New survey predicts sale of 1m HDTVs in next 12 months

HDTV is about to take off in a big way according to a new survey

30 March 2006 11:24 GMT / By Stuart Miles

HDTV is about to take off in a big way according to a new survey.

An estimated 800,000 to 1 million adults will buy HDTV (High Definition Television Sets) over the next year, according to a report by Continental Research on Digital TV.

Jon Beaumont, director at Continental Research, said: "Of all respondents aware of HDTV, 2% claimed already to have HDTV, 7% claimed to be very interested and 36% quite interested. From this data we estimate that between 800,000 and 1m homes will purchase an HDTV set in the next 12 months. Potentially one million converts to HDTV will certainly please the manufacturers at such an early stage in its evolution."

66% of all respondents were aware of HDTV, and awareness was higher amongst men (77%), 35-54‚s (72%), ABC1‚s (71%) and those working full time (71%).

All respondents were asked to choose what feature they most thought of when they heard the phrase High Definition Television. According to the researchers 71% chose clearer picture.

However 57% of the respondents aware of HDTV were unaware other HD equipment was required to watch HD television programmes compared to 41% who realised that you would have to upgrade your telly.