The economy is bad in the US and abroad and many consumers simply don’t have money to spend on things like new TVs. The consumers that do have money to spend are looking very closely at the value of the items they are buying.

This means that some cheaper brands are seeing a surge in sales as consumers look for lower cost alternatives to the major brands. DisplaySearch has released its preliminary shipment numbers for Q1 2009 LCD TV shipments and has discount brand Vizio in the top spot beating out Samsung and Sony.

LCD TV shipments for the quarter rose 23% from the previous year to 7.2 million units shipped. Vizio alone grew its market share from 13% to 19% beating out both Samsung and Sony. The premium brands are stronger in the high-end 40-inch and above segments the analytics firm points out.

Via Vizio