The video game and animation sectors continued to decline in 2023, resulting in a slight growth of the overall digital content industry by an average of 0.01% to 44.2 billion baht.
The tiny growth rate of the digital content industry last year was mainly due to increasing demand for art toys which benefited the character industry.
The value of the digital content industry is expected to continue to grow to over 50 billion baht in 2026, according to Digital Economy Promotion Agency's (Depa) latest survey and assessment of the digital content industry last year and its outlook for the next three years.
The survey was jointly carried out with the Thai Digital Content Association (DCAT), the Thai Animation and Computer Graphics Association (TACGA), the Thai Game Software Industry Association (TGA), the Bangkok ACM Siggraph Business Group and IMC Outsourcing (Thailand) Co.
Kasititorn Pooparadai, Depa senior executive vice-president, said the digital content industry was affected by the video game industry whose consumption value last year contracted for a second consecutive year.
However, the digital content industry has potential for continued growth. It is estimated that between 2024 and 2026, the industry will expand by an average of 4%, according to the survey.
The total value is expected to reach 46.6 billion baht this year, 48.9 billion baht in 2025 and could jump to over 50.6 billion baht in 2026.
This growth will be contributed to by the rebound of the video game industry and the growth of the animation, character and e-book sectors under the support of the public and private sectors.
Nenin Ananbanchachai, president of the TGA, said the video game industry last year contracted by an average of 0.78% to a total value of 34.2 billion baht, due to the decline in spending on games based on mobile device platforms for a second consecutive year. Mobile games accounted for 54% of the total game industry in 2022.
In 2023, the TGA and several private partners collaborated with Depa to promote the video game industry through several activities. The value of game production businesses with their own intellectual property in Thailand is around 680 million baht.
Santi Laohaburanakit, a representative of the TACGA, said the animation industry's value plunged an average of 10% in 2023 to 3.5 billion baht, due to declining computer graphic and visual effects outsourced to local companies from abroad, plus the baht's appreciation.
The value of the contracts to produce animation on behalf of intellectual property owners fell 12% or a decline of 397 million baht.
Sumit Srimakul, president of the TDCA, said the character industry jumped by an average of 21% in 2023 to a total of 2.44 billion baht.
This growth was driven by an increase in the number of tourists, who are a primary target for the character industry, along with the fast rise of the art toy trend.
As a result, revenue from character merchandising surged by 62% to 385 million baht.
Kawita Puksai, a representative for the e-book industry, said that in 2023 the industry expanded by an average of 7%, with a total value of 3.97 billion baht, thanks to the continued increase in content consumption.
Most of the content was imported and translated into Thai by various e-book operators and platforms, leading to a significant rise in content imports.
Kasititorn Pooparadai, Depa senior executive vice-president, said the digital content industry was affected by the video game industry whose consumption value last year contracted for a second consecutive year.