Matichon production arm shifts to Voice after end of collaboration with Workpoint
MATICHON Group’s TV-production arm has switched to Voice TV news station after its exclusive news production collaboration with Workpoint Entertainment came to an end last month.
Workpoint decided to build its own news department as a key strategy to boost TV ratings.
An industry insider told The Nation yesterday that Matichon would hold a press conference on the new partnership with Voice TV this week at the head office of Khaosod newspaper.
Under this new deal, Matichon TV will produce current-affairs programmes for this news station.
The two-year agreement by Matichon and Workpoint was reportedly came to close because Workpoint preferred to preserve its politically-neutral image , the source said.
However, Chalakorn Panyas-hom, chief operating officer of Workpoint Entertainment, told The Nation that this was a friendly parting.
“We still keep in touch and help each other on some projects.”
Ranked third in the market, Workpoint TV is now focusing on news and drama production for this year on top of its existing specialities like variety, game and sports programming.
“We established our own news department, which now comprises 10 staff and anchors. The team will soon be doubled to manage the rise of news consumption,” Chalakorn said.
Workpoint TV will also add more dramas and series on weekdays and more than 10 game and variety shows and big-format content like “Let Me In Thailand”, “King of Mask” and “I Can See Your Voice” this year.
The company has earmarked about Bt600 million to Bt700 billion for content production, up from Bt500 million last year.
These moves are expected to improve its audience rating to 1.2 points from last year’s 1 point.
To improve its airtime utilisation, Workpoint TV also plans to raise its average advertising rate to Bt35,000-Bt50,000 per minute from Bt25,000-Bt35,000 last year.
Workpoint TV is planning to expand its prime-time weekday slots to 5pm-10pm from 6pm-8pm currently. An advertiser is charged about Bt250,000-Bt300,000 during that golden period.
Television will continue to be a key engine of the company’s growth. The digital-TV business will contribute Bt2.5 billion or 80 per cent to the company’s revenue.
Last year, the digital-TV unit ended up with Bt1.8 billion of revenue as planned.
