NCAA basketball tournament to spur sale of 1 million HDTVs, CEA study says

Basketball apparently isn’t the only thing March Madness viewers are crazy about if the results of a new Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) survey are any indication.

Last week, the association released the findings of a January survey showing that the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament will be responsible for the sale of nearly 1 million HDTVs.

The finding is part of a broader association study, “CEA’s Third Annual Sports and Technology” survey report. In all, the study found that the tournament will help inspire the purchase of 934,000 HDTVs, accounting for a little more than $1 billion in retail sales, according to the association.

The study also found growth in the popularity of downloading and watching sports via the Internet. According to the CEA, 38 percent of sports fans will do so throughout the next two years, an increase of 10 percent from 2007.

The CEA survey was fielded to an online national sample of 2278 U.S. adults Jan. 14–21. Results were weighted to reflect national online demographics. The margin of sampling error at 95 percent confidence for aggregate results is +/- 2.1 percent. The study was designed and formulated by the CEA and the Sports Video Group.

For more information, visit www.ce.org and www.ebrain.org.