The country's media ad spending is estimated to drop 15% to 77 billion baht this year as the coronavirus outbreak causes brands to tighten their budgets amid a weak economy, says researcher Media Intelligence (MI).
The pandemic is also likely to speed up digital adoption by consumers to 1.5-3 years from now, with an emphasis on digital media, food ordering and online shopping.
"Covid-19 has increased media consumption via TV and online, but overall media ad spending will contract this year because of lack of consumer spending," said MI business director Pawat Ruangdejworachai.
In 2020's first quarter, ad spending across media dropped 6% to 19.8 billion baht year-on-year, while full-year spending could fall 15-20% if the government decides to lift the lockdown in May, said Mr Pawat.
If there is a second wave of the pandemic, total spending could contract by 30%, he said.
In the first quarter, ad spending on digital TV fell 7% to 3.5 billion baht year-on-year and for entire TV broadcasting categories, including free-to-air and cable/satellite TV, plunged 10% to 9.7 billion baht.
Ad spending on out-of-home media and cinema, dampened by the lockdown, fell 9% to 2.6 billion baht and 15% to 427 million, respectively.
Ad spending on magazines plunged 22% to 170 million baht while newspapers were the hardest hit, decreasing 35% to 663 million.
However, ad spending on the internet and digital channels grew by 12% to around 5.5 billion baht.
Mr Pawat said before the Covid-19 outbreak took hold, ad spending on TV was projected to account for less than half of entire media ad spending in 2020.
But as the pandemic erupted, ad spending on media such as out-of-home and cinema plunged, making it likely that TV would make up 51% of the total spending this year.
Ad spending via digital or the internet is projected to make up almost 30% of the entire media this year, he said.
A suitable number of digital TV players in the market is six to ensure competition with over-the-top players, said Mr Pawat.
People are likely to flee to other media platforms as the 15 digital TV channels face a financial crunch from the lack of ad spending and are turning to TV shopping and drama reruns, he said.
TikTok, Twitter and Line are gaining momentum during the pandemic, said Mr Pawat.
TikTok, a short-form mobile video app, saw time spent on it rise by 50% during the outbreak.
"Brands need to customise content for each channel as if they are speaking in their own language," said Mr Pawat.