Unknowns rife amid digital transition
Play
Mindshare forum hears uncertainties to come with change
Though regulations for the transition to digital television have become more concrete, broadcasters, content providers and media agencies say many uncertainties in terms of more advanced technology, audience behaviour and new players lie ahead.
To encourage members of the advertising and media industries to get ready for digital broadcasting, Mindshare, the marketing and media network of GroupM, yesterday held an “Original Thinking Forum” in Bangkok.
Mindshare managing director Nilufar Fowler said her firm expected to see more rapid fragmentation of viewing across many channels by 2015, when digital terrestrial TV broadcasting takes full effect.
Dew Waratangtagoon, chief operating officer of GMM Trading, a satellite-TV unit of GMM Grammy, said that in the next three to five years, the broadcasting industry would see rapid change in terms of technology after the advancement of broadband Internet service and the move to digital.
Meanwhile, broadband might be another key element changing audience behaviour.
Dew noted that throughout the past five years, cable and satellite TV had been crucial game changers in the broadcasting business and they now reached more than 65 per cent of the country’s 22 million households.
The competition in cable and satellite is continuing to intensify because of new pay-TV players such as GMM Z and CTH.
He predicted that in the second half of this year, all pay-TV players would focus on high-definition (HD) service and branded content. This would create fierce competition among international content providers interested in selling their programmes to Thai pay-TV operators before the full launch of digital broadcasting.
However, current regulations and infrastructures are still behind the technology, he added.
“Facing these challenges, my company will this year focus on acquiring new, exclusive content to attract subscribers by strengthening the GMM Z platform, while next year HD service will be key,” Dew said.
Surin Krittayaphongphun, executive vice president of Bangkok Entertainment Co, the operator of Channel 3, said the launch of digital broadcasting would open more doors for both existing and new content providers, as they would have more windows through which to distribute their content.
However, he said those new windows would create oversupply of advertising airtime, rising to 6,000 minutes a day (from 24 new commercial digital TV channels) from 1,000 minutes a day (from five existing analog channels). Yet advertising expenditure has been growing by only 3-4 per cent a year.
Given the more fragmented media usage in coming years, demand for high-quality shows will intensify while the number of viewers remains unchanged.
Given this challenge, Surin said it would be more difficult and more expensive to reach an audience.
There are also many uncertainties for new players in digital TV, for example its rate of expansion, particularly in rural areas, and the lack of a rating system. These new players might not have enough quality content in their libraries, nor popular actors and highly experienced human resources.
Another factor that might cause confusion is the different costs between high- and standard-definition (SD) service, he added.
Malee Kittipongpisal, general manager at Mindshare, said many agencies and advertisers were still asking questions about the different advertising rates for variety HD and SD channels because of gaps between initial operating costs for the two levels of broadcast definition.
She added that if the only difference between the two was picture clarity, it might not be reasonable for advertisers to spend more for a spot on an HD channel when SD channels could reach the same audience.
