3G can revolutionise media-savvy Thailand
The long-awaited upgrade to the fast mobile network standard 3G due to be implemented in early 2013 will revolutionise the digital market in Thailand, already a top media consumer in the Asia-Pacific region and dubbed by socialbakers.com as the “Facebook capital of the world.”
By Justin Calderon
“The future is mobile,” Ariya Banomyong, Country Business Manager of Google’s Thailand office told a crowd of start-up professionals at the Bangkok Entrepreneurs networking event on December 17 at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel.
“The second 3G gets launched it will change the market completely.”
About 8.6 million people use the internet everyday in Thailand, according to Google’s figures, and 24 million people have regular access, representing over one-third the population.
When 3G is finally launched, Google predicts that internet penetration could dramatically spike to nearly 90 per cent over the following years.
“The role of smart devices will grow exponentially in emerging markets because mobile networks are easy to roll out and beneficial to countries with poor infrastructure,” Ariya said. About 15 to 20 per cent of Thailand’s population is currently accessing the internet via mobile devices.
Thailand is already significantly aligned with the greater global shift towards digital content.
“Thailand has the second highest amount of YouTube views in Asia, just behind Japan and ahead of India,” Ariya pointed out.
The average global media consumer now spends 16 hours a week consuming online videos, 10 hours with TV and just three hours for magazines. Tablets are also becoming more prevalent and quickly phasing out smaller-screened computers.
So active have Thais become with online videos that popular soap operas have registered an average of 300,000 to 400,000 views of episodes just after they have aired, representing a significant viewership that now depends on the online world to absorb content they may have missed being broadcast.
Thai e-commerce unimpressive
Regarding e-commerce, however, Google remains unimpressed about Thailand’s potential to grow due to poor websites.
“Some websites are giving a very poor experience – to put it politely,” Ariya noted mentioning faulty websites in Thailand used to buy movie tickets.
Google’s Thailand office, the third in Southeast Asia after the regional headquarters in Singapore and another office in Malaysia, has 30 employees and is heavily focused on promoting online content in the Thai language.
Less than one per cent of online content is in Thai and only one out of 10 SMEs in Thailand have an online presence.
Other major projects for the Bangkok office include launching Google voice search in Thai, which is being slated for release next year.
The long-awaited upgrade to the fast mobile network standard 3G due to be implemented in early 2013 will revolutionise the digital market in Thailand, already a top media consumer in the Asia-Pacific region and dubbed by socialbakers.com as the “Facebook capital of the world.” By Justin Calderon “The future is mobile,” Ariya Banomyong, Country Business Manager of Google’s Thailand office told a crowd of start-up professionals at the Bangkok Entrepreneurs networking event on December 17 at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel. “The second 3G gets launched it will change the market completely.” About 8.6 million people use the internet everyday...
The long-awaited upgrade to the fast mobile network standard 3G due to be implemented in early 2013 will revolutionise the digital market in Thailand, already a top media consumer in the Asia-Pacific region and dubbed by socialbakers.com as the “Facebook capital of the world.”
By Justin Calderon
“The future is mobile,” Ariya Banomyong, Country Business Manager of Google’s Thailand office told a crowd of start-up professionals at the Bangkok Entrepreneurs networking event on December 17 at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel.
“The second 3G gets launched it will change the market completely.”
About 8.6 million people use the internet everyday in Thailand, according to Google’s figures, and 24 million people have regular access, representing over one-third the population.
When 3G is finally launched, Google predicts that internet penetration could dramatically spike to nearly 90 per cent over the following years.
“The role of smart devices will grow exponentially in emerging markets because mobile networks are easy to roll out and beneficial to countries with poor infrastructure,” Ariya said. About 15 to 20 per cent of Thailand’s population is currently accessing the internet via mobile devices.
Thailand is already significantly aligned with the greater global shift towards digital content.
“Thailand has the second highest amount of YouTube views in Asia, just behind Japan and ahead of India,” Ariya pointed out.
The average global media consumer now spends 16 hours a week consuming online videos, 10 hours with TV and just three hours for magazines. Tablets are also becoming more prevalent and quickly phasing out smaller-screened computers.
So active have Thais become with online videos that popular soap operas have registered an average of 300,000 to 400,000 views of episodes just after they have aired, representing a significant viewership that now depends on the online world to absorb content they may have missed being broadcast.
Thai e-commerce unimpressive
Regarding e-commerce, however, Google remains unimpressed about Thailand’s potential to grow due to poor websites.
“Some websites are giving a very poor experience – to put it politely,” Ariya noted mentioning faulty websites in Thailand used to buy movie tickets.
Google’s Thailand office, the third in Southeast Asia after the regional headquarters in Singapore and another office in Malaysia, has 30 employees and is heavily focused on promoting online content in the Thai language.
Less than one per cent of online content is in Thai and only one out of 10 SMEs in Thailand have an online presence.
Other major projects for the Bangkok office include launching Google voice search in Thai, which is being slated for release next year.
