“Strong growth of LCD display shipments will offset the rapid decline of commercial plasma display production,” said Ken Park, senior analyst of Korea technology market research for NPD DisplaySearch.

“In order for traditional plasma display companies to stay in business and remain relevant in the marketplace, they have shifted their production from plasma to LCD, or they have contracted with others to manufacture and sell LCD public displays. Since their relationships remain strong in certain vertical markets, these companies continue to focus sales efforts in these core areas. This strategy will help increase LCD shipments.”

Within the market for large-screen public displays, the interactive white board (IWB) sector is expanding, due to increased governmental investments in education. With the forecasted growth rate of 50%, IWB shipment volume will reach approximately 650,000 units in 2015. While the primary market drivers are large government-backed education projects in China and Turkey, Japan is also rumored to begin a second tender for a major education investment.

Starting in Q2’14, shipments of monitors and notebook PCs used in business environments exceeded expectations, due to the ongoing PC refresh cycle and continued Windows XP migration.

“The business PC market has lately been outperforming the consumer market,” Park said.

“If this trend continues as forecast, we can expect to see a positive effect on the digital signage market.”

“Rising industry expectations, more aggressive business targets, soaring education tenders, and macro-economy improvement in emerging regions, public displays are attracting more attention in the display industry,” Park said.

“In addition, increasing average screen sizes will contribute to more revenue growth, even though unit sales are still small, compared to other products.”