Thailand’s digital advertising growth forecast for 2025 slashed to record low of 5% outside Covid years

The Digital Advertising Association of Thailand (DAAT) has downgraded its 2025 forecast for digital advertising growth to just 5%, the lowest on record outside the Covid-19 pandemic years, due to the economic slowdown.

DAAT President Paruj Daorai said the revised figure reflects business confidence in a challenging environment. “Even though growth has been reduced, it still demonstrates the resilience of Thailand’s digital industry,” he said, adding that in a rapidly changing world, particularly with AI playing an increasingly significant role, consumer attention has become the new battleground for marketers.

Arpapat Boonrod, Managing Director of Client Service at Kantar (Thailand), noted that the initial forecast for 2025 was 10% growth, but after the first half of the year, the projection was cut to 5%, totalling 33.105 billion baht, due to economic pressures and political instability, not including the latest domestic incidents.

Chaivut Eiamvuthikorn, General Manager of PHD (Thailand), said GDP growth expectations for 2025 have been cut from 2% to just 1%. Negative inflation, combined with the lowest consumer confidence in years, has dampened spending power, resulting in lower sales for brands and reduced digital advertising budgets.

DAAT’s report, covering 13 years of industry data, shows that 2025’s 5% growth rate is the lowest on record outside the Covid crisis, when growth was 4%. In 2024, growth slowed to 8%, a similar rate to 2020 before the pandemic. Previously, the sector consistently recorded double-digit growth.

From the advertising spend data across 70 product categories and 18 platforms, the biggest spender was skincare, with 5.249 billion baht (+4%), followed by non-alcoholic beverages at 3.062 billion baht (+22%), automotive at 2.515 billion baht (-17%), communications and telecoms at 2.381 billion baht (+17%), and dairy products at 2.227 billion baht (+11%).

Aside from automotive, which recorded the largest cut in spending, other categories also slowed, such as retail at 1.714 billion baht (-2%) and vitamins and supplements at 1.013 billion baht (-2%). High-growth categories included cosmetics at 1.575 billion baht (+80%) and restaurants at 1.147 billion baht (+40%).

“Alcoholic beverage advertising spend grew more than expected, while restaurant spending increased in line with the lifestyle trend of eating out. Restaurants have become more popular and marketers more active. Skincare remained the top advertising category, while cosmetics saw significant growth due to innovative product launches,” Arpapat added.

“TikTok” Surges, Closing in on “Meta” and Overtaking “YouTube” in Ad Revenue

In 2025, the digital platform advertising landscape has shifted as TikTok experienced a massive surge, raking in 6.776 billion baht, accounting for 20% of the market and marking a 63% increase from 4.167 billion baht in 2024. This leap pushed TikTok into second place, surpassing YouTube, and closing the gap with Meta (Facebook and Instagram), now just 1.675 billion baht behind.

Meta remains the leader, earning 8.451 billion baht in ad revenue — a 3% decrease from the previous year — with a 26% market share. YouTube ranks third with 4.397 billion baht, up 1% and holding a 13% share. Other segments include Creative at 2.573 billion baht (+13%, 8% share), Social at 2.112 billion baht (-28%, 6% share), and Search at 1.941 billion baht (+1%, 6% share).

Looking ahead, TikTok continues to dominate as the number-one rising media channel, maintaining its lead from last year. The second most important channel is Live/Live Commerce, which jumped from fourth place last year. E-commerce marketplaces rank third, down from second place; Affiliate marketing remains in third but has dropped in significance; and Meta moved up to fifth from sixth place, supported by its large user base. Social media as a category rose to sixth place from eleventh last year.