Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets declined slightly in November from October, said preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 homes for the board through Nov. 14 and found 12.2 percent plan to buy a new TV in the next six months, down from 12.8 percent in October, 13.2 percent in September and 12.7 percent in November 2016. Overall consumer confidence increased for the fifth straight month in November and remains at a 17-year high, the board said: “Consumers are entering the holiday season in very high spirits and foresee the economy expanding at a healthy pace into the early months of 2018.”

With the sustained growth of Netflix, Hulu and other subscription VOD services, there’s a “telling shift” in the amount of time Americans spend watching TV and movies, and how they’re watching, said NPD in a Wednesday report. As the number of SVOD subscriptions continues to grow, “so too does the amount of time viewers watch television and movies on their TVs, personal computers and mobile devices,” it said. NPD canvassed 7,290 online viewers in August and found on average they were spending an additional hour weekly consuming TV and movies than they did a year earlier, it said. “Digital content continues to reshape the video landscape,” said NPD. “SVOD had the highest year-over-year increase, with almost half the population streaming video, but purchasing downloadable content is also gaining traction.” NPD said the 12 months ending in August saw an 8-percentage-point year-over-year rise in subscription video streaming and a 2-percentage-point increase in electronic sell-through, where consumers pay a one-time fee to download and keep a media file, it said. The share of U.S. consumers using only SVOD services to watch content increased to 15 percent this August from 11 percent in the same month a year earlier, it said.

Though U.S. consumers at large are expected to spend about the same this holiday season as they did last year, those ages 18-24 “are the most likely to show an increase in spending,” said the National Retail Federation in a Thursday report. NRF canvassed 7,400 consumers in early November and found 54 percent overall plan to spend about the same as last year, with 24 percent planning to spend more, it said. But among those in the 18-24 group, 46 percent said they will spend more than last year, it said. About six in 10 consumers overall plan to buy clothing and accessories, the same as last year, while 59 percent will buy gift cards, up from 56 percent in 2016, it said. Nearly three in 10 plan to buy electronics, about on par with last year.

U.S. homes “clearly have the wherewithal​ to spend going into the holiday season,” said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz in a Wednesday report, citing broad strength across most retail sectors in October. “The uplift in October payroll and income has generated a healthy pace of retail spending and household debt burdens are historically low." Retail store sales for the month were up 4.3 percent year over year, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, NRF said. October electronics and appliance store revenue advanced 2.1 percent vs. October 2016, compared with health care and personal care stores revenue, which grew 4.8 percent year on year, and general merchandise stores, unchanged year on year. Online and other non-store sales jumped 9.6 percent year-over-year, it said.

Ownership and implementation of smart TVs “stabilized” between 2016 and 2017, ending the growth trend since 2010, said a Parks Associates report. Ownership of smart TVs more than doubled since 2010, and use of smart TVs' internet capability nearly doubled during the span, but going forward, TV makers will need to rely on technological disruption or replacement cycles to increase or maintain sales, the report said. Flat-panel TV purchases continue to slide due to market saturation, and new features such as 3D and 4K haven't been able to trigger a replacement cycle similar to the one in the early days of thin TVs, it said. High-end and mid-range sets will become a more important part of the overall flat panel TV market as the last remaining consumers upgrade their tube sets to flat panels, it said. Smart TV capability is increasingly table-stakes in the market for flat panel TVs and may lead to commoditization as more TVs include the feature. Smart TV capability is the most important feature for consumers planning to buy a flat panel TV, with roughly half of intenders ranking connectivity among the top three features in a new TV, said Parks. Even half of late flat-TV adopters bought connected sets, it said. A third of flat-panel TV owners reported being aware of 4K Ultra HD TV, and while limited availability of 4K content is said to be a “significant market inhibitor,” most survey respondents said having more content isn’t critical to a purchase decision. A third of respondents were familiar with high dynamic range, it said, but it wasn’t clear if consumers were confusing Ultra HD with standard HD. Acronyms such as HD, UHD, 4K and HDR are confusing to consumers, who don’t understand the differences and crossovers among the various technologies, it said. Consumer awareness of new TV technologies is growing, but confusion remains over HDR, and OEMs should emphasize the term high dynamic range rather than shortening it to HDR, which can be confused with HD, it said. A looming HDR format war could lead to higher near-term costs for device makers who will need to license chips and hardware for multiple format standards until winners emerge, it said. Studios could select a single standard for home video and TV mastering to save on post-production and distribution costs, and if history repeats scenarios with VHS v. Betamax and Blu-ray v. HD-DVD, one studio throwing full support behind one format is likely to create a domino effect with the others “likely to fall shortly after,” it said.

