Manufacturers will see a lingering reluctance to buy HD products start to evolve into an eventual surge in U.S. sales through the rest of this decade, which will boost overall market value to about $65 billion by 2009, according to a new study from Parks Associates.
The report finds consumers are growing "less skeptical about HDTV," the research firm said in a statement, which is creating a "gradual increase" in demand for HD products and services. Just less than half of American households "plan to" buy an HD set in the next year, the study concludes. Not all who plan to purchase consumer items within specific time frames actually wind up doing so, but if every household who wants an HD set in the next 12 months actually goes out and buys one, the increase would boost HD sales by about 30 percent by the end of 2006.
The study points out that late-2005 overall market penetration for HD sets and services remains low: The current subscription rate for HD programming is barely 10 percent among digital video subscribers, it finds, while only a third of total HD households actually subscribe to HD channels. (Among all American households, according to the most recent studies over the past year, perhaps five percent watch HD on HD sets from cable, DBS and off-air.)
