The Thai television industry is undergoing a major transformation as the boundaries between TV, online platforms, social media, and streaming have almost disappeared, while viewers have shifted from watching on a "single screen" to consuming content across multiple platforms.
Today's challenge for TV creators is not only to maintain existing audiences and attract new viewers but also to answer the question, "How can TV create value for brands and businesses that translates into measurable revenue?"
This is the background for the “TV | DEMAND GENERATOR LEADERSHIP FORUM 2026,” which brought together leaders from content, TV, marketing, media agencies, and data & measurement sectors to discuss the industry's future, from the role of content to performance metrics linked to business outcomes.
Thairath Money summarizes the perspectives of these leaders on the crucial question: as audiences move beyond just TV screens, how will TV adapt to remain valuable and generate revenue in the evolving media market?
Wiboon Leerattanakorn from BEC WORLD (Channel 3) points out that the question "Is TV dying?" is not new within the TV media industry. From the era of black-and-white TV to color screens, video, cable, satellite, and digital TV, every time new technology emerges, people question whether television can survive.
But today, Channel 3 is approaching its 57th year."If TV were going to die, it probably would have already, but it has endured every time," he said.The key message he wants to convey is the importance of "adaptation," especially acting as the industry's source by producing high-quality content and extending it in various forms so that a single piece of content reaches more people than ever before.
Wiboon believes that TV's strength remains its credibility; although it cannot match the speed of online media, content that undergoes production and verification processes allows viewers to confirm the accuracy of information they encounter online. In the future, TV screens may evolve further as AI learns viewing habits and curates content tailored to each individual.
Meanwhile, Thakolkiet Weerawan from ONE Enterprise encourages changing the question from"Are people still watching TV today?"to"Are we creating content that people want to watch?"He believes that viewers have not disappeared but their viewing habits have changed.
For example, in the past, a drama episode had to make people "change the channel to watch it," but today's bigger challenge is how to make a story become part of viewers' lives—through live viewing, on-demand, sharing, generating social conversations, and even expanding into real-world activities.
Cases like the dramas “War of Marriage” and “Under the Sky” did not achieve high ratings but generated demand for the content, sparked discussions, research, and social impact, similar to “Hongsawadee,” which retold historical stories that encouraged younger generations to learn the true history and led to activities beyond the screen.
This shows that strong content leads to outcomes for actors, fanbases, brands, and businesses. ONE Channel’s production of BL series is a clear example, as TV actors build fanbases domestically and internationally and become assets brands want to collaborate with. Ratings are only the starting point of value, not the end.
Associate Professor Dr. Ek Patanakul from the Marketing Association of Thailand highlights that the sensational claim "TV is dying" has been used negatively for some time, but global market data does not fully support this.
Especially in the U.S. market, major brand advertising budgets remain with TV, and the definition of TV has broadened to include viewing across various platforms. The main reasons TV still holds value for marketers include at least three points.
1. TV is a medium for shared viewing because, even when everyone has their own screens, TV remains a space where families and communities can watch the same content simultaneously.
2. TV acts like a "friend" that can be left on, rewatched, or accompanied by other activities, allowing brands to communicate repeatedly and build familiarity.
3. TV offers both scale and trust. Large brands still seek media that reach many people with a sense of confidence and credibility, which direct sales alone cannot easily replace.
Pawat Ruangdejworasai from the Media Agency and Business Association of Thailand admits that the decline in TV advertising revenue over the past decade is undeniable, as much of the budget has shifted to social media and digital platforms.
However, agencies have noticed another issue: when some brands stop advertising on TV, their sales drop and brand strength weakens over time. The challenge is shifting from "where to invest for the quickest sales" toward balancing brand building with demand generation.
Pawat also sees TV's unique strengths that other media struggle to match, including scale of shared viewing, screen size and sound quality, content curation, and importantly, free access for viewers.
"TV's role in marketing is evolving from primarily brand-building media to one that accelerates and expands demand to drive business results."
Another clear showcase is from Jitsupa Watcharapol, executive at Thairath TV & Online, who explains that a key aspect of Thairath TV's adaptation is moving from selling "media space" to selling audience understanding and business outcomes.
Survey data confirms that 83.7% of Thais still watch TV, but this does not mean everyone watches on traditional TV sets. News remains highly accepted content at 90.8%, reflecting Thairath's strength as news maintains credibility across generations.
"Not dead, just changing devices."
Building on credibility, Thairath is advancing by employing audience intelligence to better understand viewers. Tools like the Thairath Poll enable rapid insight collection, which informs content and campaign design tailored to viewer behavior and brand needs.
More interestingly, they aim to change viewer behavior through repetition, exemplified by Carabao Red's sweepstakes campaign that attracted 1.3 million participants. This demonstrates using TV to create new behaviors rather than just increasing exposure.
In Carabao Red's case, the campaign started in 2022 and led to a 6.6% sales increase, illustrating the concept of TV as a bridge from attention to engagement, capturing data and driving purchases.
From the perspectives of Chalakkorn Panyakhom from Workpoint Entertainment and Catherine Zhao from Nielsen, the disappearing element may not be "TV" itself but the traditional definition of TV. They note that TV content is consumed live on large screens and on-demand via smartphones, while audiences are segmented into households, online communities, and interest groups.
Thus, TV is no longer just a television set; what remains are "content" and "community" growing around that content. Nielsen data from the U.S. market’s The Gauge shows that although streaming accounts for 48.6% of viewing time, traditional TV still holds 39.6% of screen time, and major content providers rooted in TV continue to command large audiences.
This forum’s insights reflect that assessing TV’s power today requires looking beyond broadcast ratings because a single content piece can create ongoing effects on social media, build fanbases, generate brand buzz, and lead to sales.
Ratings remain an important indicator, but content outcomes are now multi-layered—from viewers, buzz, interest, and trust to business opportunities—leveraging TV’s traditional strengths such as credibility, content quality, wide reach, and shared viewing. Meanwhile, with changing viewer habits, content must be designed to travel across social media, streaming, and other digital platforms simultaneously.
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