How Many Watts Does a TV Use? [349 TVs Reviewed in 2023]

TV Watts, Power, Electricity, and Energy Consumption Explained

To help answer the question of how many watts does a TV use, we reviewed and analyzed 349 name brand TVs. We will provide tested and proven power consumption numbers for TVs from 32 to 98 inch screens, and will show you how much energy a TV can consume in a year!

Many factors go into the power consumption for TVs, such as size, brightness, resolution, screen type, wireless connections and the efficiency of the power electronics.

Highlights:

• On average, LCD TVs use 135.2 watts when in On mode and 0.5 watts when in Standby mode.
• TV wattage varies from 26.6 watts for 32 inch TVs all the way up to 520 watts for 98 inch TVs.
• LCD TVs use 250.1 kWh of electricity per year, on average.
• Yearly TV energy consumption varies from 52 kWh up to 952.2 kWh per TV.
• TV power consumption varies drastically depending on features like size, resolution, backlight type and audio power.

To help you understand the terminology used in this article, there are two units that need discussed.

Firstly, every TV will have a power rating, which will be labeled in watts (W). Power is how much energy is needed per second to run the TV electronics.

Secondly, electricity is purchased as energy, which is labeled in kilowatt-hours (kWh). This is the amount of power used over a period of time, which is commonly done in hours. The TV energy guide provides this information for every TV.

What makes this information and data different from other websites writing about this topic is that we researched only name brand TVs for this data, and didn’t use any of the readily available TV power information from Energy Star. Most of those TVs are not what people are buying and using, so that data under-estimates the true TV wattage and power numbers.

If you’re interested in how many amps a TV needs to run, then we provide that information here!

What is TV Wattage?

TV wattage is the amount of power needed to operate the TV. This is the amount of power needed for all of the TV electronics to function, like turn on the back-light LEDs, process the video signal from the cable box, satellite dish or Wi-Fi connection, and play sound out of the TV speakers.

TVs use the most watts when they are in On mode, which is when you are watching a show on the TV.

However, TVs also consume a small amount of power when they are “off”, or in Standby mode. In Standby mode, minimal electronics are powered on and waiting for a signal from the remote control to turn on the TV.

Fortunately, we’ve broken down these 349 TVs by size, resolution and power consumed, so you will be able to make an educated purchase for your next TV based on power consumption.

How Many Watts do TVs Use?

As stated earlier, 32 inch to 98 inch TVs use between 35.7 watts and 251.5 watts, on average.

The minimum power consumed for a 32 inch TV was only 26.6 watts, but the maximum TV power was 520 watts for an 85 inch TV!

The average power for all TVs studied was 135.2 watts when in On mode.

To help you visualize the trend between LCD TV size and power dissipation, we created the following chart. It’s easy to see that the TV wattage increases as the size of the TV increases, but it’s also worth noting that larger TV screens tend to have high resolutions like 4k (2160p) or 8k (4320p).

It’s worth mentioning that these power numbers are for typical power consumption, which means each TV can actually consume even more power when in a different mode.

Things like increasing the screen brightness and turning up the speak volume can cause the TV to use up to three times as much power! But for everything presented in this article, we are only referring to the typical power numbers for the LED TVs.

The chart below shows the minimum, median and maximum TV wattage for the TVs reviewed in our study. It’s interesting to note the wide difference in power needs for TVs of the same size, but have different features like resolution, back-light LEDs and audio power.

TV Wattage by Screen Size

LCD TV screen size is the most popular way of choosing a TV, which is closely followed by resolution and other features like Wi-Fi, audio quality and if it’s a Smart TV or not.

Based on the previous two chart, it’s easy to see that TV wattage increases with TV screen size, so as a consumer you can expect the larger TVs to consume more energy and cost more to operate.

The following table puts the TV screen size and TV wattage side-by-side so you can easily see how each TV size compares to the other ones.

TV Screen Size	TV Wattage (Average)	Brand Name TV
32 Inch	35.7 Watts	Vizio D32F-J01
40 Inch	46.1 Watts	Sansui S40P28F
43 Inch	69.0 Watts	Hisense 43H4G
50 Inch	87.2 Watts	LG 50UP7000PUA
55 Inch	110.0 Watts	TCL 55R6G
58 Inch	108.4 Watts	Insignia NS-58F301NA22
65 Inch	147.0 Watts	TCL 65R648
70 Inch	131.8 Watts	Hisense 70A6H
75 Inch	202.3 Watts	Vizio M75QXM-K03
77 Inch	170.8 Watts	Sony XR-77A80K
83 Inch	174.4 Watts	LG OLED83C1PUA
85 Inch	217.4 Watts	Sony XR-85X95K
86 Inch	179.9 Watts	LG 86NANO90UNA
98 Inch	251.5 Watts	Samsung QN98QN90AAFXZA

TV Wattage by Resolution

The breakdown of TV resolution is shown in the pie chart below.

As you can see, of the name brand TVs reviewed in this study, the vast majority of TVs are 2160p, which is referred to as 4K resolution. Every TV size listed has at least one 4K resolution TV.

