Thailand's media landscape has undergone a sea change over the past three years because of the proliferation of digital media.
In 2017, ad spending on digital media was expected to become the second-largest channel after TV for the first time in a decade.
Market research firm Kantar Worldpanel Thailand reported digital ad spending has increased every year since 2012, with the value expected to surpass newspapers for the first time in 2017 at 11.8 billion baht.
Ad spending on newspapers was estimated to have dipped to 10 billion baht in 2017.
Kantar Worldpanel forecasts media expenditures for the fast-moving consumer goods sector on digital media to increase by 31.4% in 2018 to 15.5 billion baht.
Social media will take the lion's share of digital spending at 55%.
Digital media is projected to rise from 12.9% of total advertising in 2017 to 15.3% in 2018.
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.
"Shoppers consume more digital media, both in and out of the home," said Aitsanart Wuthithanakul, new business development manager of Kantar Worldpanel.
Changing consumer behaviour has driven Thailand's online shopping value to grow to 4.39 billion baht from 916 million in 2015.
For those shopping online, 33.6% visited independent websites, followed by Facebook, Lazada and Line at 29.9%, 28.1% and 7.3%, respectively.
On the other hand, online shoppers shelled out the most on Facebook, Lazada, independent websites and Line, accounting for 34.8%, 29.2%, 27.7% and 7.4% of total spending, respectively.
Kantar Worldpanel estimates that the overall advertising industry in 2017 dropped by 7% to 91.2 billion baht.
Thailand's advertising industry hit a record high of 108 billion baht in 2015 before falling to 97.6 billion baht in 2016, as major consumer product manufacturers have slashed their advertising budgets because of the country's economic slowdown.
Sakulsri Srisaracam, Panyapiwat Institute of Management's head of convergent journalism department, faculty of communication arts, said there will be two major concerns for the media industry in 2018.
The first concerns corporate restructuring to reduce costs for every media operator. She said downsizing will result in effective cost management.
Ms Sakulsri said small media companies such as online and technology start-ups are expected to grow in the coming year to serve traditional media companies working via social media platforms.
Secondly, she said creating their own media platforms will be a necessary part of increasing revenue.
Although some digital TV operators have been trying to adapt themselves to the digital media trend, many have simply put their content on existing social media applications like Facebook and YouTube.
She said this is not an effective means of engagement or generating revenue to help one's business stay afloat.
"Media companies, especially digital TV operators, should create their own social media platforms in a bid to make people remain loyal and create long-term engagement," said Ms Sakulsri.
She said transmedia strategies will provide a helping hand to those struggling with the ascendancy of online and internet media players.
For example, Ms Sakulsri said the reason why WorkpointTV had proven a resounding success is because the TV operator effectively employed an effective transmedia strategy, generating revenue through TV, social media concerts and even souvenirs from its popular TV singing contest, The Mask Singer.
"Advertising will not be the sole source of revenue for media companies if they can create a variety of platforms," she said.
For the digital TV industry, she said although clear channel positioning and outstanding content for target audiences are key to success in the intensely competitive market, proper management of content is also necessary to survival.
In 2018, offering niche content will become increasingly necessary for digital TV channels to differentiate themselves.
Ms Sakulsri said that every media company will see opportunities to develop and create more interesting content.
"It's true the content is king but I also believe that content management is queen, meaning you can't only go with good content," said Ms Sakulsri.
Pawat Ruangdejworachai, director of Media Intelligence Co, said that Thailand's advertising spending is expected to recover to stronger growth of 10.3% in 2018, helped by increasing online and out-of-home media, the improving economy and the general election.
He is also optimistic that ad expenditures will recover in 2018 after an anticipated contraction of 14.5% in 2017, which was the worst year for Thailand's media industry.
"Total media expenditure is expected to reach 94.5 billion baht in 2018," 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," said Mr Pawat.
According to market research firm Nielsen Thailand, Thailand's ad spending across media outlets fell 5.7% in the first 11 months of 2017 to 92.6 billion baht, with magazines facing the biggest drop.
As advertisers shifted their budgets to online and out-of-home media, ad spending on traditional media such as magazines saw the biggest drop of 34.2%, falling to 1.78 billion baht in the 11-month period, followed by newspapers, dipping 20.5% to 7.07 billion, and cable and satellite TV, down 15.5% at 2.69 billion.
Despite the growing trend of brands using internet media outlets, internet ad spending fell 12.7% to 1.39 billion baht.
The biggest rise in ad spending was for in-store media, shooting up 38.5% to 860 million baht for the period, followed by cinema, which climbed 27.4% to 6.25 billion, and outdoor media, up 13.3% at 5.8 billion baht.
Nielsen reported that the sharp drop in ad spending on magazines has taken a toll, forcing many to shutter operations or shift online to stop the rot.
Nielsen estimates that print media, including newspapers, was the hardest-hit sector in 2017.
Mr Pawat said there are dark days ahead for Thailand's magazine industry, with more shutting down in 2018 because fewer advertisers want to put their ads in print media, citing lower exposure and higher costs than for either online or out-of-home media.
Mr Pawat said specialised magazines covering watches, travel and home decor, for example, will likely survive on the strength of sufficient sales volume for niche markets, not from advertisements.
He said many private companies are carefully shifting their media budgets to online and out-of-home media outlets, adding that media spending will resume in 2018 as the economic outlook improves.
According to Nielsen, the biggest ad spender in the 11-month period was Unilever Thai Holdings with 280 million baht, up from 90.1 million in the same period a year earlier.
TV Direct Co was next with 216 million baht, up from 11.5 million, and Procter & Gamble Thailand registered 203.8 million, up from 136 million.
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