In the recently unveiled Qatar World Cup, fans can not only see the fierce competition on the Green Field, but also see Chinese brands everywhere around the field, including Mengniu , Hisense and vivo, etc. Data released by global data analysis and consulting company Global Data shows that Chinese companies sponsored a total of US$1.395 billion in Qatar at the World Cup, surpassing US$1.1 billion in the United States, becoming the world's largest sponsor, and Hisense Group is the only home appliance company among Chinese sponsors.
Since Hisense Group became a sponsor of the French European Cup in 2016, it has successively sponsored the Russian World Cup and European Cup . And at this year's Qatar World Cup, Hisense made a high-profile appearance. The first goal-scoring moment of this World Cup, the sideline billboard happened to be on "Hisense TV", witnessing this moment with thousands of fans, and also letting the Chinese brand be known to viewers all over the world.
(Photo source: Hisense official)
In addition to having outstanding performance in the World Cup, Hisense also achieved fruitful results in the global color TV market this year. According to the latest monitoring data of AVCRevo, Hisense TV's global cumulative sales this year have surpassed LG, jumping to second place in the world. The pattern of the color TV market in the future may be reshuffled.
Hisense's success is not luck, it also depends on its strength
"Global TV Brand Shipping Monthly Data Report" shows that global color TV shipments have declined for eight consecutive months this year, and the cumulative shipments in the first three quarters fell by 5.9%. In such adversity, global shipments of Hisense (including Toshiba and Vidda brands) increased by 18% year-on-year to 19.6 million units. Moreover, its sales surpassed LG for the first time to become the second in the world, setting a brand record high.
(Photo source: AVCRevo)
In the domestic market, Hisense TV's sales have achieved positive growth for 14 consecutive months. The cumulative shipments from January to October this year increased by 30% year-on-year, and the market share of cumulative sales reached 25.19%, leading 8% above the second place. In overseas markets, Hisense TV also achieved a year-on-year growth of 13%, and has achieved positive growth for eight consecutive months since March this year, which can be said to be a comprehensive blooming at home and abroad.
Hisense has always been one of the giants in the domestic color TV market, and its sales have always ranked among the top three in China. However, Hisense is not willing to stop there. It first launched the Vidda brand, which is positioned to be younger and has a cost-effective price. This move not only allows more products to penetrate the sinking market, but also allows consumers to buy good products at lower prices, helping Hisense expand its influence in the mid- and low-end markets.
(Photo source: Hisense official)
Secondly, Hisense announced in 2018 that it acquired Toshiba TV for RMB 750 million. Although this old Japanese TV company has poor performance, it still has strong technical strength and brand influence. Hisense will take it under its command, integrating the resources and technical strength of both parties, and quickly enhancing Hisense's strength in the TV industry. In addition, Hisense also brought the development concepts and experience of some Chinese companies to Toshiba, promoting Toshiba's steady development in the high-end market, and thus helping Hisense continue to expand its territory in overseas markets.
has completed the dual-line layout of the low-end and high-end markets. Hisense is also continuing to expand its product line and has successively launched new products such as OLED TVs and Mini LED TVs. In addition to making new breakthroughs in the display panel level, it has also continued to upgrade in the software and hardware levels such as chip research and development, picture quality algorithms, etc. All of this helped Hisense successfully surpass LG today and reach the second place in the world. However, this is just a temporary surpass. Hisense's lead is not much, and LG still has the ability to catch up again. Therefore, if Hisense wants to stabilize its current position and widen the gap, it also needs to continue to make progress in product research and development and technological innovation, and Hisense may be more difficult in the future.
(Photo source: LG official)
Although LG has an absolute dominant position in the OLED high-end TV market, its overall development is not satisfactory. This year, the global economy continues to decline, and coupled with the turbulence in Russia and Ukraine, the European color TV market continues to sluggish, and international brands like LG have also suffered a very painful blow. In May this year, there was news that LG showed that it had reduced the purchase volume of LCD TV panels by at least 10% to 20%, and , Samsung even cut orders by 30% to 40%. Even if LG can still maintain growth in the high-end market, the mid- and low-end markets of sales have suffered severely, and a sharp decline in sales is inevitable.
