Nearly 9 percent of consumers polled in a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey expected to buy a new TV to watch Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, up from 7.2 percent last year. The percentage of those planning to buy TVs were almost evenly split between viewers with incomes below and above $50,000, with the largest percentage of TV buyers, 16.5 percent, in the 18-24-year-old age group, NRF said. Average viewer spending for the Super Bowl will reach $77.88, up from $68.27 last year, it said, with 10.8 percent of those polled planning to buy team apparel and 7.4 percent buying decorations. An estimated 184 million viewers are expected to tune in nationally. The survey, conducted for NRF by Prosper Insights & Analytics, polled 6,375 consumers Jan. 6-13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points.

With time counting down to the Super Bowl, Consumer Reports​ issued a top 10 list of TVs to buy in time for the big game. Using information from market research firm Market Track, Consumer Reports told consumers to expect set prices for its top 10 models to come in before the Super Bowl an average 20 percent below typical pricing. It encouraged readers to ask for a 30-day price match guarantee, saying prices will continue to drop over the next month “when retailers start clearing out inventories of leftover 2014 sets in earnest.” Leading the list is the Sony XBR-65X900B 65-inch 4K UHD TV ($3,500), which it plugged for a “superb picture” and “excellent sound.” The 4K set comes with pronounced side speakers flanking the display “but you can’t argue with the results,” Consumer Reports said. No. 2 is the Samsung UN60HU8500 60-inch UHD LED LCD TV ($2,300), which it lauded for black level approaching that of plasma TV and for picture detail. In third place is LG’s 55EC9300 55-inch OLED TV, now $3,000 after setting a new OLED price threshold last summer at $3,400. Rounding out the list are the LG 65UB9500 65-INCH UHD TV ($2,300), Samsung’s UN65HU8550 65-inch UHD TV ($3,000), the Sony 70-inch KDL-70W830B LED-lit LCD TV ($1,800), Samsung’s 55-inch UN55HU9000 UHD TV ($3,000), Sony’s 2014 flagship XBR-65X950B 65-inch UHD TV ($6,000), Vizio's P652ui-B2 65-inch UHD TV ($1,500) and Samsung’s PN64H5000 64-inch plasma TV ($1,300), which the publication said, “reminds us why we're lamenting the disappearance of this TV technology: excellent picture quality, great black levels, the ability to handle fast motion without blurring, and an unlimited viewing angle.”

While short-form video and user-generated content have gone viral among users and companies, TV and movies remain key players in the online video market, said an ABI Research news release Friday. The industry research firm estimated that by 2019, short-form video revenue will be about $13 billion and the online video market as a whole will reach about $56 billion. Short-form video’s share of the market isn't growing as quickly as other segments, said analyst Michael Inouye in an email. Its popularity leaves “less room for it to grow, unless you expect customers to forgo watching TV shows and movies and simply watch shorts, advertisements and user-generated content, which we don’t believe will happen,” he said. But he said viral videos and ad campaigns won’t be going away. The lines between pay TV and over-the-top video will continue blurring, Inouye said. “Short-form video has already become part of the premium content market,” with viral ads and TV shows producing “webisodes” or behind-the-scenes shorts, he said. Customers still watch TV shows and movies, but increasingly through digital distribution, including TV Everywhere, OTT services and electronic sell-through, he said. Original programming remains a big driver for TV and movies, and long-form videos generate significantly higher revenue per view, he said. “A longer video allows for more advertisements per engagement. Advertising on streamed episodes of a popular TV show is more predictable than signing with a multi-channel network or a particular YouTube celebrity.”

