Thailand
Thailand: Media spending set to surge
Thailand’s media spending is expected to register double-digit growth next year, supported by the country’s reopening and state stimulus schemes, said Media Intelligence Group (MI), a media planning and creative agency.
Spending on internet media is expected to reach 27 billion baht in 2022, accounting for 32% of total media spending, while television’s share of media spending is likely to fall below 50% for the first time.
Speaking at a virtual news briefing, Pawat Ruangdejworachai, president of MI, said the Nov 1 easing of restrictions and the country’s reopening could stimulate ad spending in the final quarter of this year.
MI revised the 2021 spending projection from a contraction of 3-5% to a drop of 2.3% to 73.4 billion baht.
TV is expected to draw the biggest spending this year with 36.9 billion baht, followed by online at 23.3 billion baht and out-of-home media with 7.5 billion baht.
“We passed the worst period at the end of the second quarter and the situation got better in the third quarter,” Mr Pawat said.
Mr Pawat said the situation improved in the third quarter.
In the first nine months of 2021, media spending grew 2.1% year-on-year to 55.2 billion baht. In 2020, the country saw a drop of 16.7% year-on-year in media spending to 75.1 billion baht.
There are six sectors with promising prospects for next year: vehicles; businesses linked with the new normal lifestyle, such as e-marketplaces, online delivery services and streaming platforms; personal loans; healthcare and beauty; tourism; and agriculture.
According to Mr Pawat, spending is expected to grow 14-15% year-on-year to nearly 85 billion baht in 2022.
TV is expected to retain the biggest share in media spending in 2022 with 40 billion baht, although its proportion of total media spending is expected to fall from 50.4% in 2021 to 47.4% next year.
Buoyed by the easing of restrictions, out-of-home advertising and cinema are projected to share around 15% of media spending in 2022 with almost 13 billion baht.
Traditional media such as newspapers and radio are expected to share around 5% of media spending in 2022.
Mr Pawat said spending is expected to bounce back to the level of 90 billion baht last seen in 2019, from 2023 to 2025.
He urged the government to create confidence in spending and raise public awareness of Covid-19 prevention to ward off a new wave of infections.
Policymakers, he said, should focus more on promoting tourism among domestic travellers as only 15-20% of foreign tourists seen before the pandemic are expected to come to Thailand before the end of next year’s first quarter.
Small and medium-sized enterprises also need measures that could ensure their future revenue, not only loans or suspension of debt repayments, Mr Pawat said, adding that these operators play an integral part in driving the country’s recovery.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2209231/media-spending-set-to-surge