Why Thailand's print media is facing a grim future

[buksida]

THE past few months have been rather gloomy for Thai magazines. Last December, a 35-year-old monthly lifestyle publication, Priew Magazine, published its last issue, after alternative lifestyle monthly Way Magazine announced it would reduce frequency and focus on online content. In February, fashion and lifestyle magazine Volume closed its doors after 12 years.

As much as the disruption from digital media was anticipated worldwide, Thailand’s print media was hit even harder because of the country’s own consumer culture. And we are only seeing just the start of a long downward spiral.

You have heard it all before: Print is dying and must adapt to survive because people are changing the way they read. A newly released study by the National Statistics Office of Thailand confirms the readership decline for print media. While readerships for newspapers and magazines dropped by 7 percent between 2013 and 2015, only 50.1 percent of Thais aged 15-24 said they read magazines outside study and work in 2015, down from 61.7 percent in 2013. Print subscription are in decline as people read more on their mobile devices, and this is hitting revenues. As eyeballs go online, so do advertisers.

Full Story: Asian Correspondent

[STEVE G]

Print subscription are in decline as people read more on their mobile devices, and this is hitting revenues. As eyeballs go online, so do advertisers.

And the content that is moving online is now apparently being increasingly threatened by people using ad-blockers:

“Quite simply – if people don’t pay in some way for content, then that content will eventually no longer exist,” he said. “And that’s as true for the latest piece of journalism as it is for the new album from Muse.”
“Ten years ago, the music and film industries faced a threat to their very existence from online copyright infringement by illegal file-sharing or pirate sites,” he added.
He said that in the current climate, adblocking potentially posed a “similar threat”.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/m ... ittingdale

[PeteC]

You don't really need an ad blocker. Just by turning off Shockwave Flash in Firefox many ads stop appearing. Pete


EDIT: Note, my purpose was not to block ads, I really don't care about them. Flash isn't stable and never has been IMO and it sometimes plays havoc with my system. So......if companies are going to use it for their ads, make it stable and not a headache.