World Cup a real boost to UK flat-panel TV sales

I don’t know – broadcast some minor sporting event and suddenly everyone wants to watch it on a big new TV screen.

See the World Cup on the horizon, and watch a flat-panel TV being sold in the UK every 1.7 seconds. That’s what happened the week before the main event kicked off in Germany; it seems to have been the perfect excuse for people to invest in new, state-of-the-art viewing technology.

Granted, Wimbledon could’ve been a contributing factor.

It surely wasn’t the allure of Big Brother (imagine how that would look in high-def…)

During the 5 weeks of the World Cup, UK consumers spent £337m on the flat-panel beauties (and probably only slightly less on beer and pizza).

But what we – well OK, the retailers – must want to know is: can they sustain the high-def, flat screen momentum until Christmas? They must be hoping so – despite these impressive sales figures, only 12% of UK households currently own a large flat-screen TV, so there’s plenty more potential for making money.