Video and Multimedia Forecasts and Projections
May 1, 2002 12:00 PM,
NAT HECHT
A LOT OF INFORMATION HAS CROSSED MY DESK IN THE PAST YEAR ABOUTTHE growth of the multimedia video market, both in terms of sales andproduct development. Ads in in-flight magazines target the decisionmakers at major corporations, who have been the largest consumers ofportable video projectors. As projector prices have dropped, savingswere also apparent in small to mid-size installation projectors. Theindustry that has sprung up in ceiling mounts for small projectors isevidence that many “portable” projectors are actually beingused in fixed installations.
Research confirms the growth of the multimedia video market even inspite of the slowdown that the economy experienced in 2001.Furthermore, according to Stanford Resources, shipments of projectorswill more than double by the year 2007, moving from 3.8 million unitsshipped in 2001 to 8.6 million units shipped in 2007. That willrepresent a 62 percent revenue growth over six years from $11.8 to$19.2 billion. Not surprisingly, the growth rate is expected to behighest for the lightest projectors, particularly the 3-pounders.Driving sales will be the ability to link the projectors through anetwork and the option of wireless connectivity. Here are someforecasts for the next six years:
- Worldwide shipments of front projectors will grow from 1.4 millionunits to 4.5 million units.
- LCD technology will dominate the front-projection market (74 percentof shipped units) followed by MEMS/DLP (25 percent). Front MEMS/DLPwill experience strong growth throughout the forecast period.
- Shipments of rear projectors will grow from 2.4 million to 4.1million units. The rear-projection market is dominated by CRT systemsused in projection televisions sold in North America, as well as ingrowing markets in the Far East. In the coming years rear-projectionvideowall applications will grow rapidly. Rear projectors using LCOSand DLP technologies will experience the highest growth rate becausethey will be used in both projection TVs and videowalls.
Where does all this growth leave us in the business market? Thelion’s share of market value will be in consumer applications (49percent), but the second largest group is business applications at 37percent market value. The European market will grow faster than theNorth American market over the next six years; in fact, North America’sshare will fall to 51 percent by 2007, with a resulting increase of 25percent in market shipments to Europe by 2007. A new TFCinfo LLC reportalso supports growth in European projector sales. According to TFCinfo,unit sales of multimedia projectors in Europe increased by 27 percentduring 2001. (Unit sales in Spain grew 60 percent year to year!) Thefastest growing segment of the European projector market is homecinema, doubling in the second half of 2001.
Contact Stanford Resources at stanfordresources.com/ltf_pd.asp for moreinformation or call (310) 524-4007 and ask for “ProjectionDisplays 2001.” The report on Europe can be found at tfcinfo.comor by calling (207) 767-5717 and asking for “MultimediaProjectors in Europe 2001 — second half.”
