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Nearly $130m ad spending canceled in Thailand after King’s death
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Final tribute President Joko "Jokowi" WIdodo and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo pray before the royal urn of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok on Oct. 25. (Courtesy of the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff/File)
A
n estimated Bt4.6 billion (US$129.9 million) worth of advertising spending was canceled last month after the death of His Majesty the King on Oct. 13, according to data from Nielsen (Thailand).
The figure was 45 percent of the total advertising expenditure of Bt10.24 billion in the same month last year.
The media research giant reported yesterday that overall advertising spending last month stood at Bt5.61 billion.
After the King’s death, the government ordered all media outlets to drop paid advertisements, concerts and other show-business events as well as lower the tone of their entertainment-related programs to pay respects to the much-revered monarch for 30 days.
Top advertisers that cut their spending in October included Coca-Cola, Toyota, Tesco Lotus, Samsung’s mobile-phone unit, and Isuzu.
In the first 10 months of the year, advertising expenditure dropped 9.36 percent to Bt92.17 billion after Bt101.69 billion was booked in the same period last year.
In a previous interview, Triluj Navamarat, chairman of the Media Agency Association of Thailand (MAAT), had forecast that by the end of 2016 total ad spending would fall by 10 percent compared with last year.
The MAAT forecast that ad spending on TV would drop by 14.4 percent this year, while radio would see 6.5 percent drop, newspapers 19.9 percent, magazines 26.7 percent and out-of-home media 8 percent.
However, spending online was expected to grow by 30 percent, transit-ad spending by 11.7 percent, and cinema-ad revenue by 3.2 percent.
This article appeared on The Nation newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
