Spending on digital advertising forecast to soar by 23% this year

“Although overall advertising spending early this year saw a drop of 6.73 per cent compared with the same period last year, marketers and brands continue to spend heavily on digital channel, where there was a significant increase. So we forecast Bt9.927 billion in digital advertising spending this year,” DAAT president Siwat Chawareewong said yesterday.

He said advertisers had changed their communication strategy by shifting from traditional to digital media because these communication channels allow them to hit their targeted audiences with cost-effectiveness.

“Amid the economic slowdown, brands and marketers are putting more focus on short-term strategies by using digital media to lead customers to make a purchase, including e-commerce, rather than building brand awareness,” he explained.

The DAAT forecasts that spending on digital advertising will rise by 23 per cent to Bt9.927 billion this year from Bt8.064 billion in 2015.

Encouraged by the surge of online video consumption and active mobile Internet users after the full launch of third- and fourth-generation wireless broadband, social-media networks have become the most popular tools to engage directly with target audiences and boost sales.

Arpapat Boonrod, managing director of marketing-information firm TNS (Thailand), said that last year the telecommunication sector led the way in online advertising spending, followed by automotive and skincare, while banking and financial services faced a slight drop.

The rising stars so far this year have been the insurance sector with 44-per-cent growth, followed by non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages and government organisations.

These findings were derived through a collaboration of the DAAT and TNS Thailand, a media-research firm under the WPP Group. They questioned 23 digital agencies about the ad-spending habits they expected from their clients from the current quarter onwards.

The agencies participating in the survey represent more than 80 per cent of total digital-ad expenditure.