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Dialogue with Zhao Jun, CEO of TCL Huaxing: Optimistic about the prospects of e-sports, low-end and entry-level do not mean a bad consumer experience

A few days ago, the 21st China International Digital Interactive Entertainment Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as 2024 ChinaJoy) officially opened, discussing the new trend of global e-sports development from an international perspective. It is worth mentioning that in addition to game entertainment content products, e-sports displays, XR, etc. have also become the focus of attention of the exhibition.

As a key part of the e-sports industry, e-sports displays have been in a state of long-term prosperity in recent years, maintaining a high growth rate. According to the report data released by Lotu Technology (RUNTO), in the first half of this year, the penetration rate of e-sports products in the overall online market of displays hit a new high, jumping to 59%, and the scale continues to expand.

Dialogue with Zhao Jun, CEO of TCL Huaxing: Optimistic about the prospects of e-sports, low-end and entry-level do not mean a bad consumer experience

Zhao Jun, CEO of TCL Huaxing

Not only that, the rapid development of the e-sports industry has also become the core of the screen factory business. "In terms of the definition of displays, among all the displays of TCL Huaxing, e-sports products account for more than 50% of the revenue. In the first half of this year, the growth rate of TCL Huaxing e-sports display reached 20%", TCL Huaxing CEO Zhao Jun revealed to the titanium media APP, "The innovation of the industry needs to be jointly promoted by the upstream and downstream, for TCL Huaxing, more attention is paid to understanding and insight into the needs of consumers and users in panel display technology, and providing value in display solutions." ”

High growth continues, and prices for entry-level and mainstream products continue to fall

According to the latest "China Chinese mainland Monitor Retail Market Monthly Tracker" report released by Lotu Technology (RUNTO), in the first half of 2024, the sales volume of the online public retail market of Chinese mainland e-sports displays (excluding content e-commerce such as Doukuai) will be 2.69 million units, a year-on-year increase of 30%; The sales volume was 3.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Dialogue with Zhao Jun, CEO of TCL Huaxing: Optimistic about the prospects of e-sports, low-end and entry-level do not mean a bad consumer experience

Image source: Lotu Technology

There are many reasons for the continued high growth of e-sports displays, on the one hand, the development of e-sports events is hot. The latest news shows that esports is officially included in the Olympic Games, and the first Olympic esports games in history will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025. On the other hand, while the performance is improving, the price of gaming displays is rapidly becoming popular, and cost-effective gaming displays are being applied in a large area.

In Zhao Jun's view, gaming monitors have maintained a rapid growth rate in the past few years, and we still believe that it will maintain a rapid growth rate in the next few years. "We predict that by 2028, the esports display market should have a compound annual growth rate of about 10%, which is a very high growth, so we are more optimistic about the prospects of the esports market."

Titanium media APP learned that TCL Huaxing entered the e-sports display market five years ago and took two years to become the world's largest market share of e-sports displays. In 2021, TCL Huaxing acquired the Suzhou Samsung 8.5 generation line, which is now TCL Huaxing Suzhou base (t10 production line), which is the main production base of TCL Huaxing gaming display products. The merger and acquisition of the Suzhou factory is actually a key move for TCL Huaxing to take the lead in the e-sports business market. At present, TCL Huaxing maintains the launch of a world premiere flagship e-sports every year.

At this year's ChinaJoy, TCL Huaxing exhibited a variety of products such as a 105" 5K ultra-large curved gaming screen, a 32" 4K 1000Hz Gaming MNT, and released the world's first 34" MLED R1000 variable monitor, which adopts MLED variable curved module technology, equipped with a 165Hz high refresh rate and wide color gamut coverage. At the scene, TCL Huaxing will also release many products using TCL Huaxing panel solutions.

