Thailand

With over 20 million TV households in Thailand, multichannel TV’s 52% household penetration (both authorized and unauthorized) translate into 10.3 million households or 30.3 million people.  Upcountry urban households show the highest penetration. There are six free-to-air national channels, 100+ local cable TV channels, 100+ satellite channels (pay and free combined) and 100+ national pay-TV channels from True Visions.

Cable and satellite TV penetration has grown by 90% over the last three years, according to the latest Nielsen Establishment Survey. Nielsen attributes expansion, in part, to the government’s decision to allow advertising on pay-TV and local cable and falling satellite dish prices have also helped. Cable and satellite viewers are upscale, higher income earners.

Despite political instability in 2010 and the major flooding in Q4-2011, overall, advertising expenditure growth in 2011 was still positive at 3.6%, putting annual ad revenues at approximately US$3.3 bn. The top spenders were Unilever Thai Holdings, Proctor & Gamble, Beiersdorf, Nestle (Thai) Ltd and Ajinomoto Sales.

 National TV ratings measurement is offered by Nielsen as a fee based syndicated service. As of April 2012, Nielsen expanded its cable/satellite sample size to 650 households and that viewing data will be Incorporated into Nielsen National database which now means it has a sample size to 1550 household. . The panel will measure six FTA and top 20 cable/satellite audience measured, including programme and commercial data reporting. 

 Among Bangkok elites, as measured by Ipsos PAX up to Q3 2011, 81.6% of high income earners accessed multichannel TV in the past month in the year and 72% in the past week.