021, BOE developed 8K 240Hz a-Si 1G1D large-size display technology, and the 65-inch 8K 240Hz ultra-high resolution, high refresh rate display product is another technological breakthrough in the wide-angle ADS Pro hard screen technology. In November 2021, TCL Huaxing Optoelectronics released the world's first 65-inch 8K inkjet printing OLED, becoming the world's largest OLED panel based on printing technology. In December 2021, BOE launched the world's first 75-inch 8K 288Hz and 110-inch 8K glasses-free 3D displays. In January 2022, Hisense officially released China's first fully self-developed 8K AI picture quality chip, which has been applied to the Hisense Mini LED TV 85U9H.

In terms of content, the 8K ultra-high-definition channel of the Central Radio and Television Station was launched, laying a solid foundation for the localization of the mainland's 8K ultra-high-definition TV transmission and distribution and terminal presentation system equipment. Jiang Wenbo, a member of the editorial board of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, pointed out that this indicates that the mainland has walked in the forefront of the development of ultra-high-definition television in the world. Before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the 8K ultra-high-definition test channel of the Winter Olympic Documentary Channel of Beijing Radio and Television Station was launched. Not long ago, 4K Garden and New Media Co., Ltd. launched the first IPTV platform in China to provide users with 8K content services, and 4K Garden released its 2022 annual content strategy, all of which are 8K IP series for ecological China, taste tour, natural technology and other content, with rich and diverse content and wide coverage of people.

At this year's CES2022, a number of companies launched 8K TVs, Hisense launched the world's first 8K laser display solution; Sony launched an 8K Mini LED TV Z9K; TCL launched an 8K Mini LED TV; Samsung launched an 8K Neo QLED TV.

Liu Fei pointed out that the current brands in the 8K TV market are concentrated in Samsung and Changhong, and the retail volume of these two brands will account for 76.6% in 2021. Driven by the Beijing Winter Olympics, the investment of brand manufacturers in 8K will also be further increased, of which the layout speed of Hisense and Skyworth will begin to accelerate, and it is expected that in 2022, the brand competition in the 8K TV market will diverge, and the brand camp will continue to expand.

The reporter learned from Changhong that in 2022, Changhong will have 8K TV new products listed, and will launch theme activities such as "one-step to buy 8K" and 8K pixel challenge to promote the popularization of 8K TV nationwide.

Liu Xianrong, general manager of Hisense Laser Display Company, told reporters that in the second half of this year, Hisense will launch the world's first 8K laser TV.

(China Electronic News reporter Lu Mengqi)