VIZIO America's HDTV Brand Gains Market Share in Tough Economy

VIZIO America's HDTV Brand Gains Market Share in Tough Economy

- Combination of right products and right retail partners like Costco Wholesale and Wal-Mart equates to brand's LCD market share growing from 7.5% to 8.4% in Q3 2008

- VIZIO remains the TOP 3 of FPTV sales with over 800,000 HDTVs Shipped

- 3rd Quarter reports reveal that VIZIO accounted for over 10% of all flat panel sales throughout North America*

- Brand plans on Q4 '08 shipments to increase by more than 50% quarter over quarter

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- VIZIO, America's HDTV Company, announced today that their 2008 3rd quarter sales accounted for over 10% of all flat panel (FPTV) sales throughout North America* enabling them to maintain top tier manufacturing status and share the #3 position with Sharp behind Samsung and Sony in flat panel TV shipments**.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060307/LATU014LOGO-b)

Additionally, the reports showed that despite competitors' efforts to slow VIZIO's growth by offering lower priced HDTVs and early holiday shipments, VIZIO still experienced Year-Over-Year growth in FPTV sales by selling 811,000 units. Even in the quarter's difficult retail environment, the brand both met its sales goals and kept inventory levels in line. By executing their "Just in Time" inventory model, VIZIO plans that they should achieve an average of 40 retail turns for its products this year. VIZIO Q3 shipment execution left the brand and retail partners "well-prepared" for upcoming Holiday price adjustments. VIZIO will now be able to support their retail partners with "fresh" correctly priced inventory with much sought after Full HD and 120 Hz performance features. VIZIO plans on a quarter over quarter increase of 50% for Q4 2008.

"VIZIO has already shown incredible success in offering a value priced model and according to Quixel's quarterly reports, regularly ranks among the top three brands in the USA for Flat Panel TVs," stated Tamaryn Pratt of Quixel Research. "Their recent announcement to grow into higher performance products with mid-sized Full HD LCD products while maintaining their value pricing should reward the brand with additional market share while remaining in step with today's economy."

"VIZIO has maintained its position amongst top 5 vendors in the North America TV market," said Riddhi Patel, Principal Analyst at iSuppli. "Existing recession, continued price pressures and slowdown in consumer spending made it a very challenging environment for TV brands to maintain sales momentum. VIZIO has not only managed to retain its spot in leadership rankings but actually managed to be a market leader in 37-inch and 47-inch size segments."

"VIZIO's dual technology strategy, supporting both LCD and PDP TV technologies, is keeping the company among the top 3 overall flat panel TV brands," said Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Market Research, DisplaySearch.

"Even with difficult economic times, VIZIO and its key retail partners are seeing year over year growth. We were even named the Inc. 500's fastest growing CE and computer company and our new XVT series as well as many other of our top selling HDTVs continue to receive rave reviews from the leading technology and consumer publications," stated Laynie Newsome, VIZIO VP, Sales and Marketing Communications. "All proof that we provide the strongest all around performance/value statement in the HDTV business today."

* iSuppli Research Q3 2008
** DisplaySearch Research Q3 2008

About VIZIO

VIZIO, Inc. "Where Vision Meets Value," headquartered in Irvine, California, is America's HDTV Company. In 2007, VIZIO skyrocketed to the top by becoming the #1 selling brand of flat panel HDTVs in North America and became the first American brand in over a decade to lead major categories in U.S. TV sales. VIZIO is committed to bringing feature-rich flat panel televisions to market at a value through practical innovation. VIZIO offers a broad range of award winning Plasma and LCD HDTVs including the new XVT series. VIZIO's products are found at BJ's Wholesale, Circuit City, Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club, Sears, Walmart and other retailers nationwide along with authorized online partners. VIZIO has won numerous awards including a #1 ranking in the Inc. 500 for Top Companies in Computers and Electronics, Good Housekeeping's Best Big-Screens, CNET's Top 10 Holiday Gifts, PC World's Best Buy among others. For more information, please call 888-VIZIOCE or visit on the web at http://www.vizio.com/.

The V, VIZIO, Where Vision Meets Value names, phrase and symbols are trademarks or registered trademarks of VIZIO, Inc. All other trademarks may be the property of their respective holders.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060307/LATU014LOGO-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: VIZIO, Inc.

CONTACT: Jim Noyd of Noyd Communications Inc., +1-310-951-3768,
jim.noyd@noydcom.com, for VIZIO, Inc.

Web site: http://www.vizio.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos, additional specifications, information, interview requests and product evaluations should be directed to agency.

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