Global Q4 PC shipments fell 2.4 percent to 80.8 million units, IDC said Monday in its quarterly PC tracker. Though Q4 shipments inched above 80 million for the first time in 2014, “the final quarter nonetheless marked the end of yet another difficult year,” the third straight year with overall volumes declining, IDC said. Total 2014 shipments fell 2.1 percent to 308.6 million units, it said. Though the U.S. and Europe remained stronger than other markets, “growth in these mature regions slowed from earlier in the year,” IDC said. "The U.S. PC market continued to grow in the fourth quarter, outperforming the global market for the 10th consecutive quarter,” it said. "The U.S. PC market should see flat to slightly positive growth. The U.S. consumer PC market will finally move to positive growth in 2015, strengthened by the slowdown in the tablet market, vendor and OEM efforts to rejuvenate the PC market, the launch of Window 10, and replacement of older PCs." Lenovo remained the world’s market share leader in Q4 with a 19.9 percent share, followed by Hewlett-Packard (19.7 percent), Dell (13.5 percent), Acer (7.7 percent) and Apple (7.1 percent).

Though TV sets still give “the best quality picture and viewing experience,” millennials ages 13 to 34 are “drastically” changing how content “is being discovered and consumed,” a joint CEA-NATPE study said. CEA and NATPE commissioned E-Poll Market Research to canvass millennials on their content consumption habits and found only 55 percent use TVs as their “primary viewing platform,” while mobile streaming devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones “are poised to dominate their viewing preferences," the groups said Thursday. Though many viewers of streaming programs say they're watching more TV programs overall, the study showed a decline “in the amount of time spent watching live television programs during their scheduled air time,” they said. “This is particularly true of the younger, millennial demographic which has some distinctive, common characteristics, including the regular use of multiple sources of program content.” Millennials are “comfortable using many different sources of TV program content and consequently are significantly more likely to consume full-length TV programs from a streaming source,” they said. Of those canvassed, 84 percent streamed a TV show in the past six months, compared with the 54 percent who viewed TV programming at its original air time, and 33 percent who watched content they had recorded on a DVR, they said. Other findings: (1) Millennials “value their Netflix subscriptions” more than broadcast or cable. In the study, 51 percent said they regard their Netflix subscription as “very valuable,” compared with 42 percent who said the same of broadcast channels, and 36 percent who said it of cable subscriptions. (2) Portability is king, as about half of millennials polled said they watch TV programming on a laptop, and for 19 percent it’s their preferred TV viewing screen. Another 28 percent said they routinely watch TV on a tablet, and 22 percent, on a smartphone.

U.S. consumer spending on digitally delivered home entertainment content climbed 15.6 percent in 2014 to $2.1 billion, the Digital Entertainment Group said Tuesday in its year-end report. But total spending fell 4.1 percent for the year to just under $5.3 billion on double-digit declines in sales and subscription rentals of physical media, the DEG said. “Consumers embraced the convenience and accessibility of purchasing and collecting digital content, while studios reaped higher margins from these digital sales,” it said. “In particular, theatrical new releases delivered exceptional annual growth of more than 60 percent.” Within digital delivery, electronic sell-through spending jumped 25.4 percent to $533 million, while subscription streaming sales climbed 25 percent to $1.1 billion, the DEG said.

Three-fourths of U.S. homes view TV content from a DVR, Netflix or an on-demand service from a cable or telco provider, according to a survey from Leichtman Research Group. A quarter of survey households use two of the services and 11 percent use all three, Leichtman said. Of the U.S. households subscribing to pay TV, 62 percent have a DVR, up from 41 percent five years ago, Leichtman said, compared with those who don't subscribe to pay TV and have a DVR penetration rate of 1 percent. Just over half of DVR households have service on multiple TVs, up from 28 percent five years ago, it said. Additional findings: Two-thirds of households with annual incomes higher than $75,000 have a DVR, vs. a third with incomes of less than $30,000, while a quarter of non-DVR households reported owning one in the past. Six of 10 cable subscribers have used VOD, up from 46 percent five years ago, and 63 percent of digital cable subscribers -- and 58 percent of telco video subscribers -- used on-demand in the past month, it said. More than a third of pay-TV subscribers get Netflix, compared with 48 percent of non-subscribers, and 36 percent stream video daily, Leichtman said. VOD and DVRs “are now core components of pay-TV packages,” and along with Netflix and other over-the-top offerings, on-demand TV services have “permanently changed the options of how people may choose to watch TV,” said Bruce Leichtman, president. The study was based on a telephone survey of 1,233 adults ages 18 and over, done in November throughout the continental U.S. among TV households. The overall sample has a statistical margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent, Leichtman said.

