Prices of almost every kind of electrical device have increased steeply this year, but there’s one major exception to that rule – televisions. In fact, while everything from personal computers to smartphones and AV receivers cost a lot more this year, the price of many TVs has actually decreased compared to their predecessors launched in 2025.
Now we know why. A new report from the market research firm Omdia has revealed that TV makers are keeping their prices artificially low because they’re in the midst of a pivot to a new business model that’s more focused on advertising revenue streams.
Omdia’s report said North America is a clear example of this trend. In that region, competition among TV makers is so fierce that basically every player is under pressure not to increase their prices, even though the profit margins on them are already razor-thin.
Fortunately for TV brands, they’ve found an ideal way to bear the brunt of increasing component costs – such as memory chips, which are being gobbled up by all of the AI server buyers – in the shape of advertising-based revenue streams. So while most consumers are no doubt happy they’re not going to have to pay more if they’re in the market for a TV, they’re going to have to pay for it in a different way.
This year has been good for TV sales, with Omdia saying that the forthcoming World Cup has helped boost shipments by around 6% this year. Most major regions have seen growth, with TV sales rising 13% in Asia and Oceania, 12% in Latin America and 11% in North America. According to Omdia, part of the reason for this is that Chinese TV brands are aggressively targeting global markets with low-cost models to compensate for reduced demand at home.
The TV sales themselves are barely profitable, but none of the TV makers are worried about this because they’re shifting to a new “content-to-commerce” model popularised by Walmart, which owns the Vizio TV and Onn streaming stick brands. Whenever someone buys one of those devices, Walmart uses their streaming activity to enable better targeted ads, which provide a recurring income stream from each user. It’s a superior model – when you sell a television or streaming stick, you only get paid once, but with ads, you can continue getting paid for the lifetime of the device.
While this model does subsidise the cost of TV hardware, there’s a risk that if component prices keep on rising, the TV sellers may decide that the best tonic is to serve even more ads to their customers.
