Annual spending on the entertainment and media industry in Thailand is expected to rise by US$5bn to $14.8bn by 2017, fuelled by surging demand for internet access, TV advertising and consumer and educational book publishing, a forecast by PwC has predicted.
According to the Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2013-2017 report, spending on the entertainment and media industry in Thailand this year will stand at $9.7bn.
Of this total, $2.3bn will be generated through TV advertising, $2.1bn from internet access, and $1.2bn apiece from consumer and educational book publishing and newspaper publishing.
The report says that the “fast-expanding Thai entertainment and media market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3% over the next five years - the fourth fastest-growing in Southeast Asia.”
The compound annual growth rate of the entertainment and media industry is projected to be just 4.8% In the US and 3% in Western Europe over the next five years.
The report says Thailand had 5 million mobile-broadband subscriptions at the end of 2012.
It says the country will have more than 30 million - mostly via 3G - by 2017, pushing mobile-broadband population penetration to 43% by the end of 2017.
In terms of fixed broadband, PwC expects subscriptions to grow from 4.2 million in 2012 to grow 6 million by the end of 2017.
The report also details projections for the global entertainment and media industry.
Across the world, household broadband penetration will rise from 40% in 2012 to 51% in 2017, it says, while mobile broadband penetration will surge from 23% to 54% during the same period.
PwC spokeswoman Nattaporn Phan-Udom said consumer demand for entertainment and media will continue to grow strongly in Thailand, despite the recent economic slowdown, which recently resulted in a cut in the GDP growth forecast.
“Increasing access to the Internet and explosive expansion in the ownership of smart devices will continue to be significant driving forces behind this entertainment and media market over the long term,” she said.
“After years of home broadband being the most popular way to access the Internet, a fundamentally different form will come to dominate: access via mobile broadband, most often via mobile phones rather than PCs and laptops.”
Earlier this week, Gp Capt Anudith Nakornthap, the information and communication technology (ICT) minister, said the number of individual internet users in Thailand could double this year, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and increasing availability of broadband.
He said Thailand had 26 million internet users, equating to about 37% of the population, at the end of last year.
US$1 currently equals around 33THB.
Annual spending on the entertainment and media industry in Thailand is expected to rise by US$5bn to $14.8bn by 2017, fuelled by surging demand for internet access, TV advertising and consumer and educational book publishing, according to a report by PwC.