‘Radio TV live broadcasting’ for mobile

February 15, 2008

An AIS presenter shows the ‘radio TV live broadcasting’ service available to mobile-phone users.

Advanced Info Service (AIS), the biggest mobile network in Thailand has tied up with FM 99.5 radio channel to pilot a service that allows mobile-phone users to "watch" live radio programs from their phone. AIS executive vice president for marketing said the tie-up reflected the convergence between two different industries to create value-added service.
An AIS presenter shows the ‘radio TV live broadcasting’ service available to mobile-phone users.AIS executive VP estimated 4 million of 24 million AIS subscribers own Real Player-equipped mobile phones. And those AIS users whose mobile phones feature the Real Player can now access the 99.5 radio channel to watch its DJ working behind the microphone, music videos and advertising via the high-speed AIS data network, instead of just listening to the program.
AIS executive VP said AIS will charge 1 baht per minute for accessing content via its nationwide high-speed network. Mobile phone users can select to pay for the network service on a monthly basis for a certain period or an unlimited period of usage. And when had been asked if customers would be willing to pay to watch the radio station via its high-speed network, AIS executive VP said it would depend on the content. For example, the station could attract audiences by interviewing foreign superstars live, or broadcasting an video stream of concert and music video instead of only music.
While, FM 99.5 channel executive said ‘radio TV live broadcasting’ would differentiate our station from others. It would also enable our station to gain more advertising spots, offering that the audiences can both listen to and watch commercials, unlike conventional radio stations.
AIS executive VP estimated the market value of non-voice services this year would be 20 billion baht. The company has set a target to secure half of the total market value. AIS has continued launching many new services on its high-speed network, despite the fact the 3G broadband spectrum is not yet now available. However, in the near future the 3G spectrum will be available in Bangkok and will be expanded into nationwide. And when the time has come, this 3G broadband spectrum will enable cellular operators, especially AIS, to offer bandwidth-hungry content such as video streaming, TV programs at a faster speed and of course a higher margin.

Online advertising in Thailand

February 2008

Hi5.com now has about two million members in Thailand aged from 15 to 40. Its biggest age group is 18 to 29 as they account for over 60 percent of the total. It is a new alternative channel for advertisers to reach their target groups at very low costs.

Vice president of ‘Sanook Online’- the most popular website in Thailand, says Thailand's online advertising market is in its infancy but its potential is boundless. He believes that the emerging generation of online advertising professionals needs to have more diverse qualifications than previous generations.
Hi5.com now has about two million members in Thailand aged from 15 to 40. Its biggest age group is 18 to 29 as they account for over 60 percent of the total. It is a new alternative channel for advertisers to reach their target groups at very low costs. "For online advertising today, I think we need to have strong marketing communication skills and be very creative and technology-savvy if we're going to do well in this field. However, Thailand's online advertising market is accounting for just 0.5 to 1 percent of total ad spending," said Sanook Online’s VP.
"In money terms, it's just something like 450 million to 900 million baht a year in a market worth a total of 90 billion baht. While, traditional media, like TV, newspapers, radio, cinemas, etc still dominated. To move online ads forward, we need the clients, ad agencies, media buyers, etc to work together. Multinational companies like Unilever, Pepsi, Sony or Samsung or Intel are all well aware of the benefits and growing strengths of online ads and now aim as much as 50 percent of spending at online customers," he said.
In the world of online ads, the prime space is diagonal, from the screen's top-left corner to the bottom-right corner. Ads in these areas are the most expensive since they attract the most attention from viewers. Besides standard ads, advertisers try to attract viewers by other ad forms that cost less such as viral marketing.
"In the so-called viral marketing campaigns, we engage our targeted audiences by cool activity, such as having a photo contest for a fan club of, for example, users of Toyota Yaris, advertiser may hold a photo or video contest to marry its product's personality with that of prospective customers. So, users may take photos or a short video of themselves with Toyota Yaris, then upload photos onto the Net and show it off to friends, who will then help spread the message. It is the era of digital-brand engagement," said a chief executive of Top Space, an online media agency, representing Hi5, and shopping and e-commerce websites associated with eBay.
"In case of Hi5 which has about two million members in Thailand and has also become a very popular around the world in the last two years with a total worldwide membership of 80 million. Hi5 is a global friendship network of many-to-many since when you have a group of friends, friends of friends can become your new friends, it is like a chain relationship, which can be used by advertisers in the digital era.” "In other words, it's not just the space for ads on the Net but also its coverage and community. In our case, we could cover as many as million of Net-users here. Yet one of our challenges is to create a creative advertising program that effective connects to these million users,” added Top Space’s chief executive.