In the four weeks leading up to the start of this years Rugby World Cup sales of flat screen TVs approached half a million – driven largely by what analysts are dubbing ‘ruggernomics.’
According to the latest statistics released by marketing research firm GfK today sales of TVs reached 455,000 – a 150,000 rise in year-on-year sales. The rise in sales is similar to that which occurred in the lead up to the 2006 Football World Cup – suggesting that this was due to the well-established phenomenon of major sporting events driving sales of high end televisions.
GfK’s business group director, Anthony Norman said in the report: "Ahead of the FIFA World Cup in 2006 sales of televisions boomed and retailers had stock flying out of their showrooms, in fact the market showed a very similar trend to what we have witnessed in recent weeks."