Thailand's media spending in the first nine months surged 11% year-on-year to 88.1 billion baht following the country's reopening, with people returning to work and tourism resuming, says data analytics firm Nielsen Thailand.
The company revealed viewership ratings for digital platforms in September, which saw YouTube in the pole position with a rating of 1.46%, followed by TikTok at 0.69% and Facebook at 0.68%.
"If advertisers continue to spend in the fourth quarter, particularly e-marketplaces for double-day mega sales events, along with outlay by the tourism sector during the high season and the government sector, media spending is expected to grow more than 10% this year," said Panuwat Kaen-ngern, senior insight analyst of Nielsen Thailand.
Last year advertisers spent less because of the lockdown, but this year outlays have increased despite economic headwinds and declining purchasing power, he said.
Advertising is aimed at stimulating people to buy, said Mr Panuwat.
In the first nine months, TV had the biggest media spending at 47.4 billion baht, annual growth of 1%, followed by the internet at 19.8 billion, up 8.59%, while outdoor and transit ads tallied 9.7 billion, up 37%.
According to Nielsen, the food and beverages sector had the highest ad spending for the first nine months at 14.2 billion baht, followed by personal care and cosmetics at 10.9 billion, then retail and food outlets at 8.7 billion.
Nielsen Thailand worked with the Association of Digital Television Broadcasting (ADTEB) to develop a cross-platform audience measurement solution, which involves both linear and digital streaming, regardless of platform and device.
In September, the country had a cross-platform rating of 11%, of which 7.4 percentage points were for traditional TV viewership and 3.6% for streaming. Cross-platform viewership grew 2% from the month before.
Focusing on TV channels, 7HD had the highest viewership for traditional TV, while 3HD was the most popular in terms of streaming viewership.
Suphap Kleekajai, president of ADTEB, said the data from cross-platform ratings in August and September revealed Thais still mainly watch TV and in large numbers. Streaming channels play an important role for media consumption among Thais, he said.
Wannee Rattanapon, chair of a working panel auditing the cross-platform ratings, said they benefit media agencies who can use the data to better plan their ad content and how ads can be released.
