Entertainment, event businesses branching out into Asean
AFTER THE REGIONAL economic integration under the Asean framework, the domestic market does not appear to be enough for Thai entertainment and media-related businesses.
To be prepared for the opportunities lying ahead, some companies have already stepped ahead by expanding their footprints and building their brand awareness years ago.
The Nation has selected some interesting cases to illustrate this emerging trend, which is likely to be seen more prominently in the coming year.
Event-based companies seem to be the most active in spreading their wings through local partners outside Thailand.
Driven by the increase in the number of middle-class consumers along with advancements in telecommunication technology and urbanisation, Asean people’s lifestyle, entertainment and media consumption is merging together, said event-organising expert Kriankrai Kanjanapokin, co-chief executive officer of Index Creative Village.
In 2012, the company decided to enter Myanmar officially by forming a joint venture with Yangon-based media company Forever Group in an attempt to raise the bar of event organising in Myanmar.
The same year, the company also established TVM Index in Vietnam.
In 2013, Crave Index was launched to provide a full-service digital agency in Malaysia.
In Cambodia, the company plans to organise the first edition of “Architect & Decor 2016” in Phnom Penh next year.
To utilise its expertise in event management, Index now has business activities ranging from show business, exhibitions, conference management, trade fairs and cultural shows to TV production.
BEC-Tero Entertainment is also active in Myanmar, with an array of entertainment activities as it aims to build a second home there for TV and radio production and show business.
After forming the Forever BEC-Tero joint venture with Forever Group in 2012, BEC-Tero helped its partner through technical support and TV production for Channel 7 and MRTV-4.
Under this collaboration, key TV programmes are “When Dreams Meet (Eain Mat Sone Yet)”, “Minute to Win It”, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”, “Good Morning Myanmar,” “Woman to Woman – Health Fix”, “Little Champion – Before Kick-off”, “Junior … Minute to Win It”, “Family Feud”, “Myanmar’s Got Talent”, and the Miss Myanmar World pageant.
Instead of exporting finished programmes to broadcast in either subtitled or dubbed Burmese, BEC offered more by selling its format or plots to the partner. Through its joint-venture firm, BEC supports TV production with its expertise while casting local famous actors to help bring the dramas closer to local audiences.
The company provides a “My Asia Ticket” ticketing service in Myanmar, ranging from concert, performance, sports, and hotel-booking to bus tickets.
Major Cineplex Group has also become very active in expanding its footprint in CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam). This year, Thailand’s largest movie-theatre chain formed a 60:40 joint venture to open its first five movie screens, for a total investment of around Bt75 million, in Vientiane. Vicha Poolvaraluck, chairman of Major Cineplex Group, said that by 2018, the company aimed to have two locations more in Vientiane.
Before Laos, through the same partner Platinum Cineplex, Major opened its first theatre outside Thailand at Aeon Mall in Phnom Penh last year. More new cinemas are expected to follow.
Major has also been in talks with local partners in Myanmar and Vietnam to offer entertainment possibilities to the residents of those neighbouring countries.
By 2020, the company aims to see 10 per cent of its revenue from a total of 100 overseas screens.
Apart from partnership strategies, an industry expert suggested that online distribution could help TV broadcasters and entertainment content producers to reach overseas markets. They should explore possible opportunities by offering their content online, on top of responding to increasing demand at home.
Domestically, Kasikorn Research projects that online TV production business turnover will reach between Bt600 million and Bt615 million this year, accounting for 1.5 per cent of the Bt39 billion to Bt40 billion in turnover projected for overall TV programme production. By 2020, the online figure is expected to rise to between Bt1.9 billion and Bt2.2 billion.
Entertainment and media business in Asia-Pacific countries excluding Japan is still increasing, with an average annual growth rate of at least 7 per cent, according to PricewaterhouseCooper’s “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012-2016”.
