Thailand
Thailand: Media spending may rise by 13% next year
Thailand’s media spending in 2021 is expected to be nearly on par with last year at 74.5 billion baht, but could increase by 13% next year if there is no significant impact from the pandemic, says Media Intelligence Group (MI), a media planning and creative agency.
MI also urged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore new markets, such as those in Indochina, and come up with creative and craftsmanship products to compete with Chinese items which are flooding e-commerce platforms.
“With the ease of restrictions and the country’s reopening, this could help stimulate ad spending in the final quarter of this year while the new Omicron variant is expected to have less impact,” said MI president Pawat Ruangdejworachai.
According to Mr Pawat, MI increased its 2021 media spending outlook to a contraction of 0.8% to 74.5 billion baht. Last month, MI said spending this year was expected to drop 2.3%.
For 2022, spending could surge 13% to 84.2 billion baht, he said.
TV, internet and out-of-home media are projected to remain the top three channels for media spending next year with the proportion estimated at 47.5%, 32% and 12.9%, respectively, compared with 50.1%, 31.3% and 10.3% this year.
TV will fall below 50% for the first time due to changes in the media consumption landscape, according to Mr Pawat.
He said short-video sharing platform TikTok is expected to gain more time usage from Facebook and Instagram while livestreaming would play a crucial role in e-commerce.
Brands will carefully assess media performance before spending.
“Next year, the country’s economy is unlikely to fully resume with consumers keeping a tight budget. Brands are likely to face intense competition and they will have to push promotional campaigns to attract consumers,” said Mr Pawat.
According to Mr Pawat, there will be six promising businesses and prospects next year, namely electric vehicles (EV) with more affordable prices; businesses linked with new normal lifestyles, such as online delivery, e-marketplaces and streaming platforms; personal loans; healthcare and beauty; tourism; and agriculture.
He said the economic situation will improve in 2022 but will not return to the regular level as SMEs are still in hardship and the unemployment rate is high at 2 million.
SMEs are burdened by limited loans, a lack of employees and restricted travel while Chinese products are flooding e-commerce platforms to compete with their offerings.
“Local SMEs need to get creative and make craftsmanship products which are hard to compete with in terms of price when compared with those produced in China,” said Mr Pawat.
He said SMEs need to capitalise on data analytics to get customer insights and trends and they have to explore new markets, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, whose people trust Thai products.
SMEs need to apply a 5L strategy — lean organisation, learn continuously, linkage with synergy and co-creation with partners, liquidity with good financial flow and long-term vision for sustainable business.
MI is also working with Chulalongkorn Business School on the development of a manual for SMEs for business survival and full details can be found on MI’s Facebook page.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2232635/media-spending-may-rise-by-13-next-year