Global slowdown, floods cast a shadow

“The massive floods in many provinces will also have an impact on the ad industry as many businesses have missed their sales targets and need to cut costs, including for advertising, to maintain their bottom lines,” Surin Krittayaphongphun, vice president for marketing and sales at Bangkok Entertainment, the operator of TV Channel 3, said yesterday.
The global slowdown, which sent Asia’s stock markets, including Thailand’s, plunging, is expected to hurt the local TV industry, which takes the lion’s share of advertising expenditures at 60 per cent, he said.
According to airtime bookings made by local ad agencies, however, October still looks like a good month for the TV advert industry.
“If there are no negative factors in November and December, we will see growth of 11-12 per cent in TV ad revenue for the full year. The TV industry achieved Bt55 billion to Bt60 billion in airtime revenue last year,” he said.
Channel 3 expects its airtime revenue to increase by 12-13 per cent this year, which is higher than the industry’s estimated growth of 11-12 per cent, he said.
For the first six months, the company’s airtime revenue rose by 14-15 per cent. The increase in airtime revenue was the fastest in the second quarter, by as much as 17 per cent, before falling to 13-14 per cent in the third quarter.
“We expect airtime revenue to head up by double digits in the first nine months, which will exceed the industry’s growth,” Surin said.
“However, the economic uncertainties, including the weak capital market, will affect consumer purchasing power. The government’s policy to support first-car buyers will encourage people to spend on durable goods rather than general consumer products.”
Channel 3 is considering raising its advertising rates for major news programmes, such as “Krob Krua Kao” and “Kao Sam Miti”, according to their popularity and demand from media agencies.
The station in January hiked the rate for its “Rueng Lao Chao Nee” show from Bt175,000 per minute to Bt200,000.
Bangkok Entertainment is conducting a feasibility study on launching its own satellite TV channels, probably next year,  Surin said. GMM Grammy’s GMM Broadcasting recently inaugurated its 1-Sky platform for satellite channels in partnership with five local dish manufacturers and traders.
Pravit Maleenont, president of Bangkok Entertainment, said the expansion of satellite TV networks had led to a dramatic increase in viewers of Channel 3.