South Africans love big TVs — this is the favourite size

The increased popularity of streaming services in Africa means more people are watching movies at home rather than in cinemas and investing in bigger-screen TVs, the Sunday Times reports.

According to Sony Middle East and Africa managing director Jobin Joejoe, the optimal-sized TV in South Africa is 65 inches.

However, it varies from nation to nation, with the most popular sizes in Kenya and Nigeria being 50 or 55 inches.

Consumers are now looking at spending more screen time at home, in terms of utilising the content that’s there on OTT platforms,” said Joejoe.

He said more screen time at home has resulted in viewers upgrading to bigger-screen TVs, and he expects the trend to continue.

According to Joejoe, South Africa is Sony’s most significant market on the continent and is also considered its showcase market for Africa.

He said the country leads the region in adopting new technologies.

In addition to size, people looking to buy a new TV must consider which technology best suits their needs.

Although organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology has become more popular in recent years, sales trends and forecasts for the next few years show that liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs will still be around for a long time.

Modern LCD TVs have two primary components: the LCD panel, featuring a red, a green, and a blue polarised panel, and a light-emitting diode (LED) backlight.

Liquid crystal molecules flow between the three panels, and an electric current causes them to rotate, allowing varying amounts of light to filter through to the viewer.

The other major display technology currently in widespread use is OLED, which doesn’t feature a backlight and has millions of small, flexible diodes, each capable of producing a spectrum of colours.

This technology allows for the switching on and off of individual pixels, producing deep blacks in dark scenes for improved contrast, while LCD TVs tend to show dark grey patches.

However, OLED TVs are more expensive to produce than LCDs and have lower peak brightness.

Over most of the past decade, the world’s two most prominent TV panel manufacturers, Samsung and LG, have taken contrasting approaches regarding the technology they prioritise.

LG has focused heavily on OLED technology for its premium TVs. Samsung and many other manufacturers have focused on refining and upgrading LCD TVs.

According to Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), advanced LCD and OLED sales will continue to grow until at least 2027.

It estimates that OLED TVs will see a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% from 2023 to 2027, while LCDs will continue to grow by around 8% over the same period.

However, it expects the contribution of advanced LCDs to overall revenue to drop to 57% by 2028.

DSCC also expects MiniLED TV revenue to exceed OLED TVs by 2027.

MiniLED TVs feature backlights with extremely small lights — as small as 200 microns across — making it possible to pack thousands of them together.

This allows more precise light control and brings advanced LCD contract performance closer to OLED.

Many LCD manufacturers use a combination of MiniLED and QLED to build TVs that combine high brightness and greater colour accuracy.

The DSCC expects MiniLED TV revenue to exceed OLEDs due to their better cost-effectiveness.

Market research agency Luotu Technology anticipates that by 2028, more than three MiniLED TVs will be sold for every OLED TV.