• by Wayne Friedman , February 7, 2014

Although the media economy may be slowly continuing to improve -- especially in many new digital fronts -- this isn’t the case in other areas, such as media consumers' first screen: television.

The U.S. television market slipped 9% in 2013 to 34 million units from 37.5 million in 2012 -- despite the end of the season fourth-quarter rush during the holiday season, according to IHS Technology.

Revenue from those sales has also fallen, down 12% to $23.5 billion from $26.9 billion in 2012.

“The TV market in the United States has reached a point of saturation following a period of huge growth in years past, especially as the flat-panel-TV craze set in,” stated Veronica Gonzalez-Thayer, analyst for TV systems at IHS.

From 2009 to 2011, the U.S. TV market saw shipments of more than 38 million units. Then in 2012, it was less than 37 million, with last year dropping another 3 million from the year before.

IHS predicts the two-year decline will be short-lived, with LCD TV’s forecast to be up this year.

"TV sets in a store" photo from Shutterstock.