CE retailers continued to face out-of-stock issues last week, Goldman Sachs said in its latest weekly e-commerce report for the holiday shopping season, but all goods in its sample basket were available from at least one of the major four retailers tracked in the report: Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart. For the week, Best Buy continued to be the retailer with the most in-stock items, with only its Hobbit PS3 bundle unavailable. Target was out of more stock than last year at this time, showing 13 of 19 items in the virtual basket unavailable, Goldman said. Amazon lowered its average advertised basket price by the widest margin for the week, coming in as the most aggressive on advertised pricing and prices of in-stock items. Amazon re-stocked, too, last week, bringing back the full selection of TVs in the basket including four from Samsung and four from Vizio, after having removed four of eight TVs in the basket the previous week. Best Buy led with 18 of 19 items in stock, and prices at Best Buy nudged ahead by half a percentage point after “lowering them significantly” last week, Goldman said. The overall advertised basket price dropped 2.6 percent across the four retailers last week, and Target held the position as highest priced. Target also had the fewest basket items in stock, selling out of both Canon cameras in the basket and two of eight TVs, Goldman said. In addition to the Samsung and Vizio TVs, Goldman’s basket includes three Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, two Canon digital cameras, a 16 GB iPad mini, PlayStation 3 and 4 bundles, an Xbox 360 bundle, an iHome Bluetooth speaker and a Garmin navi unit.

Despite a “difficult ride” for several segments in the CE industry, worldwide sales are forecast to grow by 4.5 percent this year to reach $707 billion, a Futuresource report said. The growth is being driven largely by mobile sales during an “unprecedented boom” in smartphone sales, Futuresource said. For the first time, in 2014 China's share of worldwide CE spending matched that of North America, at 22 percent, it said. China's tech giants are starting to challenge at the world level, “leveraging a domestic market which is now the world's largest, with increasingly broad access to leading edge technologies and Western brand acquisitions like Motorola and Philips,” Futuresource said. Although a weaker yen has provided some economic relief to Japanese CE makers, “most are still losing money in consumer electronics and widespread restructuring and industry consolidation continues,” it said. Emerging markets now are more than half of worldwide CE demand due to growth in smartphones and tablets, Futuresource said. While Latin America has shown growth for three straight years, Russia “has skidded to a halt,” Futuresource said, citing sanctions and dropping oil prices. Futuresource predicts the smartphone segment will peak at $343 billion in 2017 due to shrinking average selling prices. The trend is being fed by Chinese vendors such as Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi that are driving volume growth with sales of low-end handsets, which are “eating into the profits of more established brands,” including market leaders Apple and Samsung, Futuresource said. The rapid emergence of low-cost Chinese vendors has marginalized other non-Chinese mobile vendors, including Blackberry, HTC, Motorola, Nokia and Sony, it said. The smartphone market is now the largest segment of the total CE market, followed by infotainment devices (PCs, tablets, e-readers, networking devices and peripherals) and TVs. Total CE sales by 2018 will touch $733 billion, Futuresource said. Among emerging markets, strong growth is seen in the Internet of Things market, with wearables providing particularly strong growth in 2014 at an estimated $8 billion. But “questions remain” about the long-term viability of the wearables market because the usage model and applications of wearable devices are “still unclear to consumers,” it said. The smart home will be a key driver of growth for CE, although some of the biggest opportunities in the space are “service-driven,” with opportunities for CE vendors less clear, it said.

Nearly 957,000 patents were granted by the world’s five largest patent offices (IP5) in 2013, 4 percent above 2012, said a Friday news release from the Patent and Trademark Office. The release cited the publication of a report from the IP5: the PTO; European Patent Office; Japan Patent Office; Korean Intellectual Property Office; and State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China. Patent applications to those offices totaled 2.1 million, up 11 percent from 2012, said IP5.