What TVs did Ukrainians spend their income on during quarantine? When will 4K become widespread? How much does the company spend on
How Ukrainians rushed to buy TVs
gg: How is the Smart TV market doing in Ukraine?
The year began with very aggressive growth during the wintermonths compared to the same period in 2019: January - by 96% and February - by 55% in physical volumes. By the middle of spring, the dynamics of growth decreased significantly (March - by 18%, April - by 29%). Nevertheless, the market continued to grow in volume terms.
He was driven by several factors at once: significant deferred demand, forced long-term imprisonment at home, when people buy TVs as an additional screen for home, including for work, to the country, etc., favorable market conditions for LCD panels in the first half of the year and intensified competition between Korean and Chinese brands.
As a result, in May the market won back with growth of 128% compared to the same period in 2019 and continues to grow throughout the year, only changing the growth dynamics.
It is important to note that the market grew in the first half of the yearmainly in kind. In money terms, by April, the market practically stopped growing (+ 1.8% in hryvnia), and in dollar terms it showed a slight minus: -0.34%. Now the market has started to win back the price. Due to the increasing demand and cost of LCD panels, TV manufacturers are forced to raise prices for their products.
During the quarantine period, there were changes in the structure of sales channels: although online platforms could not fully replace closed offline retail outlets, the share of the e-commerce channel has grown significantly.
In the sales structure, the share of conventional TVs is 15%, Smart TV - 85%
gg: Has consumer preferences somehow changed this year?
Still the core of the assortment portfolioTV manufacturers make budget models with small diagonals. In the Ukrainian market, the sale of TVs with a diagonal of up to 40 "is 57%. For comparison, three years ago this figure was 62%. Diagonals 43 "- 65" account for 43% of the market.
At the same time, from more mature markets, we hear the trend for TVs with large diagonals, in particular 50 ", 55" and 65 ".
Clearly traceable request for Ultra permissionHD and 4K playback capability. Users are increasingly starting to use the TV voice control function, as well as Google Assistant technology.
The share of TVs without Smart TVs is falling, although the demand for them remains. In the sales structure, the share of conventional TVs is 15%, Smart TV - 85%.
For comparison, in 2019 the share of TVs without Smart TV was 25%, and in 2017 - 34%.
Many users have already appreciated Android TV and the audience's demand for TVs on "pure" Android is gaining momentum.
gg: What Smart TVs do Ukrainians mainly buy?
43 ”Ultra TVsHD is the most popular type of TVs on the Ukrainian market today. The share of such devices is about 20%, over the past three years it has doubled, and now it is the most dynamically developing cluster in Ukraine.
The basis of the domestic market is stillTVs with 32 "and 43" diagonal make up the share of about 40%. At the same time, we can talk about a gradual shift of the market towards TVs with large diagonals. In just three years, the total share of TVs with 50 "and 55" diagonals has grown from 6% to 20%.
The basis of the domestic market is still formed by TVs with a diagonal of 32 "and 43", taking a total share of about 40%
gg: Ukrainian channels speak, usersare reluctant to leave the paid satellite, but OTT is growing well from the paid segments. On the other hand, some channels are launched in our country in 4K. Do you feel the growth of OTT and the readiness of the audience for 4K?
Our company has its own OTT service KIVI TV. The results of its development give us every reason to state that in Ukraine users are more willing to pay for OTT services.
4K demand is on the rise. We have all the latest models with a diagonal from 40 '' support this format. I believe 4K will become the new standard for video over the next five years.
How the Ukrainian TV market differs from its neighbors
gg: What are your positions now in Kazakhstan, RF and RB? How do these markets differ from the Ukrainian one?
The TV market is very dynamic, we live by the weekly business rhythm and measure our market position weekly.
The top five brands remain unchanged throughout the year,we only move each other weekly from position to position. In various periods in Ukraine, KIVI took from first to fourth place. This year we started from the third position. But the fourth quarter has a key influence on the final results of the year.
In the markets of Belarus and Kazakhstan, we entered the top 3 and top 5 brands, respectively. In the Russian market, our brand is in the top ten.
Ukrainian market by some characteristicssimilar to the markets of Belarus and Kazakhstan, although each of them has its own flavor. For example, consumers in Kazakhstan prefer brighter colors in packaging and brand awareness is very important for them, more important than in other markets. But in terms of volume, both markets are much smaller than the Ukrainian market, which also has the largest deferred demand among all the others.
In various periods in Ukraine, KIVI ranked from first to fourth place
But the Russian market is noticeably different: it is more capacious, almost eight times more than Ukrainian. It presents significantly more brands, tougher competition and more pronounced regional characteristics. Among the peculiarities of the Russian market is the fact that the share of TVs without Smart TV technology is still approximately 50%.
How KIVI does R&D
gg: How many people do you work in R&D? And what are they doing?
More than 100 people are involved in R&D. This is an international team of specialists that develops, tests and maintains all products from hardware to software.
gg: How much do you spend on R&D?
Investments in R&D today already amount to millions of dollars.
Today, Chinese manufacturers play a leading role in the production of panels
gg: Who do you buy TV matrices from?
Even last year, leading manufacturersmatrices were Korean companies whose namesake TV brands are widely known to consumers. But over the past year, the market situation has changed dramatically and today the leading role in the production of panels is played by Chinese manufacturers. We cooperate with some of them, including one of the industry leaders - the BОЕ company.
gg: What does content integration depend on? Under what conditions do the same Netflix, Megogo, IVI, etc. appear? Who pays the commission?
As such, there is no commission, the conditions are individual for each manufacturer. The user also does not pay for it, the number of pre-installed applications is small.