Samsung Electronics topped TV sales in the U.S. for the first nine months of the year, and took up nearly half of the country’s premium TV market share.

The South Korean electronics giant took up 29.1 percent of the U.S. television market up for the January-September period, NPD Group, a North American market research company, said on Sunday.

Samsung was followed by Vizio, which took up 11.5 percent, LG Electronics with 10.2 percent, Sharp with 7.4 percent, and Panasonic with 5.4 percent. 

Samsung’s market share rose about 1 percent from 28.3 percent last year, while that of most competitors fell. Other than Samsung, only LG Electronics’ share grew.

In the premium TV market, in particular, Samsung took up 48.7 percent of the market.

Industry insiders say that Samsung’s marketing strategy of focusing on premium TVs that are at least 47 inches wide as a way to overcome the sluggish market has worked out.

Samsung has also done well in LCD and LED TV sales up until the third quarter, claiming a market share of 26.6 percent. It was followed by Vizio, which took up 13.3 percent of the market, LG Electronics (9.6 percent), Sharp (8.5 percent) and Sony (6.0 percent).

The electronics giant also dominated the U.S. plasma display panel television market with 45.8 percent share in the market while Panasonic took up 31.4 percent and LG 14.5 percent. It also led the smart television and 3D sectors with 39.8 percent and 45 percent market shares, respectively.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)