EXCLUSIVE By The Bangkok Bugle
Images of BBC news reporters 'in action' during last May's protests on the streets of Bangkok which appear in the lead-in introduction to the top-of-the-hour news reports were briefly 'blocked' in Thailand earlier this week.
The 30-second intro video to the news reports which appeared at 23:00 on Monday and 01:00 on Tuesday included the 'intermission' screen where images of reporters Alastair Leithead and Rachael Harvey normally appear alongside other BBC journalists. The Bangkok Bugle understands these to be the only two times the images were 'blocked'.
Apple has this week demanded a number of European publishers cease offering free access to iPad versions of magazines as part of print subscription deals.
"By offering free access to print subscribers, publishers could avoid charging for access through the iPad, and can avoid paying Apple a 30 per cent cut of all transactions on the App Store," said AppleInsider's Katie Marsal quoted by the BizReport website.
Many publishers are currently offering free samples or trial versions of iPad versions of their print offerings. In Thailand I doubt many are generating significant revenues from this side of the business alone. Most will be offering iPad advertising as added value to print deals, whereas revenues from the sales of iPad editions are not going to be huge.
Given the choice of paying, for example, 100 baht for a print or iPad version of the same magazine, what would you choose right now?
Passport Travel magazine made a brief appearance on the bookshelves in Thailand last summer.
Priced at 90 baht, this letterbox format publication spared nothing when it came to production. Where it was found sadly wanting, and what probably led to its downfall, was its use of Google Translate for its English translated content.
Although not totally bilingual, the magazine opted to reproduce some of its Thai content in English, presumably to attract more advertisers. Here are some examples of what appeared in print.
"The night I was count the start until slept, and wake up with morning call of editor. In the morning if you would like to see sunrise should be driving to Dinsor mountain or it will be most amazing driving to Kaewprasert Temple, will have group of island among opposite sea when sunrise in back of mountain ridge of island."
Or how about ..
"Boutique Resort style British-India still symbol of Thai, link small garden to each room. Tisita derived from Dusit means 4th heaven which resident of angel and for people are comfortable as if residing on heaven. Any rooms have private corner to residence. Wiman backside terrace nearly bright stream and large chair is comfortable with buddy book."
For the sake of 20,000 baht - the probable cost of native English proofreading - this could have been a very good magazine.
Further economic growth combined with a general election means Thailand's advertising industry will continue to grow in 2011, according to Advertising Association President Chaipranin Visudhipol.
Speaking to The Bangkok Post he expects the industry as a whole will grow 12 per cent this year, after posting an 11.8 per cent rise to more than 100 billion baht in media spending last year. These levels of growth were the best in five years despite the impact from the political unrest in the second quarter which dented earnings.
"During economic slowdowns and due to tight budgets, marketers chose traditional media to ensure their campaigns would reach consumers. But as the economy rebounded, they became more interested in new ways to communicate with consumers," he said, quoted by The Bangkok Post.
The Nielsen Company (Thailand) reported spending on TV grew 14.8 per cent to 60 billion baht last year, while newspapers increased 15 per cent to 15 billion and magazines rose 4.22 per cent to 5.6 billion. In-store media grew 36 per cent, transit media at 27 per cent and cinema 23 per cent. Radio spending declined 0.9 per cent to 6.1 billion baht, and billboards fell 3 per cent to 3.8 billion.
Food and Beverage Marketing is the first new publication of 2011 (or 2554 if you're in Thailand) to catch my eye on the bookshelves in Thailand.
The magazine, published by Thai Trade and Industry Media Co. Ltd, has been in the works for a number of months (It's amazing the kind of info you can reap from job advertisements). In early mentions it was slated as being a bi-lingual title (Thai and English) with regional focus. This first issue is totally Thai and with a 100 per cent Thai focus.
The magazine is priced as 75 baht and runs to 100 pages. The production and quality is good. and there appears to be a total of seven revenue-generating ad pages in this debut issue.
At first glance this appears to be a very niche topic with limited marketability, but as always I am certain the publisher knows its market and I wish it well.
Over the coming weeks I will be focusing on Thailand's licensed local language magazines, starting tomorrow with the Thai edition of BBC Top Gear magazine.
