The European market for public displays hit a new record level in Q4 of 2011, according to market analyst Meko. Meko’s DisplayCast service for public displays showed sales of 91,429 in Q4, bringing sales to 311,000 for the year, up 25.4% by volume.
Meko said that its research indicates that the growth was driven by a maturing industry and a developing understanding of the value of digital signage and Digital Out of Home (DOOH) applications.
“There were a number of reasons for the record result”, said Bob Raikes, principal of Meko (pictured). “Key brands such as Samsung and NEC hit record levels and we got better coverage of data this time. Installations for the Olympics and for the Euros have helped in 2011. This level of growth stands out in the current difficult climate of doom in TVs and monitors.”
55″ panels saw the highest percentage growth over the year, although 40″/42″ and 46″/47″ displays remain the mainstream. The trend towards larger sizes helped to keep ASPs relatively flat and value grew by 23% in the year, almost keeping up with volume.
Germany was the biggest market in Europe, surpassing the UK which has been the biggest market for some time.
