Riding China’s smart TV boom, LeEco sees revenue jump 90 per cent in 2015

Chinese entertainment portal LeEco saw its revenue jump 90 per cent to 13 billion yuan (US$1.99 billion) last year as sales of its smart TVs took off, according to a preliminary earnings report filed today.

Its total net income rose over 59 per cent, it reported.

Formerly known as Letv, the Shenzhen-listed company is one of the top providers of smart TVs and online streaming content in China. It also makes consumer electronics.

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LeEco said it sold over three million smart TVs globally last year. Such growth was mirrored on the Chinese mainland, where total smart TV sales peaked at 40 million, up 50 per cent from 2014, according to Sootoo.com.

But China’s appetite for smart TVs - either TV sets, or set-top box with integrated internet features - is growing fast and the domestic market should continue to post healthy growth for at least the next two years, said Hou Changhai, an analyst from Sootoo Institute, the research division of Sootoo.com.

“The smart TV market now is like the smartphone market was a few years ago,” said Peter Liao, an analyst from research firm IDC.

“They are replacing traditional televisions, just as smartphones replaced feature phones.”