Research: Consumers remain sceptical on 8K
April 28, 2022
8K is failing to appeal to consumers, Omdia’s Senior Director, Media and Entertainment Maria Rua Aguete has said at a session on the reality of UHD deployments at the 2022 NAB Show.
According to Omdia, shipments of 8K TVs accounted for just 0.15 per cent of all TV shipments in 2021. This translated to a little more than 350,000 units globally.
In Q4 2021, 95,500 8K televisions were shipped, an increase from 81,900 in Q3 2021 due to seasonality. Shipments were led by China, although Western Europe and North America saw similar shipment numbers, despite an absence of 8K content.
Rua Aguete suggests that 8K TV sales have lost momentum largely due to a lack of native content, which contributes to an additional factor of failed marketing.
Omdia sees no convincing market demand of further 8K service development. Even in Japan, where there is a true 8K channel (from NHK) , uptake has been minimal.
Working the reduced shipment forecast through to households, Omdia expects just 2.7 million households worldwide to have an 8K TV by the end of 2026.
No region has yet to hit the level of 1 per cent of households with a large enough audience to become commercially interesting. With TV providers struggling with the economics of 4K, 8K’s small audience appears unattractive to content producers.