Retail industry employment declined by 18,000 jobs in October, the National Retail Federation reported Friday, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, also released Friday by the Labor Department. The number excludes car dealers, gas stations and restaurants, said the trade group. Though Labor Department data showed the overall economy added 261,000 jobs in October, retail employment was down, “but it is difficult to draw conclusions because the jobs data is still distorted by the aftermath of the recent hurricanes,” it said. “The storms have caused some consumers to defer discretionary spending,” it said. But retailers “are on the verge of adding half a million or more temporary workers” for the holiday selling season, it said. NRF also thinks the Labor Department’s retail job numbers give an inaccurate “picture” of the retail industry “because they count only employees who work in stores while excluding retail workers in other parts of the business such as corporate headquarters, distribution centers, call centers and innovation labs,” it said. For example, the economy added 3,100 warehouse and storage jobs in October over September that "do not count as retail jobs even if the workers are employed by retailers,” it said.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets declined in October from September, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 homes through Oct. 18 and found 12.4 percent plan to buy a new TV in the next six months, down from 13.2 percent in September and 13.1 percent in October 2016, it said. Overall consumer confidence in October increased to its highest level in almost 17 years after remaining relatively flat in September, the Conference Board said: “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, boosted by the job market, which had not received such favorable ratings since the summer of 2001. Consumers were also considerably more upbeat about the short-term outlook, with the prospect of improving business conditions as the primary driver.”

Americans say they plan to spend $906 on average this holiday season, up from $785 in October 2016, Gallup reported. “That represents one of the biggest year-over-year increases in Gallup's trend, pushing the spending projection to its highest level in a decade.” Gallup canvassed a random sample of 1,028 U.S. adults Oct. 5-11 and found 34 percent plan to spend at least $1,000 on average this holiday, 23 percent will spend between $500 and $999, 28 percent between $100 and $499, and 3 percent less than $100. “Although partisanship affects lots of attitudes these days, there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats in the year-over-year change in spending intentions,” it said. “Republicans typically report spending more on gifts than Democrats do, and that continues, but both groups' estimate is up by about $100 over last year.”

The global smart TV market is forecast to top $292 billion by 2025, Grand View Research reported Monday. The 46- to 55-inch segment is expected to dominate the market over the forecast period, propped up by 4K resolution, improved picture quality and Dolby sound. The Asia Pacific region is expected to dominate the smart TV market with a compound annual growth rate of more than 10 percent over the period.

August imports as tallied by the National Retail Federation in its “global port tracker” report rose to a record high for the second straight month, said the trade group in a Tuesday announcement. The trend bodes well for an upbeat holiday selling season, said NRF: “When imports break records two months in a row, it’s hard to see that as anything other than a good sign about what retailers expect in consumer demand. Consumers are buying more, and everybody from dockworkers to truck drivers is trying to keep up. We hope this is a sign of a strong holiday season for retailers, shoppers and our nation’s economy.” Ports covered in the tracker report handled 1.8 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in August, the highest monthly volume since NRF began tracking imports in 2000, said the trade group. The previous record of 1.78 million containers was set a month earlier, in July, it said. NRF is forecasting 2017 imports to rise 5.4 percent from last year to 19.8 million containers, topping 2016’s 3.1 percent increase over 2015, it said. NRF’s forecast last week said holiday retail sales for November and December would rise 3.6-4 percent over 2016 (see 1710030036).