Marketing manager Sompong Archanukrow said he expected a slight decline in television spending next year, which would witness growth of not more than 5 per cent.

He said that along with the political uncertainty and uncontrollable economic factors like rising oil prices, companies' overall media spending was expected to be flat this year, while spending on television commercials would grow only 6 per cent.

"We [Channel 7] set a conservative growth target of only 7-10 per cent for this year, and we did achieve our first-half target," said Sompong, adding that the station raised its prices for time slots by 10-15 per cent in April.

Sompong said Channel 7 was burdened with higher operating costs, up nearly 15 per cent this year, including higher prices for content imported from abroad.

"We are quite concerned about the macroeconomy. Higher oil prices have seriously raised the cost of living. And the political problem has made the local economy even worse in a short period of time," said Sompong, who has been with Channel 7 for more than 20 years.

Channel 7 claims the leading audience share, 48 per cent, followed by Channel 3 and Modernine TV.

Sompong said television spending grew 11 per cent last year, lower than industry projections of 15 per cent that were made at the start of the year. However, Channel 7 recorded growth of almost 15 per cent in advertising revenues last year.

"It's a buyers' market this year. Business organisations are more aware of the situation and very concerned about their expenditures.

"They'll find a lot of bargains, especially if they buy time slots from television stations suffering from small viewership," said Sompong.

"We've seen many hard-sale promotions from several television channels wanting to attract customers. Some stations have offered four or five spots for free when paying for a prime-time slot," he said.

Sompong said Channel 7 expected growth of 7-10 per cent in advertising revenues this year and another 7 per cent next year.

"We [Channel 7] have set our business strategy this year towards expanding our audience among younger children and teenagers by reshuffling our non-prime-time programming, particularly for morning and evening programmes, plus weekends, to cater specifically to these groups of future viewers," said Sompong.

Sompong said Channel 7 had a core audience of 24-35-year-olds, with viewers aged 15 up also a significant group. The television station would especially like to attract more children and young teenagers aged four to 14.

"Starting this August, we'll have a new look for our morning news programme. We'll also launch a lot of children's programming - game shows, cooking programmes, soap operas - targeting viewers aged 11 to 18," he said.

Sompong said BBTV subsidiary Media of Medias Plc would soon become a content provider, producing compelling television programming for the channel, including children's shows, soap operas and game and variety shows.

Kwanchai  Rungfapaisarn

The Nation