China's TV set sales see biggest drop in 14 years

BEIJING - China's TV set sales decelerated in 2017, marking the biggest drop in 14 years, a private report showed.

China sold 47.52 million television sets last year, down 6.6 percent year-on-year, the biggest decrease since 2003, according to a report from domestic home appliance market monitor All View Cloud (AVC).

Sales revenue managed to grow 4.5 percent year-on-year thanks to higher prices, the report showed.

The market watcher attributed the TV sales drop to spillover from tightened property market management, rising component costs and the popularity of other gadgets with similar functions such as mobile phones.

However, big-screen TVs gained a bigger market share while high-tech sets also saw increasing sales, according to the report.

Official data showed that China produced about 172 million TV sets, up 1.6 percent year-on-year, while smart television output rose 6.9 percent year-on-year.