Digital TV to help boost ad spending this year by 4.5%

However, the advertising industry is anxious about the volatile world economy, while the high level of household debts in Thailand could affect the bottom line.
“After experiencing a tough situation last year, we have set a conservative growth [target] of 4.5 per cent in this year’s advertising spending from a year ago,” MAAT chairwoman Wannee Ruttanaphon said yesterday. The association’s forecast was mainly based on macroeconomic growth and developments in the media industry.
Wannee, who is also chairwoman of IPG Mediabrands, said that among key media, terrestrial-based digital TV, digital media and transit continued to enjoy growth, similar to last year’s trend.
She noted that TV remained the key medium brands and advertisers use to reach a mass audience. This media segment represents more than 60 per cent of total ad spending.
However, free TV channels based on the old analog platform are being challenged by the new digital TV broadcasters. MAAT director Ratthakorn Surbsuk, a trading partner at GroupM Thailand, said the association expected to see a very small advertising-rate increase on traditional analog TV stations while digital terrestrial TV channels had the potential to raise average advertising rates by 40 per cent.
Sandwiched between the free analog and digital TV stations, cable and satellite channels have had to keep their ad rates where they are.
Ratthakorn said analog TV channels were expected to see their audiences decline by 4-5 per cent this year. Cable and satellite TV channels are facing the same situation, as they are losing audience share to digital TV stations, by about 20 per cent.
On the other hand, the audience bases of digital TV channels could increase by 30 per cent from 2014 levels.
Khanokkhan Prajongsangsri, a member of MAAT and business director for investment and knowledge of IPG Mediabrands, said that according to the association’s latest survey, the proportion of viewers who watched digital TV had increased from 8 per cent last June to 16 per cent now, while analog TV viewers faced a drop from 52 per cent to 38 per cent. The latest survey was conducted from January 16 to 24 with a sample size of 209.
Ratthakorn said magazines, newspapers, radio and cinemas seemed to be facing a tough situation amid the changes in the media landscape.
As such, advertising rates offered by those media should be maintained.