:quality(50)/cloudfront-ap-northeast-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sankei/MAFY3QZPURGFTLZN4ATXDJSMRI.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,998&ssl=1 "CRT TVs are very popular. The winning bid amount is over twice as high in five years, and unexpected use is also possible as a tailwind of retro boom.")
As demand for flat-screen televisions continues to decrease due to the spread of online program viewing on smartphones, the popularity of “Cross-ray tube televisions,” which were the mainstream in the Showa and Heisei eras, is gradually increasing. According to a survey by Aucfan (Tokyo), an auction information site, the average winning bid amount has risen more than doubled over the five years up to 2024, and the transaction volume has risen by 1.6 times. In addition to the increased demand due to the retro boom, there have been an unexpected way to use it recently.
Use as a hobby
The company analyzed transaction data from Amazon and Yahoo! Auctions, and found that the average winning bid for CRT TVs in 2024 was 13,537 yen, up 2.1 times the amount in 2020 (6,432 yen). The number of transactions in 2024 was 1,892, reaching 1.6 times the number of transactions four years ago (1,206), each of which reached an all-time high.
A company representative analyzes that the background to the popularity of CRT televisions is the continued retro boom, especially among young people, and the increased demand for gamers who want to enjoy retro games released in the past on CRT televisions.
Furthermore, it has pointed out that a recent new trend is “demand for arrangements for aquariums and miniature houses.” Taking advantage of the thickness that is characteristic of CRT TVs, there are increasing numbers of cases where plastic models and small toys are displayed in the area where the monitor is removed, and tropical fish can be raised and viewed by aquariums.
The most expensive traded was Sony’s top-end broadcasting business monitor BVM-F24, which was sold for 740,000 yen.
Production ended in 2015
CRT televisions have a mechanism called CRTs, which uses large vacuum tubes for image display, which are called CRTs, so they have a long depth, and are equipped with a large device for emitting electrons, making them heavy. For example, the 32-inch screen model released in the 1990s is about 60 cm wide, 50 cm high, 40 cm deep, and weighs about 30 kg.
The aspect ratio of the TV screen is 4 to 3, which is closer to square, rather than the current 16 to 9, which is horizontal. Although it varies depending on the model, power consumption is more than twice as much as that of today’s mainstream LCD TVs.
Demand for CRT television continued to plummet as domestic analog broadcasting ended and terrestrial digital broadcasting was completely switched to July 2011. As a result, manufacturers have withdrawn from production one after another, and production worldwide has ended in 2015.
Source: Japanese