MCOT aims to bounce back
MCOT aims to transform itself from a struggler to a top-10 TV broadcaster this year and turn a profit at the same time, with the planned reversal mainly driven by a revenue contribution from government sector, according to the boss of the state media enterprise.
Piset Chiyasak, director and acting president of MCOT, said that the 40-year-old broadcaster needed a big change to its internal structure, with the injection of young-blood executives to re-position its two TV stations – Modernine TV and the MCOT Family channel.
“Modernine TV will focus on news, edutainment and lifestyle entertainment programmes while MCOT Family will cater to the specific needs of the children’s segment,” Piset explained.
In addition to news programmes, MCOT is putting more effort into health programming for all ages, wealth and investment programming and lifestyle shows.
“Our content will not only be delivered through traditional TV stations but they will also travel across other media platforms – from radio and online media to on-the-ground events. This will help the company reach a wider audience and boost TV ratings, both for its flagship [station] and the family channel,” he said.
Given this strategy, the company hopes that Modernine TV will return to being a top-10 broadcaster and achieve its targeted revenue of Bt1.5 billion this year.
“Our key focus is G-to-G [government-to-government] sponsorship. MCOT has a strong network with government authorities, so we will have more engagement with those state agencies this year,” Piset said.
Of the state enterprise’s total forecast advertising revenue, one-third is expected to come from its G-to-G network this year, up from 24 per cent last year.
Recently, MCOT partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to co-produce a weather show which aims to promote Thai tourism. The move is expected to help the state enterprise gain more direct advertising and sponsorship.
An analyst at Country Group Securities said that based on MCOT’s business plan and strategies, its total revenue this year was forecast to increase 20 per cent to Bt3 billion compared to an estimated Bt2.49 billion last year.
The analyst said that advertising rate charged by MCOT this year was likely to be reduced 5 per cent compared to last year to maintain a utilisation rate of 60 per cent.
