Los Angeles, CA–The American love affair with flat-panel TVs continues unabated with owners of plasma sets proving to be extremely happy about their choice of TV, according to a study from Rockbridge Associates Inc.
Commissioned by the Plasma Display Coalition (PDC), the online survey was completed by 1,247 U.S. adults who own plasma TVs, 43% of whom also own a flat-panel LCD TV.
Key findings include:
98% of those surveyed reported being “very satisfied” (75%) or “satisfied” (23%) with their plasma sets. Two out of three said they would recommend a plasma TV to family and friends and one-third said they expect to buy another plasma TV at some point before the middle of next year.
98% rated plasma picture quality as “excellent” or “good,” using the words “awesome,” “great,” and “clear” most often to describe their plasma TVs.
96% said picture quality was the most important factor in their decision to buy a plasma TV, followed by screen size (91%), resolution (88%), life expectancy (84%) and price (83%). Color reproduction, in particular, was cited by 68% of those surveyed as the most important advantage of plasma.
91% described their plasma TVs as an “excellent” (54%) or “good” (37%) value when asked to consider how much they spent on the TV vs. benefits received.
43% of plasma TV owners also own an LCD flat-panel set.
Movies (92%), news programs (77%) and sports (72%) are the most popular type of programming watched.
“It’s clear that Americans who researched and bought plasma TVs are extremely passionate about the choice they made,” said Jim Palumbo, President of the Plasma Display Coalition. “More than half of those surveyed said they are more likely to throw parties or have friends over to watch TV since they bought a plasma set.”
In other findings, plasma TV owners cited in-store displays as the most important source of information when they were shopping for a new TV, followed by retail salespeople and product reviews in consumer publications. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed bought a plasma TV to replace a tube set.