Thailand's advertising spending is expected to recover to strong growth of 10.3% next year, helped by increasing online and out-of-home (OOH) media and the improving economy, says Media Intelligence Co (MI).
Media director Pawat Ruangdejworachai said he is optimistic ad expenditures will recover next year after an anticipated contraction of 14.5% this year.
"Total media expenditure is expected to reach 94.5 billion baht next year," he said. "There are many positive factors leading to the projected rebound in spending for both brands and consumers, such as better economic prospects and a general election date."
Thailand's advertising spending in the first 11 months had dropped 14.5% year-on-year to 85.7 billion baht as brands and advertisers shifted their ad budgets to more specific media like online and OOH to reach niche consumers.
The biggest drop in ad spending was in the print sector, dipping 3.85 billion baht or 33.3% to 7.73 billion over the 11-month period.
TV remained the biggest sector, making up 55-60% of media spending. The sector used to contribute 70-80% before the entry of online media.
BBTV's Channel 7 ranked first among digital TV operators in terms of viewership in November, followed by BEC World's Channel 3 HD, WorkPointTV, Mono29, RS's Channel 8 and GMM Grammy's ONE HD, according to the latest report by Nielsen Thailand.
Mr Pawat said next year's higher ad spending will come on the back of non-stop growth in online and OOH media, which are becoming increasingly popular because of their wide reach and efficiency, increasing demand from brands and companies.
On Tuesday, market research firm Kantar Worldpanel Thailand predicted digital advertising would become the second-largest channel this year after TV for the first time in a decade.
Ad spending via digital media has increased every year since 2012, with the value expected to surpass newspapers for the first time this year at 11.8 billion baht.
Ad spending on newspapers is estimated to dip to 10 billion baht this year, the market researcher said.
Kantar Worldpanel forecasts media expenditure for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector on digital media will increase by 31.4% next year to 15.5 billion baht.
Social media will take the lion's share of digital spending with 55%.
Digital media is projected to rise from 12.9% of total advertising this year to 15.3% next year.
The key driver for digital media spending by the FMCG sector is the popularity of the internet in Thailand, said the agency.
Rapidly growing internet penetration in Thailand stems from widespread smartphone ownership.
In 2017, over 83% of Thai consumers owned smartphones and they used the internet, on average, 2.3 hours per day, up from two hours in the previous three years. TV and radio usage, by contrast, either remained static or dropped during the same period.
