CEA Releases Ownership Survey

CEA Releases Ownership Survey

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The average American adult spends about $1,200 on consumer electronics each year, and owns 25 actual CE products. These conclusions, and others, were reached by the Consumer Electronics Association in its Household and Teen CE Ownership and Market Potential Study, released this week for the ninth year. An executive summary was made available to Dealerscope, and among highlights of the survey include:

– The average number of CE products owned by Americans is 25, a figure with a surprisingly small gap between men and women. The average adult male owns 26 such products, while the average female owns 24. The overall average number of products was 26 last year; CEA attributed the slight decline to the rise of multi-functional devices.

– The data found that teenagers largely drive purchases by their parents. While the average U.S. adult spends $1,197 per year, that number jumps to $1,752 per year for adults with teenagers. In the study, CEA also indicated that the $1,197 figure may be artificially low, due to traditional under-reporting of spending in surveys, and that the actual figure is closer to $1,600.

– Among respondents, 52 percent said they spent $1,000 or less on CE products in 2006, while 10 percent put the figure between $1,001 and $2000. Seven percent of those interviewed reported spending more than $5,000 on electronics.

– Teenagers spend nearly half of their discretionary income on electronics products.

– DVD players have passed the VCR for penetration in U.S. homes. DVD players are owned by 84 percent of households, while VCRs are in only 82 percent. VCR ownership

– HDTV is now in 26 percent of homes, a figure that is expected to rise to nearly 40 percent in the next year. The sale of HDTV is also driving the growth of DVRs and other products.

– As for computer ownership, the penetration of desktop computers has declined to 66 percent, from a high of 73 percent in 2005. In that same time frame, laptop computers have jumped from 30 to 37 percent.

– Asked about products they would “never buy,” 60 percent of respondents (the highest number in the survey) named rear-projection TV. Next on the list were VCRs (56 percent), internet phone service (55 percent), portable gaming device (53 percent) and XM or Sirius satellite radio (51 percent). Only 23 percent, the lowest number, said they would never purchase a cellular phone.

– As for the industry itself, CE revenues are projected to grow around 7 percent in 2007, to just over $155 billion. The biggest growth sectors in the industry are DVRs and network routers/hubs (at eight percent over the previous year), followed by mp3 players (7 percent), cable modems (6 percent) and digital cameras (5 percent.)

The survey was conducted of 2,031 U.S. adults, via telephone interview, with a margin of error at plus or minus 2.2. percent. For the teen portion of the survey, 525 teenagers aged 12 to 17 were interviewed, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent. The survey was conducted in early February, with the assistance of the Opinion Research Corporation. CEA members are eligible to receive a free copy; non-members can purchase one for $999 from EBrain.org.

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