720p resolution, which is referred to as high-definition (HD) was only found in the 32 inch TV class, but some 32 inch TVs had higher resolutions.

Full high-definition, or Full HD, is 1080p and is mostly found in the small TV screen size classes like 32 inch, 40 inch and 43 inch.

The newest 8K resolution only found in larger TV screen sizes from 55 inch up to 98 inch. It should be expected that more and more future TVs will have this resolution.

The following table lists the average TV wattage by screen resolution to provide an idea of how TV watts go up with both size and resolution.

Name	Resolution	TV Wattage (Average)	TV Percentage
High-Definition (HD)	720p	34.0 Watts	5%
Full High-Definition (Full HD)	1080p	47.4 Watts	6%
4K	2160p	134.4 Watts	85%
8K	4320p	262.2 Watts	4%

TV Wattage by Brand Name

We picked the following eight brand name TV manufacturers for this review:

• Samsung
• LG
• Sony
• Hisense
• TCL
• Vizio
• Insignia
• Sansui

These brands were picked based on brand recognition, variety of TV sizes, resolutions and features, product reviews, and availability on websites like Amazon.com. In addition, by gathering unique data and not using the Energy Star TV database, we’re providing more realistic and practical TV wattage numbers to you.

The table below shows you how each of the brand name TVs compare when their TV wattage is averaged over the different TV class sizes.

Brand Name	TV Screen Size (inches)	TV Wattage (Average)	# of TVs
Sansui	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 75	62.3 Watts	17
Samsung	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 85, 86, 98	103.3 Watts	69
Insignia	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 75	103.5 Watts	14
LG	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 70, 75, 77, 83, 86, 88	119.6 Watts	77
Vizio	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 70, 75, 85	132.6 Watts	45
TCL	43, 50, 55, 65, 70, 75, 85, 98	160.1 Watts	46
Sony	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 77, 83, 85	162.6 Watts	37
Hisense	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 70, 75, 85	168.5 Watts	44

It’s difficult to interpret what the average data really means for each of these brands since the TV screen size and the quantity of them might differ from brand to brand. A much more in-depth analysis is needed to really determine the efficiency and quality the customer gets from each TV for the power consumed.

How Much Electricity Does a TV Use?

Now that how many watts a TV uses has been thoroughly explained, it’s time to focus on just how much electricity (or energy) does a TV use!

The electricity provided by the power company charges at a standard unit rate in kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is 1000 watts for one hour. Hence, if a TV or appliance used 1000 watts and was on for exactly one hour, then you would be billed for one kWh.

The amount of time a TV is on in a house varies from day to day depending on work schedules, TV specials or even sporting or concert events.

However, the average number used for all energy guide calculations is based on the TV being in On mode for five hours per day and in Standby mode for 19 hours per day.

Since TV manufacturers sometimes only provide the estimated yearly energy usage in kWh, then a simple calculation will provide the expected TV wattage when in On mode.

So, let’s see how much power TVs reviewed in this post use in an hour, a month, a year, and when off.

How Much Electricity Does a TV Use Per Hour?

The amount of electricity used by an LCD TV in an hour is very simple to calculate if you know how much power is uses in On mode. You simply take the wattage and divide it by 1000, which gives you the amount of energy in the proper units of kWhs.

So, for the average 75 inch TV, which uses 202.3 watts to operate, on average, it would take 202.3 watts divided by 1000 to get 0.2023 kWh of energy used in 1 hour.

How Much Electricity Does a TV Use Per Month?

In order to accurately calculate how much electricity a TV uses in a month, you need to estimate the amount of time the TV is going to be on and off.

As mentioned previously, the standard is 5 hours with the TV in On mode and 19 hours with the TV in Standby mode, or when it’s off.

The nominal off power for a modern LED TV is 0.5 watts.

Hence, the calculation for a month would be 5 times the TV wattage plus 19 times 0.5 watts, which gives you the amount of energy used in one day. Then you take that times 30 days to get one month.

The chart below gives the average energy usage by TV screen size for one month.

How Much Electricity Does a TV Use Per Year?

Now that you know how to calculate the month TV energy needs, it’s really simple to get a yearly average total for all of the TV screen sizes reviewed in this study.

Simply multiply the monthly electricity value times 12 months and you get the estimated amount of electricity used by a TV in a year!

If you have a specific TV, or even your own TV at home, and want to know this number, then simply look-up the energy guide online, or you might even find the yellow label on the back of the TV.

How Much Electricity Does a TV Use When Off?

Unfortunately, TVs do use some electricity even when they are off, or Standby mode.

Most smart TVs have a Wi-Fi connection, which requires power to keep this constant connection to the Wi-Fi router in the house or apartment.

In addition, there’s the TV sensor that’s always on and waiting for a signal from the TV remote to turn the TV to On mode so you can start watching TV.

While the power dissipated during the Standby mode is very low at about 0.5 watts, it does added up to about 3.5 kWh of energy per year!

Do TVs Use a Lot of Electricity?

