Sales of 4K TVs hit nearly three million in the US

The latest figures released by The Digital Entertainment Group in its third-quarter report show that sales of 4K TVs were up 494 per cent for the quarter.

To put the 2.8 million figure into context, there are 96 million US households with high-definition TVs and nearly 80 million with Blu-ray players. So 4K TV still has a long way to go if it is to become mainstream.

Total US spending on home entertainment was $4bn for the reported period, and for the year to date has reached $13bn.

Around half of the spending (53 per cent) in the third quarter went on digital products, with spending on digital and physical media expected to be about equal by the end of this year.

Spending on Blu-ray and DVD discs fell 14 per cent in Q3 to $1.146 billion, with overall physical media sales dropping by $200m. Though overall spending on digital (known as electronic sell-through) products rose by 14 per cent year on year, that amounted to just $434m in total - an increase of $50m.

Consumers are increasingly shifting their spending to video-on-demand services such as Netflix. Revenues in this sector grew by $240m (23 per cent) year-on-year to $1.23bn.

MORE: Best 4K Ultra HD TVs

Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.