Thailand: Nielsen plans new TV-audience measurement survey

To open a new chapter in the advertising and broadcasting industry, Nielsen (Thailand) is launching a television audience measurement survey for cable and satellite TV.

"The new television audience measurement, to be kicked off today, will be added both in the national database [or TV rating database] and analytical reports divided by channels," managing director Sinthu Peatrarut said last week.


The cable and satellite TV industry has been operating in the country for more than a decade. The first turning point came in 2006, when the Public Relations Department - which was responsible for granting and renewing broadcasting licences for cable and satellite TV stations - agreed to let them show up to six minutes of commercials per hour to help them operate a sustainable business.


Penetration grew sharply from 2006-10 and last year hit 50 per cent or 20 million households. This includes TrueVisions and cable and satellite TV. Some advertisers also began spending on those media outlets. Besides the change in broadcasting regulations was the sharp fall in the prices of KU- and C-band satellite dishes and set-top boxes. This coincided with affordable LCD TV sets entering the market.


Nielsen has been conducting establishment surveys with a sample size of 6,000 to monitor the trends in the cable and satellite TV business for 12 years. After witnessing a big jump in penetration over the last five years, Nielsen embarked on a pilot project last year to design a proper TV audience measurement for cable and satellite operators to ensure that advertisers can have confidence in allocating budgets to these media outlets.


This can be considered as a big step forward for the industry, where cable and satellite TV operators, advertisers, advertising agencies, content producers and providers can officially trade common currency in the Kingdom. Nielsen uses advanced people-meter measurement technology to gauge the viewing habits of cable and satellite TV audiences. It will detect from satellite frequencies when people tune in and watch each channel. This will be a part of the measurement.


Once the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission grants licences for digital terrestrial TV developers and operators and they begin running programmes, the firm will promptly apply this technology to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting.


Ad spending via cable and satellite TV is about Bt3 billion, equivalent to only 5-6 per cent of Bt60 billion via free TV - ThaiTV3, channels 5 and 7, Modernine TV and NBT.


Although cable and satellite TV stations have their own rating measurement, that does not mean that ad spending from free TV will be allocated to both platforms as much as their penetration grows, due to two key factors. One is the affordability of satellite TV dishes and sets and cable TV sets and the quality of TV programmes and the other is the progress to full penetration or closer to the current state of free TV.


According to the latest survey of Nielsen Thailand, the country has more than 500 satellite TV channels and more than 300 cable TV channels.


WATCHIRANONT THONGTEP
THE NATION
April 2, 2012 

Ad firms turn to social networks in Thailand

Seeing increasing potential in the digital arena in Thailand, leading global advertising and communication agencies are looking at recruiting and nurturing young talent to increase brand engagement with social-networking consumers. 


Though Thailand is experiencing a rapid rise in the number of Internet users via personal computers and smart devices, return on investment in online media remains low. Creating brand engagement and interaction with target customers would be valuable for digital advertising agencies in Thailand, as elsewhere in the world. 


Nick Brien, chairman and chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup, said his firm was planning to launch a “McCann Social Central” in Thailand this year. This unit, which kicked off in New York, is meant to be a hub for a global network of social thinkers, experimenters and doers. 


A Facebook service is one of McCann Social Central's offerings, which involves three key steps. First is storytelling for brand development, timeline design |and experience, content strategy and development and content creation. Second is brand timeline management including community management, content or story amplification, and insight and performance management. 


The final step is customer engagement. Meanwhile, Y&R, a full-service advertising agency and member of the world's largest communications service group WPP, is planning to launch a program called “Spark Plug” in its Bangkok office this year to understand local insights and capitalize on the reform of digital technology in the country. 


David Sable, global CEO at Y&R, said: “This is part of Y&R's ambition to strengthen our local boutiques in Asia, where we see the fastest growth in the global advertising industry.” The program was recently launched in Singapore and will be kicked off in Thailand some time this year. Under this program, the agency will provide working areas at its office for local entrepreneurs with appropriate talent in the digital and telecommunications business. 


By Watchiranont Thongtep, 
The Nation 
April 11, 2012

Thai Cinemas see growth in ads

A leading cinema operator predicts an increase of at least 15 percent in advertising earnings at theaters across Thailand this year, after a positive first-quarter performance.

According to a Nielsen survey, ad earnings by cinemas in the first three months rose 37.35 percent year on year to 2.1 billion baht (US$68.3 million). This expenditure was ranked the third largest in ad spending, after television commercials with 15.9 billion baht ($517.4 million) and newspaper ads with 3.7 billion baht ($120.4 million).

Niti Pattanapakdee, general manager at Major CineAd, a subsidiary of Major Cineplex Group – the country's largest cinema chain – told The Nation that his media agency was responsible both for selling ad space and TV commercials in theaters, as well as organizing events for film sponsors and product owners.

Major CineAd manages advertising and events at all branches of Major Cineplex Group, namely Major Cineplex, EGV Cinemas, Paragon Cineplex, Paradise Cineplex, Esplanade Cineplex and Mega Cineplex.

Niti said that with the parent's more than 400 screens across the country, the agency's ad earnings accounted for 70 percent of overall cinema ad spending.

The company expects that this year cinema ad billings will see at least a 15-percent increase over last year's level.

He said there were two key contributing factors driving this year's billings. First, there are numerous international and local blockbuster films in the pipeline, which makes it easy to attract movie-goers and make money.

"I would say a film that generates more than 100 million baht ($3.25 million) in revenue could attract more than a million viewers. This number of eyeballs is big enough to make advertisers and product owners confident about spending marketing budgets through cinemas," he added.

Second, advertisers and media buyers are looking to new media that can access the young generation and first-jobbers, and cinema ads are among such high-potential media.

Besides businesses, government agencies such as the Energy Ministry and Thailand Tobacco Monopoly are also increasingly advertising via cinemas.

Additionally, with the focus on business expansion upcountry, cinemas will become more of a mass-media channel, providing yet more room for growth, said Niti.

In an earlier interview, SF president Suwat Thongrompo said his company had earmarked about 800 million baht ($26 million) for 30 to 40 new cinemas in five provinces: Suphan Buri, Ubon Ratchathani, Maha Sarakham, Surat Thani and Udon Thani.

SF currently runs more than 260 cinemas across the country – 126 of them in Bangkok – under the SF World Cinema, SFX Cinema and SF Cinema City brands.

It also operates SF Strike Bowl and SF Music City.

Of the total, 30 per cent are digital cinemas.

SF recently partnered with Suzuki Motor (Thailand) in promoting the new Suzuki Swift eco-car through its cinemas across the country this year.

By Watchiranont Thongtep 

The Nation

05/02/2012