Nation TV moving with the changes

Adisak Limparungpatanakij, chief executive officer at NBC Next Vision Co, which holds the licence for Nation TV Channel 22, said the news channel planned to launch new news shows of its own as well as other programmes from its partners that produced variety-lifestyle content. This will make the station more than a news channel, he said.
“After the launch of the ‘Nation beyond News’ concept in the middle of last year, Nation TV’s audience has distinctly expanded. Its average rating jumped about 50 per cent year on year in 2016. There were about 60,000 viewers per minute, up from about 40,000 in 2015,” he said.
Nation TV has also become the No 1 news channel in the digital age, after being the No 1 satellite-TV news channel for more than 13 years, he said. 
In December, Nation TV had a 31.62-per-cent share of the total audience, trailed by the second-ranked station at 19.13 per cent. Nation TV reached 3.6 million digital-TV viewers on average in December, compared with No 2’s 2.64 million. 
Nation TV’s audience grew in all dimensions, including 10 million viewers via social media, and this could bring new business opportunities in the form of e-commerce and online advertisement, Adisak said.
“This year’s economy is expected to improve as major risks have passed and the government’s mega-projects will commence. Thus Nation TV is expected to see at least a 20-per-cent rise in its income. In the second quarter of this year, the advertising rate will be raised by about 15-25 per cent, depending on the periods of ratings,” he said.
He said Nation TV targeted increasing its audience base by about 50 per cent for all channels this year. 
About 100,000 viewers per minute are expected to come from digital TV and 500,000 viewers per day through the website. On Facebook, Nation TV’s and other programmes, the “like” hits are expected to soar from 6 million to 10 million.
“Nation TV will also have a new global partner, which has championship sports and lifestyle content, as a means to expand the audience base. We are confident that the ratings this year will increase by at least 50 per cent,” he said. 
The station will be involved in mega-events throughout to build a closer connection with its new audience. They include a bike-riding activity and a cross-border seminar for CLMVT countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand). 
“Nation TV will upgrade itself from mass media to an intermediary linking Asean businesspeople together for more trade and investment,” Adisak said.
Other mega-events include the 14th World Film Festival of Bangkok and events marking 130 years of Thailand-Japan relations and 150 years of Thailand-Russia relations.
Weerasak Pongaksorn, executive editor for Nation TV, said that this year all categories of news would be very active in the country and abroad, and this was a direct task for news channels.
“It’s the duty of news channels to engage in fact-finding, and Nation TV has done that all the time. 
“While social media capture more of the media area, the main media – news channels – have to prove the truth more,” he said.