The negative in the advertising industry in 2020 is partly due to the panic of Thai people which affects marketers to spend less money on advertising. Including the outbreak in the first round, the government has released strict measures like country lockdown!
How a new wave of COVID-19 affects the advertising industry in 2021?
Phawat Ruangdejworachai Chairman of the Board of Media Intelligence Co., Ltd. Or MI predicts the ad market in 2021 through 3 main situations as below;
The first Scenario is coronavirus is under control so quickly.
As of January 1-14, 2021, the ad market value shrank by 10-15% compared to 2020, before the COVID-19 epidemic. The first wave in Thailand Until the country lockdown occurred at the end of March because of the season of spending a lot of ad spending during summers. The brand will begin using advertising spending in late January to early February and continued to April. However, in this new wave of COVID-19 epidemic, Thai people are less panicked because people can adapt, and government measures released not as intense as the first wave of outbreaks.
Phawat expects that the ad spending will grow at least 10% with a value of 81,057 million baht, with generated from TV media still taking up by 50.1% and 28.6% for internet or digital media
For out-of-home media, It is still a medium that has been affected by people staying home despite it’s should be growing continuously including with cinema media as well
The second Scenario is epidemics become uncontrolled.
In the Second Scenario, If the COVID-19 epidemic cannot be controlled that it causes a lockdown in major economic provinces or gateway provinces in various areas that were important to the economy
The advertising market in this situation continues to grow. But maybe only 5% growth and worth 77,414 million baht and the COVID-19 epidemic in this situation making people stay home more than ever. So, the TV and Internet media play an increasingly important role in communication. TV media accounted for a 50.6% share in the total advertising market and internet media accounted for 29.1%
The third Scenario is a new infection continues to increase.
It is the worst situation for the advertising industry. If the number of infections is increased with more than 1,000 every day or every province were lockdowns in almost.
This year's ad market will not grow and has the lowest value in Thai advertising history with a value of 73,706 million baht, and if this happens, all types of OOH media will be the media that will be most affected.
TV and Internet media will be the most growing media. From the fact that people who stay home follow the news from TV and spend more time online With TV media increasing the proportion to 50.1% and internet media Will increase the proportion to 30.0%
A new wave of COVID-19 outbreak, Thai people has less panic on this situation if compared to the first wave of outbreaks. However, the marketers still have questions about what should be done to advertise on today's situation. The main questions that marketers ask when placing an advertisement during this time are:
– Campaign should be stopped Or should I adjust the communication plan?
– How to communicate with the target audience
– When did we return to normal communication?
– How will media consumption behavior change?
Products that get a positive result from COVID-19
Products and brands that may get a positive result from locking down measure;
– Hygiene category, Home generic medicine, food supplement
– Food ingredients category, instant food, drinking water
– Health insurance category
– Communication system category
– Application categories that support changing lifestyles such as e-commerce, food delivery, parcel delivery, entertainment, and banking.
How do marketers communicate?
Focus on Media Mix by reducing the proportion of out-of-home media in the affected provinces and they increased the proportion on online media. For building awareness and sales through e-commerce channels by increasing the proportion on television media with news content/news talk, but still not throwing away entertainment content which is the most popular content but should reduce the content of sports, lifestyle, and travel
Products that may get negatively affected by COVID-19
Products or brands that may be adversely affected by this situation are:
– Traveling, shopping mall, leisure, café
– luxury goods / non-essential items such as high-end smartphones, cars, clothing and accessories, perfumes, brand names, alcoholic beverages, etc.
How do marketers communicate?
Downgrade your ad budget or suspend ads depending on the Communication Objective of the campaign and the proportion of target customer groups of that brand. and adjust Media Mix by increasing the proportion of television media. Downgrade sports content Travel lifestyle Turn to focus on news/talk content and maintain entertainment content to increase the proportion of online media, which can clearly define the target audience area.
Products not affected from COVID-19
Products or brands that are unlikely to be affected by this situation are Snacks and candies, Non-alcoholic beverages, personal items such as skin creams, agricultural products, multi-purpose loans, etc.
How do marketers communicate?
Downgrade the advertising budget for out-of-home media by suspending only the areas or provinces that have been heavily affected Such as the lockdown area but the communication in this group depends on the Communication Objective of the campaign as well.
Even though COVID-19 will require marketers and advertisers to adapt to the changes. But we still believe that the ad spending will be as bright as 2019 again in the next three years due to the COVID-19 epidemic that certainly eased.