The average monthly energy bill in the U.S. is for 893 kWh. If a house had an 98 inch TV, which most do not have, then that would only represent 38.5 divided by 893, or 4.3% of the monthly electricity consumption.

Hence, when compared to other household power needs for lights, dryers, dishwashers, computers, heating and cooling, TVs do not use a lot of electricity.

However, if you have multiple TVs running for many hours a day, and are large screen TVs, then it’s very possible that TV power consumption could become 10-15% of your monthly power needs, which is significant!

And while the TVs reviewed for this post don’t necessarily meet Energy Star ratings, by click here you can learn more about the Energy Star criteria for TVs.

TV Power Consumption by Screen Size

The average TV power consumption, listed by TV screen size, is shown in the table below for hourly, monthly and yearly usage.

It’s important to remember that these numbers are just the average, and there’s a big difference between the minimum and maximum values for each TV screen size class.

Hence, be sure to figure out how much power your specific TVs are using if you want to better understand just how much electricity your home TVs are using!

TV Screen Size	TV Energy Per Hour	TV Energy Per Month	TV Energy Per Year
32 Inch	0.036 kWh	5.7 kWh	68.6 kWh
40 Inch	0.046 kWh	7.3 kWh	87.6 kWh
43 Inch	0.069 kWh	10.8 kWh	129.5 kWh
50 Inch	0.087 kWh	13.6 kWh	162.7 kWh
55 Inch	0.110 kWh	17.0 kWh	204.1 kWh
58 Inch	0.108 kWh	16.8 kWh	201.3 kWh
65 Inch	0.147 kWh	22.6 kWh	271.7 kWh
70 Inch	0.132 kWh	20.3 kWh	244.0 kWh
75 Inch	0.202 kWh	31.0 kWh	372.6 kWh
77 Inch	0.171 kWh	26.3 kWh	315.1 kWh
83 Inch	0.174 kWh	26.8 kWh	321.8 kWh
85 Inch	0.217 kWh	33.4 kWh	400.3 kWh
86 Inch	0.180 kWh	27.7 kWh	331.8 kWh
98 Inch	0.252 kWh	38.5 kWh	462.5 kWh

TV Power Consumption by Resolution

TV resolution plays a significant role in power consumption when comparing the same TV screen size.

As a good estimate, the amount of electricity is almost double as the resolution increases, or doubles!

Hence, a good understanding of how resolution impacts both TV energy consumption, and TV quality, is important when comparing TVs side-by-side.

The table below clearly shows that trend, though the size of the TVs also tend to get bigger when the resolution increases.

Name	Resolution	TV Energy Per Hour	TV Energy Per Month	TV Energy Per Year
High-Definition (HD)	720p	0.034 kWh	5.4 kWh	65.6 kWh
Full High-Definition (Full HD)	1080p	0.047 kWh	7.4 kWh	90.1 kWh
4K	2160p	0.134 kWh	20.4 kWh	248.7 kWh
8K	4320p	0.262 kWh	39.6 kWh	482.0 kWh

TV Power Consumption by Brand Name

In the chart below you can find the average TV electricity usage per hour, month and year per TV brand.

While the size, resolution and features vary drastically between many of the manufacturers, you can get a feel as to how much power the TVs consume when broken down by brand name.

Most of the time the high power usage is simply a fact of larger screen sizes and higher resolution, which are more important factors to a consumer than energy consumption.

Brand Name	TV Screen Size (inches)	TV Energy Per Hour	TV Energy Per Month	TV Energy Per Year
Sansui	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 75	0.062 kWh	9.6 kWh	117.2 kWh
Samsung	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 85, 86, 98	0.103 kWh	15.8 kWh	191.9 kWh
Insignia	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 75	0.103 kWh	15.8 kWh	192.3 kWh
LG	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 70, 75, 77, 83, 86, 88	0.120 kWh	18.2 kWh	221.7 kWh
Vizio	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 70, 75, 85	0.133 kWh	20.2 kWh	245.5 kWh
TCL	43, 50, 55, 65, 70, 75, 85, 98	0.160 kWh	24.3 kWh	295.7 kWh
Sony	32, 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 77, 83, 85	0.163 kWh	24.7 kWh	300.3 kWh
Hisense	32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 58, 65, 70, 75, 85	0.169 kWh	25.6 kWh	311.0 kWh

What Features Affect TV Power Consumption

Modern, smart TVs are very complicated and are loaded with many features and complex technologies.

As is the case with most things, every additional feature and improvement in quality comes at the expense of more power consumption.

Based on my electrical engineer background, the following list of features has the biggest impact on TV power usage, from highest to lowest.

• TV screen size
• TV resolution
• TV brightness, contrast and refresh rate
• TV audio power
• TV Wi-Fi
• TV Bluetooth

FAQs

Summary

Hopefully this study of modern TVs in 2022 from name brand manufacturers helped give you an understanding of the amount of power and energy needed to power LED TVs.

There was a lot of information presented, but the information was presented in such a way to give you an idea of approximate power and energy needs, per TV, in your home.

And with that information, you can then calculate how much it costs to run a TV!

We’d love to hear from you if you have any comments or specific questions that we didn’t cover.