New Delhi, Mar 3 (IANS): The post-pandemic economic recovery, faster upgrades in the entry tier and pent-up demand aided by festive sales helped India's TV shipments grew at highest-ever 24 per cent (on-year) last year, a new report showed on Thursday.

The smart TV market grew even faster at 55 per cent (on-year) in 2021 and 65 per cent (on-quarter) in Q4 2021 to reach its highest ever shipments for a calendar year.

The overall smart TV share in the TV market soared to 84 per cent in 2021 from 67per cent in 2020, according to latest research from Counterpoint Research's IoT Service.

"Newer brands are offering advanced display technologies like OLED and QLED at attractive prices, which is also helping in enhancing the viewer experience. Besides, features such as Dolby Atmos and Vision, better sound system, higher refresh rate and larger screen size are gaining ground among buyers," said research analyst Akash Jatwala.

The share of TVs which are above 40-inch reached 42 per cent in 2021, compared to 31 per cent a year ago, which implies Indian consumers are moving towards bigger-size TVs, "especially for watching OTT content and communicating with their dear ones virtually" Jatwala added.

Online channel continues to grow at a faster pace and its contribution increased to around 31 per cent in 2021.

"The pandemic changed the buying habits of many consumers, making them prefer online shopping from the comfort of their homes," said senior research analyst Anshika Jain.

Xiaomi continued to lead the smart TV segment in 2021 with 18 per cent market share, followed by Samsung (also with 18 per cent share) and LG with 11 per cent market share in 2021.

OnePlus saw a record 354 per cent shipment growth during the year and ranked fifth in smart TV shipments. realme shipments grew 72 per cent YoY in 2021, the report noted.