San Juan Capistrano, California – December 19, 2014. PMA Research (PMA), the worldwide market information experts on large displays, has published their latest suite of reports on home projectors. The reports provide historical sales and forecasts for worldwide projector volume, revenue, and street prices, drill-down capability into 60+ countries, and detailed survey findings on the latest trends among projector owners and shoppers.

For the full year 2014, sales of home projectors are expected to surge by 25% over 2013. While this past summer’s World Cup contributed meaningfully to that growth, increased affordability, connectivity, and versatility of home projectors played pivotal roles in driving growth throughout the entire year including a strong holiday season. Also, in advanced countries, the current window between the initial flat panel craze of several years ago and the first, large wave of replacements that may or may not materialize in the next few years is also contributing to buoyant growth in the home projector market.

Aggressive pricing of 1080p projectors, which have now fallen below US$700, has sparked first-time purchases and replacement sales in the U.S., Western Europe, and other advanced countries. At the same time, attractive prices for 1080p, 720p, and even standard aspect ratio projectors have untapped demand from many first-time buyers in ASEAN countries, China, and Latin America. And with image sizes for projectors topping 100 inches, flat panel TVs do not come close to competing with projectors on a price vs. image-size basis. Also, growth in the home projector market hasn’t been limited to low-priced projectors. Sales of step-up models as well as high-end, 4K home theater models priced at US$10,000 and higher are also expected to finish the year with 25% growth over last year. And despite the strong growth, PMA’s survey results indicate that educating consumers about projectors – by both manufacturers and retailers – is likely holding back growth even more.

Another key driver of growth is the versatility of projectors. Many home projectors are now hitting 3000 ANSI lumens but also offer customized adjustments to accommodate daylight or darkened viewing environments. As confirmed in PMA’s recent end-user surveys, home projectors also meet the requirements of owners and shoppers for flexible image sizes, placement locations, and projection surfaces – from permanent, fixed screens in dedicated home theater rooms, to motorized or manual, roll-down screens in living rooms and family rooms, and even to portable projection on a wall or onto a floor-standing or table-top screen. Pico projectors and personal projectors, which are not included in these growth figures, are also showcasing the versatility of projectors as these compact projectors are used for both mini-home-theaters and portable business and entertainment applications.

Along with the versatility of projectors, owners and shoppers are finding increased connectivity options. While HDMI is the most popular connection, PMA’s survey indicates that wireless is a significant connectivity option for feeding content to projectors. And that’s true for current home projector owners as well as being high on the wish list for home projector shoppers. PMA’s recent end-user surveys also confirm the growing popularity of streaming and downloading movies. Projector owners and shoppers have a high incidence of connecting to a PC or laptop and are more likely to own a streaming device than the general population.

About PMA Research

PMA Research specializes in worldwide front projector market information, including High-End projectors, Mainstream projectors, and Pico and Personal projectors. Their Projector Industry Service family of reports provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on front projector markets, and periodic surveys of dealers and end users (including organizations and individual consumers). Their Projector Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of front projectors sold by leading U.S. retailers, resellers, and distributors.

Expanded coverage includes U.S. Professional Large-Format Flat Panel Display market information. Their Pro AV Flat Panel Tracking Service offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, revenues and true volume-weighted street prices of Professional Large-Format Flat Panel Displays sold by leading U.S. dealers, systems integrators and distributors.

PMA Research was formerly Pacific Media Associates, which was established by Dr. William Coggshall. Dr. Coggshall was a co-founder of Dataquest (now part of Gartner) and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. PMA Research has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company’s US headquarters is located at 25852 Avenida Cabrillo, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675. Phone: +1 (949) 493-4601.  www.pmaresearch.com