FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

  Vithita Animation preparing to expand into CLMV

  Vithita Animation preparing to expand into CLMV

VITHITA ANIMATION, a subsidiary of the Banlue Group, a well-known publisher of the Thai cartoon classic “Kai Hua Roh”, is exploring online content business in neighbouring markets, especially Myanmar and Vietnam.

Santi Laohaburanakit, deputy managing director of Vithita, which has been in the animation business in Thailand for 16 years, said the business expansion into high-potential markets in the Asean Economic Community would be in collaboration with online media partners, wholesalers of media content, and content creators in particular markets.
He said the emerging markets in the CLMV subregion – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – had particularly high growth potential. “We are exploring the best way to cater our digital content there.” 
He said Vithita had been set up in 2001 as a subsidiary of Bunlue Group to operate its animation business. Vithita became an animation pioneer in Thailand at that time with well-known characters including PangPond and Noo Hin.
“Over the past two to three years, the media structure has changed significantly, resulting in the gradual disappearance of many traditional media,” Santi said.
“Thai people have changed their media-consumption lifestyles, which are no longer in line with those programmed by TV channels. It is now the ‘mobile first’ era when people consume content on mobile platforms, and at any time, anywhere.” 
Santi said Vithita had grown its animation business from between Bt4 million and Bt5 million in revenue in its first year of operation with only 10 staff, to a bigger company with revenue of Bt70 million to Bt80 million last year with 40-50 staff. 
About 40 per cent of its revenue was generated from the company’s own intellectual properties, and the rest from providing outsourced animation services to individual business clients. 
The company expects its annual revenue to exceed Bt100 million within five years, driven by the potential of online content.
Santi said that five years ago, almost 90 per cent of the company’s animation business was for traditional media, namely terrestrial and cable television. However, traditional media accounted only half of the company’s business last year, with the rest from online channels.
“We believe that in five years, online media will represent 80 per cent of our animation business,” he said.
Santi said that with the emergence of the digital media era, Vithita had turned its focus more towards online channels, such as YouTube and Line TV, for future expansion.
Vithita three years ago started to develop Line stickers based on the company’s own cartoon characters as well as working as a service provider for the creation of new characters for business clients.
“Our strategy has been adjusted to put more focus on social/online media such as Line, YouTube and Facebook. Meanwhile our goal to create high-quality content and characters remains unchanged,” Santi said.
He stressed that Vithita’s business plan and strategy for the next three to five years would be to remain flexible regarding rapid digital transformation.
“We see our key challenge as the changes in people’s lifestyles from the rapid changes in digital technology. We think printed content will continue to exist and will not be entirely replaced by online media. The best way to cope with this transformation is to stay close to your customers and deliver your creative content in every new form.”“With the world becoming borderless, our next challenge is to create online content and characters that are common and universal,” he said.

nationthailand