Dialogue with Zhao Jun, CEO of TCL Huaxing: Optimistic about the prospects of e-sports, low-end and entry-level do not mean a bad consumer experience

Zhao Jun said that among all the displays of TCL Huaxing, e-sports products accounted for more than 50% of the revenue. This also shows that TCL Huaxing still has a lot of room for growth in commercial and consumer displays in the future.

According to the online monitoring data of Lotu Technology (RUNTO), in the first half of 2024, the average online market price of e-sports displays will be 1242 yuan, a decrease of 231 yuan from the same period last year. Talking about the continuous decline in the market price of entry and mainstream products, Zhao Jun believes that this is a normal phenomenon, "It is precisely because the price of e-sports products is becoming more and more affordable that more consumers are more and more willing to choose e-sports products, which is a good thing." ”

At present, TCL Huaxing's main factories for the production of e-sports products are the 8.5 generation line in Shenzhen, the 8.5 generation line in Suzhou, and the 8.6 generation line in Guangzhou. In the face of the decline in the price of e-sports products, TCL Huaxing has made preparations relying on many factories and cost competitiveness, and has been upgrading products on entry-level e-sports products. In Zhao Jun's philosophy, for consumers, low-end and entry-level do not mean a poor consumer experience.

How to respond to the shift in consumer preferences from "performance first" to "experience is king".

The improvement of performance gives users a better experience. However, for manufacturers, the launch of any new product and new technology needs to be based on user needs, otherwise it is useless innovation. At present, the e-sports market is more segmented, customer needs are significantly differentiated, and the era of relying on a standardized product to dominate the world has passed. Under the new application scenario, the products are more diversified, and the demand will become more and more differentiated, which is also a challenge that manufacturers such as TCL Huaxing are facing.

Zhao Jun pointed out that the current development of science and technology has basically met the needs of consumers for basic functions, and consumers' preferences have shifted from "performance first" to "experience is king". In his opinion, the focus of competition in the e-sports display industry is still two points: first, to upgrade products and technologies around the core experience of e-sports products.

TCL Huaxing believes that the core experience of e-sports products is "three highs and one fast". No matter what size, no matter what aspect ratio, or what the technical route, what consumers want to see is a more extreme, faster, better, and more enjoyable gaming experience. Whoever can go faster in these aspects and better meet the escalating needs of consumers may be the winner of the industry and market, and we will continue to explore in this regard.

Second, in addition to the upgrade of the more common demand of "three highs and one fast", as the post-90s, post-00s, and even post-10s become players of e-sports products, the main consumers of this category are getting younger and younger, and they are more pursuing personalization.

In the field of IT display, TCL Huaxing is a relatively new player, as a latecomer, in order to take the lead, we must bring different things to the market and consumers. On the basis of doing a good job in product coverage and meeting the needs of mainstream customers and mainstream markets, it is necessary to continue to explore. Of course, there is also an important point, which is to cooperate with upstream and downstream industries to do a good job in innovation.

Zhao Jun told the titanium media APP that there are many links in the upstream and downstream of e-sports display, and these links are not single-line links in the upstream, middle and downstream, but an ecological concept. In this industry, there are many ecological partners, and they play different roles. For TCL Huaxing, more attention is paid to understanding and insight into the needs of consumers and users in panel display technology, and providing value in display solutions.

It is understood that TCL Huaxing has basically achieved a mass production generation, a development generation, and a pre-research generation for some customers, and the focus is not on the current products, but on what products the market needs in a year or two years, and more about focusing on the future and gaining insight into the future needs of customers and the market.

In addition, TCL Huaxing also explores technology with many customers, such as the establishment of a joint laboratory, especially when the existing technology of both parties cannot meet a good idea or potential market demand, the two sides use the joint laboratory to jointly explore and develop from the whole machine and the display solution.

"It's not just about waiting for the customer to tell you what the requirements are for the product, but also about what the future needs are." Zhao Jun said. (This article was first published in Titanium Media APP, author | Du Zhiqiang, editor - Zhong Yi)