Dubai: Netflix has become a big enabler for the growth of big-size televisions in the UAE, an industry expert said.
“The Netflix content has become much cheaper after it was launched officially in the UAE. It now has rich content for Full HD and 4K,” said Nilesh Khalkho, CEO of Sharaf DG.
Netflix is offered in the UAE in three packages — basic for $7.99 (Dh29.32), standard for $9.99 and premium for $11.99.
Khalkho said that people who used to watch Netflix on mobile phones are returning to view it on TVs, especially bigger screens, above 75 inches.
According to research firm GfK, TVs gained positivity in value in single digit year on year in the second quarter in the UAE, with heavy promotional offers on the big-size televisions.
Quoting a GfK report, Khalkho said that the UAE TV market has grown by four per cent year on year in the first eight months.
“Our TV business has grown 16.4 per cent during the same period.
LG has slashed the prices of its 75-inch 4K TV for Gitex Shopper from Dh14,999 to Dh8,499 while the 55-inch OLED from Dh14,999 to Dh7,499 and 65-inch 4K from Dh9,999 to Dh4,999, in some models up to 50 per cent discount.
“OLEDs are priced a bit high now but for other LCD models we are very competitive. The idea of dropping the prices is to make OLED TVs more affordable despite its tag as an expensive product,” said Boo Kim, product manager for TV segment at LG Electronics.
He said that consumers are converting their 55-inch TVs to 75-inch models as prices have become affordable.
“We are going to increase the volume of OLED TV production, so we have room to play in that space,” he said.
Meanwhile, Samsung has reduced prices for its 70-inch 4K TV from Dh7,999 to Dh5,999.
Emax is selling an 85-inch Samsung 4K TV, which was worth Dh30,999, for Dh19,999 and some bundles and an 85-inch Sony 4K TV, which was worth Dh24,999, for Dh19,999 and some bundles.
Niranjan Gidwani, CEO of Eros Group, said that TCL’s performance in the UAE has also seen a growth of 75 per cent over three years with the 55-inch 4K model leading the market preference among the TCL products.
As per GfK data till July, the OLED market has grown by 155 per cent in the last three months (when comparing May-July v/s Feb-April) in the UAE.
“The best performing month has been July where the market grew by 68 per cent over June (which was Eid, and the second biggest month since January during DSF). This has been driven by various new models coming in 2017 — there are 11 new models launched this year,” Khalkho said.
“Samsung 75-inch TV sales have grown up by 2,397 per cent. In July, we sold 11 units, 12 units in August, 14 units in September and we sold 22 units at Gitex Shopper in the first two days. LG 75-inch TV, which we used to sell two or three units a month, sold two units in the first two days of the event,” he said.
“All the brands are supporting us and we have also invested a lot to generate demand as we are the largest sellers of large-screen TVs in the UAE,” he said.
Mahesh Chotrani, assistant vice-president of Jacky’s Electronics, said that the offers for TVs are aggressive as brands are geared up for better sales.
“We have grown around 8-10 per cent in TV sales. When the offers are aggressive, it will induce the customer to buy even if he hasn’t planned it,” he said.
He added that the top brands such as Samsung, LG and Sony and even tier-2 brands have aggressive pricing for this Gitex Shopper. The three top brands occupy 70 to 75 per cent of the market.
