Factory revenue growth in the TV category will remain flat this year at $23.4 billion, said CTA’s annual forecast Sunday. TV makers will ship 40.8 million sets to retail in 2020, a 2 percent increase from 2019, it said. Higher resolution, HDR and bigger screens will drive “replacement upgrades,” it said. 4K TV shipments will rise 12 percent to 25 million sets, generating a 2 percent revenue increase to $17.6 billion, said CTA. It estimates the industry will sell 504,000 8K TVs this year, crossing the billion-dollar threshold for the first time.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets plunged in December from November, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through Dec. 13 and found 11.6 percent plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, said the board. That was down from 13 percent in November, 12.3 percent in October and 11.9 percent in December 2018, it said. Consumer confidence declined “marginally” in December, said the board: “While consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, their expectations declined, driven primarily by a softening in their short-term outlook regarding jobs and financial prospects.”

Urban U.S. consumers plan to spend 33 percent more on their holiday shopping this year than their rural counterparts, reported NPD Thursday. Urbanites also are more likely than rural shoppers to buy online and pick up in store, it said. “Retailers need to understand how behaviors between rural and urban shoppers differ in order to reach each of these shoppers with relevant marketing messages, especially throughout the competitive holiday shopping season,” said NPD.

National Retail Federation data contractor Prosper Insights & Analytics estimates 188.5 million U.S. shoppers visited stores and e-commerce sites from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, said Neil Schwartz, head-business development, in a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar Thursday. The 14.5 percent increase from a year earlier was “an incredible number,” and a robust “kickoff” to the holiday selling season, he said. Holiday weekend shoppers spent an average of $361.90, a 15.3 percent increase from 2018, he said. Other holiday weekend findings: (1) Prosper estimates 142 million shoppers used retailer websites or took advantage of buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS); (2) Consumers who used both online and brick-and-mortar spent 25 percent more on holiday shopping than those who used only one channel or the other; (3) Online purchases bundled with free shipping were up 42 percent from 2018; (4) BOPIS transactions were up 20 percent from last year.

The cable distribution industry needs to drastically change practices to survive, with continued price hikes driving out most households, blogged CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson Friday: The likelihood seems slim distributors and programmers will jointly agree on pricing issues. NCTA didn't comment.

The video industry hopes MVPD subscriber declines will level off, but cable companies' focus on profitable subscribers and their continual pushing of over-the-top products could lead to an acceleration of their sub losses, MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote investors Monday. He said sports will be an anchor keeping 60 percent of the current pay-TV sub base, but 40 percent is "at risk." Beyond being able to create good content, media companies need to become good at churn mitigation, direct marketing and content discovery/user interface systems, he emailed.

Though viewing on mobile devices of “short, snackable” videos under five minutes long is prevalent among two-thirds of U.S. consumers, watching “longer-form content” on smartphones is on the rise, reported Opensignal Wednesday. The mobile analytics firm canvassed 1,000 U.S. consumers and found 39 percent watch TV programs on their smartphones and 38 percent watch movies, it said. Longer-form content viewing on smartphones “increases substantially” for younger audiences, it said. Of consumers who say they watch movies or TV shows on a smartphone, 46 percent said they do so at home on a wireless connection, it said. Though consumers have grown accustomed to watching mobile video on wireless connections, frustrations run high, with 44 percent claiming to have experienced persistent “stuttering” or freezing when streaming content, it said. An additional 30 percent said they often give up trying to watch, it said.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets was unchanged in November from October, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through Nov. 15 and found 12.3 percent plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, said the board. That was steady with the 12.3 percent in October, down slightly from the 12.5 percent in September and up from the 11.3 percent in November 2018, it said. Consumer confidence declined in November for the fourth straight month, “driven by a softening in consumers’ assessment of current business and employment conditions,” said the board: “Confidence levels are still high and should support solid spending during this holiday season.”

A quarter of U.S. online shoppers plan to use a smartphone for holiday shopping this year, reported NPD Monday. “Smaller mobile screens have been taking on more of the shopping workload in recent years,” it said. “This can be a positive thing for physical retail doors.” The line of demarcation between online and in-store shopping “continues to blur as the consumer looks for more ease and flexibility in their holiday shopping experience,” said NPD. “More than three-quarters of consumers will shop online this holiday season, and one out of every five online purchases will be picked up in the store.” Consumers increasingly are embracing “smartphone conveniences” that can benefit physical retailers, it said. It estimates 22 percent of consumers used a smartphone app to pay for in-store holiday purchases last year, and 39 percent of those plan to use apps more often this year.

Nearly six in 10 consumers started their holiday shopping by the first week in November, “further evidence” that the Black Friday holiday shopping frenzy has morphed into Black November, said the National Retail Federation Thursday. “Thanksgiving is still a hallmark of the season, and there’s billions of dollars in shopping still to come,” said NRF. “But many consumers have already been shopping for weeks, and retailers are increasingly adapting to that.” NRF canvassed nearly 8,000 U.S. adults Oct. 31 to Nov. 6 and found 56 percent had already begun their holiday shopping, it said. That’s consistent with the findings of similar surveys since 2015, but up from 48 percent a decade ago, it said. “Even with many consumers shopping earlier, NRF estimates that 165.3 million people will shop in stores and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.”