A forecast on the development of the 3D TV market in the US: Will 3D TVs become the next big thing in our living rooms?

This in-depth research study discusses whether 3D TV will become a new trend in the consumers' living rooms or if it is just a hype that will fail to establish itself. The study contains both extensive market research as well as target group research among the American population. Both parts of the study deal with the market situation of 3D TVs within the United States in 2011, and an extensive analysis of both studies provides in-depth insight into a potential future of the 3D TV market in the coming years.In 2010 only 3% of US households had purchased a 3D TV. According to E. Rogers' book 'Diffusion of Innovation' whose theory is used as a guideline throughout the whole research paper, those 3% can be identified as belonging to the category of innovators. To incorporate other categories of the adopter categorization, the 3D TV technology has to face economic, sociological and technological challenges. Those challenges as well as the trends and developments influence the adoption of the technology. E. Rogers discusses these influencing characteristics in his work and groups them into five categories: relative advantage, compatibility, complexibility, observability and trialability. Based on Rogers' book, this study determines in how far those characteristics favor or disfavor the adoption process of 3D TV and how current trends and developments within the 3D TV sector might improve this process. These conclusions are then used in a target group research in order to determine whether they are feasible and will lead to a higher adoption rate of the technology within the next 3 to 5 years.Consequently, this research paper can act as a guide for both TV manufacturers and TV content producers that invest or plan to invest into 3D TV. However, the main purpose of the study is to be the starting point for marketing managers of those companies that already have started investing in 3D technology. The research gives insight into how the adoption process can be improved, and it can, therefore, be used as a foundation for a successful marketing plan.