Sales of Soundbars Double in 2011

Bundled deals and a reanalysis of marketing targets have helped things along.

We haven't heard too much in the way of new soundbars recently, but as it turns out, that doesn't mean the speaker style is waning. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

Analysts at Futuresource say that soundbar sales doubled in 2011, thanks in part to heavy promotion and bundled deals with TVs. A change in the target audience of soundbars has helped as well. Originally, soundbar makers were going after high-end users without room for full speaker systems, but now they're aiming at the folks who wouldn't buy a 5.1 setup but still want better sound.

Source: TWICE