LCD TV Displays See World Cup-Related Bump in Sales

Major sporting events reliably drive television sales — and, by extension, the liquid-crystal display panels that make up the sets. World Cup soccer is no exception. Starting in June, the world’s premiere soccer event drove up demand for televisions, especially in Europe and South America. That helped give a kick to panel shipments, which rose an unexpected three percent in the first six months of the year, compared with a year ago, defying the industry’s own expectations, according to newly released data from researcher IHS.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.