Thailand: 9th in mobile ad market
Thailand was the ninth biggest mobile advertising market in the world last quarter, with banner ads soaring 30 per cent year-on-year to more than two billion delivered to 12.4 million Thais.
“The data confirm Thailand as one of the fastest developing digital economies in the world,” Wararin Phoonuch-Aphai, country manager for global advertising network BuzzCity, said yesterday.
“And as smartphone penetration grows from its current 60-per-cent level, we expect more advertisers to keep increasing their digital presence through banner ads, apps, mobile sites, and more, to connect with customers.”
Growth in the first quarter was 42 per cent.
The dramatic surge in mobile advertising was supported by changing trends in online shopping globally and in Thailand.
An in-depth report from BuzzCity, commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association, revealed that more people than ever before were shopping online and on their mobile devices.
Half of mobile users made purchases online regularly. Nearly one in five browsed products online before buying in stores. Taken together, more than 70 per cent of mobile consumers shop online.
Mobile as a shopping channel is now on par with personal computers and a key to driving the change in consumer shopping behaviour.
Thais also embrace online shopping and browsing. Of Thai consumers surveyed, 59 per cent shopped online, with one in four using their mobile phone to purchase goods and services.
Thai shoppers were also using their mobile devices to make better informed purchasing decisions.
About 24 per cent used their mobile phones in-store to get product advice from friends or family, and 29 per cent clicked online to read product reviews.
Clothes and accessories at 38 per cent were the most popular products bought online, followed by groceries at 25 per cent, electronics/computers at 18 per cent and books and music at 15 per cent.
Among phones used in Thailand, Nokia is No 1 at 37 per cent, Samsung a close second at 36 per cent and Apple a distant third with 4 per cent.
By June 2013, 60 per cent of mobile surfers used smartphones to access the Internet.
The survey was conducted from April-May among 3,590 respondents from 26 countries including 11 Asia-Pacific markets.
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