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The adoption of 8K TV will begin to build momentum over the next few years, reaching 72 million households worldwide by 2025, a new report has said.

According to a forecast by market researcher Strategy Analytics, sales of more than one million 8K TVs are expected in 2021 and around four million in 2022.

This will represent quite a jump from a slower than expected 2020 when just under 350,000 8K TVs were sold globally.

"8K TV sales did not reach the level that TV vendors may have hoped for in 2020, following a challenging year for the global TV displays market," Edouard Bouffenie, Senior Analyst, Connected Home Devices, Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

"Major 8K content showcase events such as the Olympic Games were delayed as a result of the global pandemic, removing a key opportunity for TV manufacturers to boost their 8K TV marketing messages."

Moreover, prices for 8K TVs are still very high, leading many consumers think twice about whether now is the right time to upgrade, or hold off until prices inevitably fall over the next few years, Bouffenie said.

North America will be the leading region for 8K TVs by 2025 with close to 25 million households owning at least one 8K TV set, said the report.

Differences in screen size preference will be a key determining factor in the uptake of 8K TVs in each region with the larger screen markets such as the US and China seeing the fastest rates of adoption.

"Long term 8K TV adoption will ultimately be driven by panel supply and the ongoing shift to ever larger screen sizes," said David Watkins, Director, Connected Home Devices, Strategy Analytics.

"As we saw with 4K, TV panel manufacturers are likely to switch entire production lines over to 8K as soon as it makes financial sense to do so. This transition will start with the very large screen sizes over 70-inches before trickling down into the 60 to 69-inch and even into some sub 60-inch sizes."