2025 Thai Media Outlook:
Opportunities and Challenges Ahead
The Thai media landscape in 2025 is filled with both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities arise from new business models and content creation that increasingly caters to niche consumer groups with specific interests, whether through deeper content or content segmented by different interests.
Meanwhile, one of the major challenges facing the media industry is the role of content creators and influencers who compete for consumer attention, along with news consumption through social media. This has severely impacted traditional media like digital TV, which in 2024 saw many channels restructuring their organizations and laying off employees to cope with continuously declining advertising revenue, the country’s economic conditions, and the growing popularity of content consumption through social media and streaming platforms.
The Thailand Media Landscape 2024-2025 report by Dataxet Limited presents trends, data, and movements across various media platforms, including perspectives from academics, mass media professionals, influencers, and content creators through exclusive interviews. This offers valuable insights into evolving consumer behavior, media trends, and emerging industry phenomena.
Rising Stars in the Influencer Industry: News, Family, and Pet Categories Lead the Way
According to Statista, a global market research company, the influencer advertising market value is expected to reach 2.36 billion baht in 2024 and grow at an average annual rate of 10.24% during 2024-2029, potentially reaching 3.86 billion baht by 2029.
This trend is fueled by private businesses maintaining significant marketing spend through influencers and content creators.
New-generation viewers prioritize the identity of News Creators over their affiliations. Viewers are interested in the individual, not the news agency, so they choose to consume content from their favorite News Creators, which follows the same trend as abroad. This reflects these creators' autonomy in crafting content that aligns with audience demands.
Khajorn Chiaranaipanich
Founder of RainMaker / Mango Zero
This viewpoint aligns with Siwat Vilassakdanont, Managing Director of AnyMind Group Thailand and the Philippines, who states that niche influencers’ strength lies in their ability to reach audiences that celebrities or macro-influencers “cannot reach,” whether at district or sub-district levels. Their followers can be considered highly engaged groups with strong loyalty to the influencers.
International Streaming Platforms Advance into Thai Market
Meanwhile, streaming continues to gain strong momentum, especially in 2024 when Thai-produced content in collaboration with international streaming platforms achieved global success. Simultaneously, the entry of foreign streaming platforms into the Thai market has energized the entertainment industry, reflecting these streaming giants’ confidence in Thailand’s potential.”
Paramount+ partnered with MONOMAX (a Mono Next PCL platform with over a million users) and launched its streaming service in Thailand in November 2024, featuring content from SHOWTIME, CBS Studios, and Paramount Pictures. Similarly, Warner Bros. Discovery launched Max in Thailand through AIS on November 19, 2024, offering HBO, DC Universe, Harry Potter, and Cartoon Network content, with existing HBO GO customers receiving automatic upgrades to Max Standard.
Streaming Viewership Surpasses Traditional TV Watching
Cross-platform rating data from Nielsen shows that in October 2023, 64% of ratings came from TV viewers while 36% came from streaming.
But just one year later, the proportions reversed, with streaming increasing to 54% and TV decreasing to 46%.
As TV advertising revenue decreases, industry players’ performance has plunged accordingly.
From 2014 when digital TV auctions began until 2023, most operators had to bear losses for the first 4-5 years before gradually turning profitable. However, in the past 2-3 years, some channels have yet to turn a profit at all.
Social Media: A Brand Treasure Trove in Social Commerce
Social media and Thai society have become inseparable, as reflected in the latest data from the Digital 2024: Global Overview Report by DataReportal, which reveals that in early 2024, Thailand had 49.1 million social media users, or 68.3% of the total population, an increase of 1 million or 2.1% from 2023.
Furthermore, Thais spend an average of 2 hours and 31 minutes per day on social media—higher than the global average of 2 hours and 23 minutes—and engage with an average of 6.7 platforms monthly.”
89% of Thai consumers acknowledge that social media influences their buying decisions, particularly through popular platforms such as TikTok (75%), Facebook (55%), YouTube (51%), and Instagram (30%)."
