One-Quarter of Adults to Buy HDTV in the Next Year: Poll

A new survey from Harris Interactive says that 27% adults are likely to buy an HDTV within the next year, the highest percentage of purchase interest among the seven electronic devices tested. Not surprisingly, when informed of the prices of HDTVs, the interest in purchasing decreases. Likelihood to purchase an HDTV that costs between $1,500 and $5,000 is just 19%.

Other interesting factoids: members of the so-called Echo Boomer generation (ages 18 and 27) are both the most interested in HD and also the least price sensitive, as there is only a dropoff of three percent in purchase likelihood when respondents were told of HDTV pricing (32% vs. 29%). Baby Boomers are much more price sensitive, with an eleven-point dropoff (28% vs. 17%) that surpasses even the eight-point dropoff of the "Matures" (ages 59+). Looking at the data a different way, digital cable customers are nearly price insensitive when compared to satellite customers (a one-point dropoff for cable compared to eight points for satellite). This is obviously good news for cable companies and something of a concern for satcasters, and may be why Dish Network has gone out of its way to offer relatively low-cost HDTVs that it bundles with its HD service.

Incidentally, Gen Xers are the most likely to buy high-def DVD players when they are introduced, both with (23%) and without (29%) price consideration.