Commercial LCD displays bring higher revenues

As the global market for flat panel TVs has been plateauing in recent years, flat panel display manufacturers - especially LCD producers - have looked to commercial markets such as digital signage to increase sales and profits from their large-area FPD production.

Electronic menu boards, in-classroom interactive whiteboards, out-of-home digital advertising and other non-consumer uses for FPDs, collectively categorised as public displays (PD) or large-format displays (LFD) have shown solid and steady growth in recent years, rising 65% in unit volume production from 2009 to 2011.

While the PD/LFD market generally continues to rise and LCDs continue to take over from plasma, Q4’11 saw the first sequential decline over the last three years in the LCD portion of this market.

According to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly FPD Public Display Shipment and Forecast Report, the sequential drop in global shipments came in the least well-defined portion of this market, the 26-37″ space.

This is not the first sequential decline seen in the PD space, but most sequential declines in recent years have been from reduced plasma production, not from reduced LCD sales.

The commercial markets for larger-size FPDs remain small compared with the vast market for consumer TVs, but the complex nature of these B2B sales and the specialised nature of the displays produced specifically for these markets yield higher revenues and margins compared with commodity consumer applications.

On the surface, many of the displays used in commercial environments have similar specifications to their TV counterparts, especially in terms of size and resolution, but most are engineered for specific use in out-of-home environments.

Many use more advanced materials in their design and production to meet the stringent needs of commercial installers. Such advanced materials include higher brightness backlights needed to overcome uncontrollable ambient light in open-air environments and unique liquid crystal material needed to minimise image sticking when static images are displayed.

Others also offer features such as uniform, super narrow bezels for video walls, network connectivity, interactive touch capabilities such as for whiteboards and even transparent capabilities.

“Commercial markets for flat panel displays, such as for digital signage, remain the jewel of the LCD industry,” says the report.

“The challenge comes when trying to fully quantify these markets since many times installers use consumer-grade TVs for quick hang-and-bang solutions,” the report adds.