Media spending rally under threat

The fresh wave of the pandemic is threatening the recovery of Thailand’s media spending this year, possibly reducing projected double-digit growth to flat growth in the worst-case scenario and a 4% increase in the best case, says Media Intelligence (MI), a media planning and creative agency.

“In April we witnessed about 50% of customers postponing campaigns because of the outbreak, which is forcing people to stay home,” said MI president Pawat Ruangdejworachai in a virtual media briefing about the country’s media spending outlook.

“This outbreak will affect overall media spending in the second quarter.”

In mid-March, spending bounced back, which created confidence that spending this year would see a growth of 8-10%, but the situation has changed with the fresh wave, said Mr Pawat.

In the first quarter of 2021, spending shrank 2.3% year-on-year to 18.6 billion…