In line with the global trend, local publishers of a number of magazines have been suffering from a drop in advertising-based revenue.

According to Nielsen Thailand, ad spending via magazines in Thailand dropped by more than 25 per cent from Bt5.708 billion in 2011 to Bt4.227 billion last year.

Further bad news for the sector also hit the headlines this year. In the first two months, advertisers cut their budgets for the magazine channel by almost the same level as over the past five years.

“We believe that in this fast-changing in media landscape, some local publications have not been able to develop themselves to deliver the right content to serve new needs in the market,” Manee Eab, managing director of Magna Global, a leading media agency under IPG Mediabrands, told The Nation recently.

“Consumers’ lifestyle and behaviour changed, while mushrooming online publications were also offering almost the same types of content and information [as magazines] related to fashion, parents and kids, teens, gadgets and information technology, and so forth,” she explained.

This factor undoubtedly affected the market during the last couple of years, when a number of local and international branded magazines decided to exit the scene, she said.

For example, Praew and Star News magazines came to an end last year.

“It was also a result of oversupply in the magazine market in the last three years, after an influx of international branded titles,” she added.

However, some types of printed magazine, such as those covering home decoration, food and cuisine, automotive and travel, are still eye-catching among local readers, she suggested.

That said, existing magazine publishers should put more weight on how to capitalise on the digital trend in order to create the right form of content, through the right online platforms, to target readers, she stressed.

From an advertising buyer’s viewpoint, Manee said top-ranked titles would remain the most attractive for brands and advertisers.

It appears that Amarin Printing and Publishing, one of the country’s largest magazine publishers, agrees with this view.

“All of our magazines must be No 1 in their category to make sure that both readers and advertisers still stay with us,” chief executive officer Rarin Utakapan Punjarungroj told the media recently.

Rarin said her company was now focusing more on content development and distribution across platforms, particularly online and on-ground activities.

The company is also developing content from its top-ranked magazines to be up and ready for audiences across media platforms, ranging from conventional formats, on-ground events and television programmes to digital media outlets like websites and Facebook pages, she said.

“Other platforms will help us engage with more untapped audiences and pave the way for advertisers to communicate with them,” she added.

To survive in this sunset business, media academic Time Chuastapanasiri suggested that there were several possible ways to go for publishers.

Reducing the number of pages of each magazine or extending the frequency of publication is one example of how to achieve successful cost management, while transforming a magazine into free copy is another alternative, he suggested.

Recently, the publisher of a day, TV Pool and Spicy decided to offer the three top-ranked magazines as free-copy issues in order to expand its reader base after facing difficulties in seeking subscription-based revenue.