OOH market expected to grow up to 10% this year
Out-of-home (OOH) media market prospects are expected to stay promising, as Thai people are outdoors for 10-12 hours a day, according to Kinetic Thailand, a leading out-of-home media planner under WPP Group.
Kinetic Thailand chief executive Anchalee Yupamake predicts the OOH media market will grow 5-10% this year despite traditional media such as TV and online media dominating these days.
According to Ms Anchalee, the demographic, especially in Bangkok, is rising dramatically, with people staying outside for 10-12 hours a day, driving the growth prospects for OOH media outlets.
“Not only basic out-ofhome media outlets but also higher technology such as digital billboards will help drive the market’s growth,” said Ms Anchalee.
According to Nielsen Thailand, OOH media comprising billboards, transit and in-store has been growing every year.
The market value for 11 months of last year shot up 23% year-on-year to 10.5 billion baht.
Billboards fetched 5.13 billion baht, up 34% from the same period last year, with transit growing 17% to 4.76 billion baht while in-store posted 620 million baht, up 17% from the same period of 2015.
An industry source who asked not to be named said in-store media is the most powerful media outlet thanks to high exposure, followed by billboards and transit media.
According to Ms Anchalee, brands and advertisers are being persuaded to spend more in OOH media as it is more effective than traditional TV.
Ms Anchalee said that although the OOH media has no indicators to gauge its performance like other traditional media such as TV, newspaper or radio, the psychology of billboard outlets on vehicles or in buildings still reaches people easier than traditional media.
“People are outside more than at home, as we can see from people travelling to work, and they see the media on their transport or inside offices or department stores before coming home,” said Ms Anchalee.
According to Nielsen Thailand’s latest research, OOH media ad spending in the first half of this year has risen up in every channel, with i nstore ads shooting up 38.1% to 474 million baht, transit ads increased up to 26.8% to 3.09 billion baht and outdoor media (billboards and building) up to 16.3% to 2.99 billion baht as these types of media can reach audiences effectively, especially in Bangkok metropolitan areas.
Today, OOH media has been playing a more important role as OOH offers good locations while having a higher technology to create direct messages that bring consumers closer to brands.
Kinetic Thailand has recently launched new tools to help improve OOH operators’ effectiveness and reach target customers.