Channels 3, 7 expected to retain dominance
Media agency Magna Global has suggested that the TV broadcasting duopoly of Channel 7 and Channel 3 will maintain a combined market share of more than 65 per cent this year, while the remainder of the sector - including terrestrial-based digital TV channe
Manee Eabe, managing director of Magna Global, a strategic media unit of IPG Mediabrands, said that after witnessing last year’s major change in the TV broadcasting industry, the two major players appeared to have been only slightly affected by the arrival of digital TV.
This situation is likely to continue through this year, she said.
Channel 7 is the most popular station among the nationwide audience, followed by Channel 3, while in metropolitan Bangkok viewers enjoy watching TV shows, particularly soap operas, aired via both channels almost evenly.
Manee added that TV5 and Modernine TV were going to face fierce competition from new digital players.
Some digital-TV operators that offer a number of quality-content programmes have also gained audience share from weak incumbent players, she said, mentioning Workpoint TV, Channel 8, Mono 29 and One as examples of the channels making progress in this regard.
However, most advertising still pours into incumbent analog free-TV channels, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the total spend every month, with the remaining 30 per cent shared by the 24 broadcasters crowded in the terrestrial-based digital-TV platform.
Though the leaders in digital-TV business provide improved-quality programmes, she explained that the advertising rates they offered remained lower than those offered by current analog free-TV operators.
"It might take three more years for the leading digital-TV stations to reduce the gap between their average advertising rates and those of analog operators," she suggested.
Manee said the key factor for digital-TV operators in terms of achieving their goals was to keep improving their ratings via quality content delivered to the right targeted audience.
In the wake of intense competition, setting one’s position clearly and precisely with direct communication to the right audience is considered the key strategy for new players, she added.
She said Mono 29 was a good example in this respect, keeping its market position quite clear as a home of foreign TV series and movies and targeting those who wanted to watch such content.
"This is an example of segmentation marketing.
So we believe that the era of mass marketing in the TV broadcasting business has to change once audiences become fragmented," said the head of the media agency.
While new digital-TV broadcasters need to be equipped with an appropriate strategy to attract attention among a particular audience, market leaders like Channel 7 and Channel 3 are striving to retain their own strongholds, she said.
Channel 7, or 7HD available on digital-TV platform, has a strong presence in the nationwide market, while Channel 3 – or 3HD for digital-TV broadcasting service – has a solid base in the metropolitan Bangkok market, she added.
