Global television shipments increased 6% year-on-year to 50.3 million units in the first quarter of 2026, as retailers increased inventory in anticipation of the football World Cup. Major sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup generally provide a boost to television sales, as people use them as a reason to buy a better, often larger screen.
The market tracker from informa research company Omdia shows that shipments to all regions grew year on year, except for mainland China, where there is surprisingly weak local demand, although it still had about 8.8 million shipments.
Chinese vendors redirected additional shipments into Asia and Oceania, where total shipments were up 13% at around 8.9 million units, and Latin America, up 12% at about 6.9 million.
Western Europe also had about 6. 9 million units, but grown was only about 1.2%.
Shipments were up 11% in North America at about 10.9 million units, despite a highly saturated market.
As co-host of the World Cup football tournament, the United States market offers retailers a clear opportunity to promote television sets aggressively.
Competition among retailers remains intense, and margins are slim, with manufacturers increasingly reliant on recurring revenue from advertising and other sources rather than hardware sales.
This has largely insulated consumers in North America and elsewhere from increased memory prices that are affecting a wide range of consumer goods.
Globally, television prices have also remained surprisingly stable, reflecting the highly competitive nature of the market.
TV Sets (Emerging Technologies) Market Tracker is published by Omdia.