Over two hundred thousand new TVs sold in a single week, more than double the normal number: Gfk data photograph the switch off underway, which is also fueling some controversy
As was predictable, and as we have also told you in recent days, the switch from the Mpeg-2 codec to the Mpeg-4 codec for the first 15 RAI and Mediaset channels has caused a real rush to purchase new TV sets, fully compatible with DVB-T2 (and therefore also with Mpeg-4). A market analysis by Gfk confirms this: in the week between 11th and 17th October 2021 there was a real boom in purchases.
The numbers are very high, if compared to the same week in 2020, but they remain high also if compared to the previous week (4th-10th October 2020). But the growth was not only numerical, but also in value: Italians spent more (compared to the same week of 2020) because of the market literally gone crazy, between excess demand (caused by the imminent switch off), scarcity of supply (caused by few stocks and logistic difficulties deriving from COVID) and sellers who raised prices not always in a justified way. All of this, however, means that there has been a sustained and prolonged trend, resulting in the replacement of hundreds of thousands of old TVs in recent weeks.
How many TVs were sold for the switch off
Gfk data speaks of 217 thousand TVs sold in week 41 of 2021, up 120% from week 41 of 2020. So last week, more than twice as many TVs were sold as would normally be sold in a week. But even the week before, sales were strong: the difference between the week of October 4-10 and the week of October 11-17, in fact, is 16% and, as a result, from October 4 to 10, about 183 thousand new Smart TVs were sold.
Prices went up and, compared to a growth in the number of TVs sold equal to 120%, there was a growth in value (i.e., Italians’ spending to buy TVs) equal to 152%. Again, Gfk data tells us that, compared to 2020, new TVs will cost 26% more this year.
These data take into account the sales of the main stores (and chain stores), both online and physical, present in Italy.
New TV for the switch off: useless purchase?
In these days, after the hangover of purchases of new DVB-T2 compatible TVs, we are seeing a controversy mounting: most of the over 300 thousand new TVs bought in the last two weeks would be useless, because most of the TVs present in the homes of Italians were already Mpeg-4 compatible.
This controversy does not make much sense, because it is literally impossible to know which TVs our fellow citizens had in their homes before buying the new one. Surely in some cases the TVs already present were compatible, just as surely in other cases they were not.
The question, however, is misplaced: the passage to DVB-T2 will be gradual and foresees two technical steps: the first, currently underway, is the one that foresees the replacement of the Mpeg-2 codec with Mpeg-4, while the second, which will begin in January 2023, foresees the passage from Mpeg-4 to HEVC-Main10.
Also, many TVs scrapped these days may be compatible with Mpeg-4, therefore, it is by no means certain that they will be compatible with HEVC-Main10 as well. It’s certain, instead, that a Smart TV bought today will be compatible with both codecs and that it has at least HD-Ready resolution.
As a result, it won’t give any problems neither when all the channels will switch to Mpeg-4, nor when all the channels will switch to HD (and here we explain better what it’s all about), nor when they will switch to HEVC Main-10 which, we remind you, is the real definitive codec of the new second generation digital terrestrial standard DVB-T2.