The global television market is forecast to stagnate this year due to contracted demand in North America and Europe, an industry report showed Thursday.

Total global shipments of TVs will likely hold steady at 248 million units this year, according to market researcher DisplaySearch. Liquid crystal display TVs will account for 206 million sets and plasma TVs for another 17 million.

“Demand in regions like North America and Europe has fallen short of expectations as persistent economic problems have made consumers cautious in their spending and highly value-seeking,” said DisplaySearch in a statement.

“Emerging markets continue to show good growth, but it is not strong enough to offset the weaker demand in developed markets and, as a result, we have lowered our unit forecasts for LCD and plasma TVs.”

Sales of flat panel TVs will rise about 6 percent on-year thanks to increased demand in emerging markets to replace old cathode ray tube TVs, said DisplaySearch.

Countries in emerging regions such as China, Asia Pacific and Latin America will report the strongest flat screen TV growth over the next four years, averaging 11 percent growth each year, it said. However, developed regions will decline an average of 1 percent each year.

DisplaySearch said premium features such as light-emitting diode backlights and three-dimensional TVs will continue to demonstrate impressive growth, keeping the average price of the LCD TV category stable in 2011. However, total revenues of LCD TVs are expected to be flat this year.

The competitive 3D TV market is expected to expand to 22 million units in 2011, accounting for 11 percent of total TV shipments in North America, 14 percent of Western Europe and 12 percent of China TV shipments. Sales of 3D television sets will soar to 100 million units by 2015, according to DisplaySearch. (Yonhap News)