In the first quarter of 2008, global LCD television sales outpaced the sale of plasma televisions by a whopping eight to one margin.

According to research firm DisplaySearch, 21.1 million LCD televisions were sold in the January to March timeframe compared to just 2.8 million plasma sets.

In the first quarter, the number of televisions sold globally was 46.1million up 1% from the same quarter of 2007. Overall revenues in thequarter were up a more robust 8% to $24.8 billion thanks to anincreasing number of buyers around the world opting for more expensiveflat panel televisions.  

Globally, CRT televisions were still the number one selling televisiontechnology with 22.1 million units sold followed by LCD (21.1 million),plasma (2.8 million) and rear projection television (134,000). Comparedto the first quarter of 2007, CRT sales were down 21%, LCD up 45%,plasma up 20% and RPTV was down 79%.

DisplaySearch reported that North America sales were slightly strongerthan expected in the first quarter, rising 4% over the same quarter in2007, to 7.5M units after three consecutive quarters of year over yeardecline.

The firm said the turnaround can be attributed to muchstronger than expected shipments of CRT TVs during the quarter. CRTsactually retook the #2 technology position in North America from PDP.The strong CRT performance could be attributed to several factors,including increased demand for low-cost digital TVs from consumers,closeout activities from some brands exiting the space or strongerdemand in Canada where CRTs are free from the burden of mandateddigital tuner requirements, thus lowering prices.

On a brand basis, Samsung was the global leader in revenues for the ninth straight quarter, improving to more than 20% of all revenues thanks to 39% year over year growth. Samsung also had the top ranking on a unit basis. Sony was #2 on a revenue basis with 13.2% of revenues followed by LGE (11.6%), Sharp (7.3%) and Panasonic (7.0%).

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