The media-research company suggested that the figures showed there was not only no sign of a recovery, but matters were getting worse, as the spending decline in the first two months was only 6.73 per cent compared with the January-February period last year.

In March, ad spending via major media outlets including television, radio, newspapers, magazines and in-store media declined across the board.

Analog TV saw a 13.66-per-cent drop to Bt4.84 billion; cable/satellite TV posted a 34.45-per-cent decrease to Bt430 million; and digital TV suffered a 10-per-cent drop to Bt1.72 billion.

Spending on newspaper ads fell by 14.64 per cent to Bt991 million, while magazines did even worse, dropping by 30 per cent to Bt276 million.

Radio advertising decreased by 2.57 per cent to Bt493 million and in-store ads fell by 75.42 per cent to Bt29 million.

Declines were also seen in the first three months for analog, cable/satellite and digital TV, newspapers and magazines.

Advertising on analog TV decreased by 13.15 per cent to Bt12.5 billion; cable/satellite TV fell by 4.37 per cent to Bt1.24 billion; and digital TV slipped by 9.45 per cent to Bt4.48 billion.

Ad spending in newspapers saw a drop of 13.78 per cent to Bt2.51 billion, while spending on magazines went down to Bt744 million, a huge drop of 25.97 per cent.

The country’s largest advertising investor, with more than 6 per cent of the total, was Unilever (Thai) Holdings, but it cut its spending in the first quarter by 38.37 per cent to Bt1.158 billion from Bt1.879 billion in the same period last year, which meant that at least Bt720 billion was pulled out.

Magna Global, a media agency under IPG Mediabrands, thinks this trend might continue throughout the first half.

“The first quarter of the year is commonly known as high season in the advertising industry, but this year’s was a different story. We believe that this cut was a result of poor bottom lines and sales by each major corporate during the period,” Manee Eab, managing director of Magna Global, told The Nation yesterday.

Many leading corporates appear to be cutting their advertising budgets to cope with weak business performance as consumers nationwide tighten their belts. However, Manee believes that the situation will improve in the second half thanks to a series of stimulus packages by the government to boost consumption.