Big crowds on, offline
 The Nation
November 25 , 2005 - Outspoken government critic Sondhi Limthongkul is drawing crowds – both on and offline.
Tens of thousands of people showed up for his live “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” talk show at Lumpini Park last Friday, while a further 150,000 tuned in to hear his message via www.manager.co.th, a website operated by his Manager Media Group.
The site currently receives a reported 120,000 visitors every day, the company said.
Citing a recent survey by Nielsen Media Research (Thailand), it added that its flagship, the newspaper Manager Daily, had boosted its readership by more than any other Thai-language daily.
According to the survey, the readership of Manager Daily almost doubled from 82,000 people in April to 154,000 people in August.
Manager Media Group CEO Jittanart Limthongkul said the newspaper owed some of its popularity boost to increased interest in the website.
Niran Yaowapa, its webmaster, said that on an average day the website receives about 2.5 million page views. On Fridays, however, the number increases nearer three million, thanks to the broadcast of Sondhi’s live talk show.
The mobile version of the “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” political talk show was first held at Thammasat University on September 23, after Sondhi’s weekly TV programme was suspended earlier in the same month. Since November 11, Lumpini Park has hosted the show every Friday to accommodate the growing number of people who come to watch.
Kornchanok Raksaseri |
