Thailand's advertising sector has become a strategic battlefield in Southeast Asia for international media agencies due to the good growth potential of mobile advertising.
D2C Inc, a Japanese mobile marketing and advertising company, has acquired a sizeable stake in McFiva, a Bangkok-based digital agency, to cash in on the trend of mobile advertising after the advent of third-generation (3G) mobile services in Thailand.
Details of the acquisition will be announced on Monday.
A Thai advertising industry source said the move by D2C into Thailand is part of its overseas expansion in mobile marketing with an emphasis on Asia.
It views Indonesia and Thailand as strategic countries in Southeast Asia.
D2C is a joint venture between NTT Docomo, Dentsu Inc, Dentsu Digital Holdings and NTT Advertising.
"The partnership with D2C will enable McFiva to expand into mobile advertising by bringing NTT Docomo's experienced technology and to gain a foothold among Japanese customers," the source said.
It is the third major acquisition involving Thai digital ad agencies this year.
XM Asia, a division of WPP's wholly owned subsidiary JWT, is expanding its reach to Thailand after acquiring a majority stake in Thomas Idea Co to strengthen its network in Asean.
XM Asia has operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Last year, it acquired Magnivate, Indonesia's largest digital agency.
Dentsu Inc, the global advertising firm based in Tokyo, acquired Thai consultancy Brandscape to enhance its strength in Southeast Asia. The acquisition was made via Dentsu Plus Thailand, part of Dentsu Network Asia.
Last year, D2C established a subsidiary in China and opened a branch in Taiwan.
The Digital Advertising Association of Thailand forecasts that digital ad spending will grow by 34.12% to 3.7 billion baht this year from 2.7 billion last year.
However, spending on digital media will be only 3% of total advertising value this year.