Warc, 20 May 2014
BANGKOK: Major brands have welcomed the announcement by
YouTube that is it launching a dedicated site for Thailand with its full suite
of ad products on offer.
The video platform has, reportedly, already signed
advertising deals with Ford, Samsung and Unilever, among others. Managing
director Pathamawan Sathaporn declared 2014 "the year of opportunity and
challenge for Thai marketers to enhance reach and engagement with audiences and
consumers in multi-screen platforms", reported Campaign Asia-Pacific.
The move comes as Thais spend more time online – an average
of 16 hours a week and less watching television – an average of ten hours a
week according to Google Thailand. Ariya Banomyong, head of Google Thailand,
was positive about the new ad formats that were coming on stream, especially
in-display and Trueview, the latter being "a really powerful tool for
driving genuine engagement with consumers".
His view was echoed by Wichai Pornpratang, vp/information
technology and mobile communications at Samsung. "If consumers are engaged
with your brand it's the difference between a customer – people who buy your
product – and a community of people who want to hear what you have to say and
want to tell others about it," he observed.
Pornpratang regarded the video site as "a key way to
engage with today's Thai consumer – the connected generation – who are always
on and see YouTube as part of their everyday life and lifestyle".
Already the brand's official YouTube channel in Thailand had
registered 23m views, he said. And he noted that over one third of YouTube
watch time in Thailand took place on a mobile device.
Tom Pickett, vp/content YouTube, reported that the site was
being increasingly embraced by the local artistic community, with musicians,
entertainers and film-makers all contributing material on the platform.
"As more of Asia comes online and on mobile," he
said, "we think ad-supported models like YouTube will be critical for these
fans … [as] median incomes put subscription services or a la carte models out
of reach for most".
Data sourced from Campaign Asia-Pacific; additional content
by Warc staff
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