Total media advertising spending in Thailand continued to decline in the first half of 2017 due to the still fragile economic recovery, Nielsen Thailand reports.
Ad spending fell by 7.08% to 52.8 billion baht in the first half, compared with the same period in 2016.
A sluggish economy has forced big advertisers to control risk by closely monitoring their budgets.
Magazines and newspapers were most heavily hit.
Nielsen Thailand reports ad spending on magazines dropped the most, falling 37.5% to 952 million baht in the six-month period.
Newspapers, which fell 20.7% to 3.91 billion baht, followed. Radio spending slid 19.9% to 2.14 billion baht.
Falling ad revenue has forced some magazines out of business, or induced them to shift online.
Nanmee Books, for example, announced the closure of its 25-year-old children's magazine Go Genius in May.
Last month, Nation Media Group announced the closure of its Nation Weekend magazine (which will now be published online), and its New TV's free daily.
The two media operators said high publishing costs were not the only factor in the closures. Moving online is a way to tap into changing consumer behaviour too, they said.
Financial pressures in the industry have not been limited to this year. Sakulthai, Ploy Gam Petch, Image, Priew, Lips, Seventeen Thailand, Cosmopolitan Thailand, Who, Hamburger, OK! and O So Tho shut their doors last year.
Media analysts said the sharp drop in magazine ad spending will continue, as readers shift online.
Surprisingly, internet ad spending also fell by 10.1% to 763 million baht, according to Nielsen.
In contrast, in-store media ads shot up 39.1% to 474 million baht; transit ads climbed 26.8% to 3.09 billion, and cinema ads went up 25.3% to 3.4 billion.
According to Nielsen Thailand, Thailand's total ad spending declined 7.08% in the first six months of this year.
The biggest ad spenders in June alone were Unilever Thai Holdings at 329 million baht (down from 449 million a year earlier), Toyota Motors Thailand at 147 million (down from 197 million) and Coca-Cola Thailand at 135 million (down from 136 million).
In the first half of 2017, Korea King was the leader among brand names.
It shelled out 882 million baht, up from 869 million in the same period last year.
Toyota pickups logged 471 million baht, up from 380 million; and Coke soft drinks spent 459 million baht, down from 553 million.
Last year, a sluggish economy, weak consumer spending and the national mourning period pushed the industry down 11.7% to 108 billion baht.