Samsung Electronics held the biggest share of the global television market in the third quarter this year, U.S. marketing research firm NPD DisplaySearch said Sunday.

The affiliate firm of American market research company NPD Group Inc. said that Samsung Electronics rated No. 1 in the July-September quarter by taking a 25.2 percent share in the global flat-screen TV market.

According to the same analysis, four types of Samsung TVs ― liquid crystal display, light-emitting diode, plasma display panel and three-dimensional ― topped the third-quarter sales in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Samsung Electronics said its sales growth is meaningful given that it achieved the performance as the global TV market shrank in the third quarter.

The Korean firm took up about 29.4 percent of global market share in 3-D TVs, selling more than twice as many as the next best-selling brand. Half of all 3-D TVs are Samsung in all markets except China, Samsung said.

From the first to third quarter, the company held about a 46.2 percent market share in Latin America and about 65.7 percent in the Middle East and Africa together.

In accumulative sales for the first three quarters, the Korean electronics firm went up 4 points to 26.4 percent in global market share on-year, compared to 22.7 percent in 2011.

Samsung has been the best-selling TV brand in the global market for seven consecutive years since 2006.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)