Some not so good news is coming out of Japan this week concerning Panasonic’s TV business.
Earlier this week the Nikkei reported that Panasonic was/is considering selling or scaling back part of its TV business in the wake of significant challenges in the market.
It’s not as if Panasonic has step away from the TV market in the past as in the last decade it exited the US market (to return with renewed vigour in the last year) and the Australian TV markets as well. But this piece of news sounds… more troubling if you’re a fan of Panasonic TVs.
Panasonic President Yuki Kusumi commented this week that the TV business was one of four areas in the Panasonic business that was underperforming and said that: “we are prepared to sell it if necessary, but we have not yet decided on a plan”. It looks if a decision is made, it’d be before the end of the financial year, which would be March 2026.
So there’s still over a year before any decision is made, which would place a big emphasis on 2025 being a very important year for the brand.
The outlook for the TV market is shaky
It’s no secret that the TV market as a whole has been suffering for the last several years. Profit margins with relatively inexpensive TVs have dwindled to the point of being non-existent. 8K was meant to be the next gold mine but we all know what happened with that. TV manufacturers have looked to premium TV technologies and bigger TV sizes but either customers aren’t buying in droves (or waiting for big discounts) or stiff competition is accelerating the drop-off in prices, which is not what anyone wants.
Back in the 90s you couldn’t turn around in an electronics store without seeing a Japanese brand. Sharp, JVC, Toshiba, Panasonic and Sony were the big brands that many remember from that time. But all the aforementioned brands have experienced a decline in TV sales, first due to Korean monoliths in Samsung and LG exercising their influence on the TV market (and arguably being more forward-thinking). More recently, the Chinese electronics firms such as Hisense and TCL have made a concerted effort to bring less expensive TVs to the market, an area most brands are no longer paying as much attention to because profits have fallen off.
It’d be a shame if Panasonic fell off the map, but its recent partnership with Amazon Fire TV has brought the brand back to the US, which should hopefully help it gain more traction with users. I personally very much enjoy Panasonic TVs, their picture performance and sound quality are consistently up there with the best.
But perhaps Panasonic has fallen into a trap of its making in a similar fashion as Sony has. It sees itself as more of a premium TV brand but a look online at various retailers and its newer TVs are mainly available in the likes of John Lewis and Richer Sounds. For whatever reason, they’re not as often found on sites such as Currys UK and Amazon, where you’d presume the majority of shoppers buy their TVs.
Here’s hoping that Panasonic sticks around for the long haul. The TV market wouldn’t be the same without its presence and high standards of quality.
