What's Up
Home Audio – It is a Great Time for Our Business
By David Tovissi
Vice President and General Manager
HARMAN Luxury Audio
With CEDIA Expo in our rear-view mirror and the 4th quarter ahead of us, I have been reflecting on the state of our industry and the opportunities ahead of us. It was great catching up with some of my current and past colleagues in Denver earlier this month. Regardless of who I was speaking with, everyone had an extremely optimistic outlook for their business.
Our booth was busy from the moment the show floor opened on Thursday, all the way through Saturday afternoon when the show ended. Our sales team met with dealers and distributors from every region of the globe. Our product teams were presenting their new products which were positively received by the attendees. The lines queuing around our booth with customers and exhibitors to experience the JBL Synthesis demos represented the excitement that was felt by all.
For those of you who could not attend EXPO this year, Jim Garrett will recap the show in his article this newsletter.
Shortly after my return from CEDIA, I received some additional industry insights from the Consumer Technology Association which shared some additional insights about the state of the Home Audio industry that supported the optimism we received from our extensive research that we have been conducting as well. I encourage all of you to get your hands on this report if you want to learn more about how customers are engaging in the purchasing process with our products.
Regardless of where you get your industry trends, most firms believe the home audio industry will continue to grow at double digit growth year-over-year and generate over $60B in revenue globally by the year 2030. Which should be great news for all of us. What was interesting to glean from the CTA research was that there are a sizable number of consumers ready to make a home audio purchase within the next 12 months. CTA predicts that over 40% of U.S. consumers will engage in the research and purchase of a home audio product in 2025. What is even more exciting about this data is that a quarter of those consumers will be first-time buyers of our products.
These new consumers are influenced by design and ease of use. However, they, like repeat audio buyers, will apply sound performance in their decision-making process. In fact, upgrading their sound quality is the main driver for consumers to purchase a new home audio product. Perspective consumers are also looking for more immersive music experiences and are willing to pay more for that experience if they get an impactful demo. Over 66% of consumers that purchased a home audio product in the past 12 months ultimately purchased their products at a brick and mortar or specialists in their purchasing process. While movie watching is the primary use case for those wanting to invest in immersive technologies, high-definition soundtracks being produced for video games is an ever-increasing reason that consumers are upgrading their home audio products.
The conversations that I had with integrators at CEDIA reinforced our decision to launch the new line of JBL Modern Audio AV receivers and the JBL Stage 2 line of loudspeakers. They are already seeing their clients wanting an alternative to the traditional home theater components. They were excited to see that we took a fresh approach to the industrial design and user interface of these products.
Another interesting point revealed in the CTA research was that most consumers made their last home audio purchase within 30 days of starting their research on products. That suggests that we all need to make sure that we have inventory in stock on the products that are being reviewed and promoted on the internet or in-store.
Lastly, while most people prefer to install their home audio products themselves, most consumers who purchased and installed their own home cinema system shared that they would pay for professional installation the next time they make a similar purchase of that scale.
As we look forward to the 4th quarter and improving economic conditions, we should all feel good that we are in a business that people are looking to invest their money in.