TikTok's Evolution: From Entertainment App to E-Commerce Powerhouse
From an entertainment-focused application, TikTok has quickly risen to become one of Thailand’s leading e-commerce platforms. The arrival of TikTok Shop has transformed online shopping patterns by focusing on creating interesting content strategies that attract consumers to make purchase decisions. Sellers and brands have adapted by creating quality content.
According to shopping behavior survey results from Priceza.com, TikTok has surged to become the third most popular e-commerce platform for consumer shopping, surpassing popular platforms like Facebook and Line.
In early 2024, TikTok Shop launched TikTok Shop Mall to cater to Thai shoppers looking for quality products from leading brands, offering an Infinity Loop shopping experience. Currently, over a thousand brands and shops have joined as Mall vendors.
Additionally, data from TikTok Thailand shows that 71% of users watch content and make purchases on the platform immediately, leading TikTok to project its market value in Thailand to reach $12.4 billion by 2025.
Thai Podcasts Continue to Grow, Reflecting New-Era Content Trends
Podcasts have become increasingly integral to Thai daily life, supported by technological innovations that enable flexible, on-demand listening across multiple platforms. This accessibility resonates strongly with modern consumers’ digital consumption habits.
>> Read more: Interview with Sopit Wangvivatana, Audio Media Manager, Thai PBS Podcast
According to August 2024 data from popular music streaming app Spotify, …
podcast production in Thailand has grown by 81% over the past 5 years through 2024, reflecting strong interest from both content producers and listeners.
The decreasing cost of production and listening equipment has made it more convenient for both listeners and producers, and has simplified the path to becoming a content creator. This factor has helped support the increase in content creators, leading to increased content production.
The Rise of AI in Thailand's Media Landscape
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in Thai media throughout 2024. Industry surveys reveal broad adoption across sectors, from AI-powered news anchors and text-to-speech broadcasting to deepfake entertainment and AI-driven live commerce.
While these innovations reshape the media landscape, they also raise pressing concerns about misinformation and ethical boundaries, sparking intense debate among media professionals and the public alike.
According to the report “AI and Journalism in Southeast Asia: A Survey of Opportunities and Challenges” by Vero, which surveyed 70 journalists in 4 countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand, most journalists have positive attitudes toward AI adoption in media, particularly in Thailand where acceptance and adaptation levels reach 95%.
The survey results reflect journalists’ attitudes toward AI influence in Southeast Asian media, with 84% of respondents viewing AI as beneficial to their work, while 4% see no effect and 12% view it negatively.
Thai journalists have a particularly positive view of AI at 95%, with only 5% having negative views.
Conclusion
2025 will be a year of both opportunities and challenges for Thai media. Media organizations that can create content catering to increasingly niche-focused consumer interests will find greater opportunities to develop profitable business models.
Meanwhile, the growth of influencers and content creators, particularly niche influencers who have evolved from creating specialized content to organizing events, presents a significant challenge that media organizations must adapt to—both in competing for consumer attention and brand partnerships.
Among prominent media platforms, TikTok maintains its popularity through key strengths in social commerce, diverse content offerings, shopping convenience, and algorithms that resonate with digital-age users. Meanwhile, Facebook remains Thailand’s leading platform in terms of user base.
Podcasts have emerged as a surprising contender in the media landscape, offering flexible consumption that allows anytime, anywhere listening. The medium’s evolution toward video podcasts shows particular promise, meeting the growing demand for combined audio-visual experiences.
Meanwhile, traditional television enters a crucial proving ground following widespread organizational restructuring and staff reductions throughout 2024. These changes come amid fierce competition from streaming services that have formed powerful alliances with international platforms, enabling them to produce and deliver content that effectively captures modern viewers’ interests.
Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both opportunities and challenges, as while it serves as a beneficial tool for media and brands, its misuse can lead to significant consequences. This emerging dynamic makes ethical considerations and responsible prompt engineering critical priorities for Thai media in the AI era.