Media professionals predict that traditional Thai media will continue to struggle this year, as investment is being directed towards digital media instead, leading to possible layoffs in old media platforms.
President of the Association of Digital Television Enterprises of Thailand Suphap Kleekajai said that Thai media will face more challenges, especially caused by changing audience behaviour due to digital disruption, reported The Nation.
Suphap, a veteran journalist, said traditional media must make serious attempts to cope with the impediments, adding that the sluggish economy could worsen the situation.
His remarks followed the firing of several employees in the news industry, particularly TV channels, in 2024, reportedly due to financial reasons. He said that layoffs were also likely in 2025 in outlets that could not cope with technological intervention.
Suphap’s views were shared by Pawat Ruangdejworachai, chief executive officer of advertising agency Media Intelligence Group, who said that in 2025, the only media that will grow is Out Of Home (OOH) and mobile media. The TV industry is projected to face a loss of 7% and is forecast to earn only 30% of the advertising revenue for the whole media industry, he added.
He went on to say that TV media will continue to suffer because consumer behaviour has changed as people watch less TV.
Pawat predicted that many media outlets will restructure their organisations, downsize their businesses, and reduce the number of employees, adding that those with good financial resources could last longer.
Pathamawan Sathaporn, the CEO of marketing at Group M Thailand, said that digital marketing will witness more fluctuation, and it will not be easy for any business to succeed.
According to Group M Thailand’s report, it is forecast that investment trends in the Thai digital advertising industry in 2025 will grow by 8%, totaling more than 140 billion THB (about 4 billion USD), or 65% of the total advertising budget in the country, which is 24.4% higher than the budget for TV and by 8.4% for OOH./.
VNA