Hisense's technical strength may not be able to catch up with LG, but it is backed by China, the world's number one consumer market, and continues to expand its overseas influence by sponsoring the World Cup and acquiring Toshiba. The basic market is consolidated and continuously expanding, and the development advantages are obvious. LG's main battlefield is in Europe and the United States. The continuous epidemic and inflation have completely disrupted LG's market layout, and the decline in sales can be said to be an inevitable outcome. With such a situation, the pattern of the global color TV market may be reshuffled.
Domestic TV brands have greater development advantages
You will find that Samsung, Sony , and LG are really powerful in terms of picture quality. The deepest impression on consumers is that the picture quality is good, while Chinese TV brands pay more attention to technological and functional innovation. By improving the hardware performance of a certain aspect of the TV and combining with the corresponding software content, the functions of the TV are segmented and scenarioized to improve the usage experience of the TV and then covering a certain part of the specific consumer group. In today's TV industry, it is far from enough to compete with the quality and color of the picture. It also needs to pay attention to functional experience and how to meet consumers' more diversified needs.
(Photo source: LG official)
Xiao Lei believes that domestic TV brands have the following major advantages compared with international TV brands: The first point is that they value innovation and dare to innovate. In recent years, many new TV categories have emerged in China, such as rotating vertical TV, music karaoke TV, smart screen and game TV, etc., which are all manifestations of innovation in domestic brands. Although some categories may not be so popular and the market feedback is average, there are also many products like gaming TV that are highly recognized and loved by everyone.
The TV industry has been developing for decades, but the form and function of TV has never seen much change. Faced with the ever-changing new era and the more diverse consumer demands, the current TV functions are indeed not enough, which is also the reason why the TV opening rate has continued to decline in recent years. Therefore, the TV industry must undergo major upgrades and reforms, and innovation is even more urgent. If you blindly improve the picture quality but not the experience, the TV will eventually become a decoration. Chinese companies have obviously realized this and have actively innovated in recent years. Although the process is full of ups and downs, they are all accumulating experience for the future.
The second point is that the emergence of various new display technologies, combined with AI algorithms, continue to make up for the shortcomings of domestic TVs in the picture quality level. Although the picture quality of TVs is of course very important, even TVs with a scale of 1,000 yuan support 4K, everyone's picture quality is really not bad, and it can fully meet the needs of the general public. Brands such as LG are indeed leading in image quality, but with the continuous emergence of new technologies such as OLED and Mini LED, coupled with the continuous development and progress of the domestic display industry, the shortcomings in the quality of domestic TVs in the past have been made up for. At the same time, the emergence of AI artificial intelligence and various image quality enhancement algorithms has further improved the picture quality performance of domestic TVs. It is really not inferior to international brands at all and has strong competitiveness in the high-end market.
(Photo source: Hisense official)
The third point is behind the domestic brands is a huge consumer market like China, which has strong development potential to be explored. Although the domestic color TV market has become saturated, my country's population base is large. Even if only a small number of people have the need to replace it, it can bring a lot of sales to domestic brands, and the basic market is very stable. Even if the overseas market is not prosperous enough, there is still a lot of room for growth in China, the premise is that the product must be attractive enough before someone is willing to pay for it.
Although domestic TV companies have obvious advantages, they still need to continue to strengthen their own strength and continue to explore on the road of innovation. After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. A brand like LG that has dominated the international market for a long time has a very fast recovery. Maybe one day sales will take off again. Therefore, domestic brands should strive to give full play to their own advantages and continuously improve the brand's international influence in order to enable us to develop faster and go further in the international market. Perhaps in a few years, the rankings of the top three in the world will change again.
