Ranked the No-1 out-of-home media business in the Kingdom, VGI Global Media now operates transit media at 30 BTS stations and 160 office buildings in Bangkok.

Through its media affiliates, the company aims to reach wider target audiences by using outdoor media, digital screens at 13 airports around the country, Rabbit member cards and marketing activation.

To make this media integration come to life, Surachet said his company would put more investment into its digital media platform to make sure that it collected as much digital data as possible.

The company will also work closely with advertisers to understand customers’ behaviour and their purchasing journey, particularly among those who spent more time out of their home and those who were connected to the Internet.

He added that Bangkok residents and people living in other big cities were on the whole physically and digitally connected via online media, mainly driven by the rising penetration of smart phones and the expansion of Wi-Fi connection and wireless Internet broadband service.

In line with this technology trend, the development gap between urban and rural areas will become narrower and bridgeable, he suggested.

To cash in on this trend, media research giant Nielsen Thailand yesterday announced a collaboration with Thoth Zocial – a local provider of social-data analysis services – to provide a social listening and monitoring service to Thai firms.

Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, director of Thoth Zocial, said data and insight from social monitoring would lead marketers and corporates to follow the right business direction, and could be used “to empower their traditional approach more effectively”.

Explaining how social listening and monitoring works, he said raw data generated by online users – such as their complaints, opinions and conversations about brands – would be collected from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, websites and bloggers.

Meanwhile, apart from brands and companies wanting to gain more insights from online consumers, TV broadcasters and media agencies are also seeking similar guidance with a view to creating high-rating TV shows and attracting more advertising revenue, while young viewers tend to enjoy their viewing experience via multi-screens – mobile, personal computer and tablet, as well TV screens.

Sinthu Peatrarut, managing director for Nielsen’s media client leadership, said yesterday that his company would launch a new TV-audience measurement called “digital content ratings” early next year.

Collected from 20 million Facebook accounts and other sources permitted by its partnered broadcasters, the data will be analysed and used as a “common currency” for TV ratings.

“Thailand will be the third place in the world to have this advanced TV-audience measurement, after the US and Australia,” he said.

The MD said he hoped this would be an attractive new option for digital-TV operators, media agencies and brands alike, and that it would encourage them to stay with Nielsen.

It will focus on digital technology for small and medium-sized enterprises to support their business and open up an online marketplace to support Otop (One Tambon, One Product) among communities in Thailand.

The tech start-up programme includes fostering collaborations among entrepreneurs and modernising the country’s infrastructure.

The agency will cooperate with universities nationwide to set up tech start-up clubs that will coach students to come up with new ideas to develop software.

Sipa will develop smart cities in Phuket, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen. It will work with the Board of Investment to invite players to invest in the smart-city project to support the smart economy and sustainability for the long term.

It will set up an innovation park in the Phuket smart city to ensure large investment, higher marketing value and extensive growth of the software industry in the domestic and global markets.

The agency will support the upgrading of local software competencies in terms of business operations to meet international standards and the producing of qualified personnel to serve the country’s software industry.

“Sipa is pleased to accept every comment and suggestion in order to improve our operations to ensure quick success in transforming Thailand’s economy into a digital economy,” Jirawan said.

A survey by the Thailand Development Research Institute on the local software industry found that the market for software development and services was expected to expand by about 17 per cent to more than Bt69 billion this year from only Bt47.12 billion last year.

Custom software ranked tops in market value, rising 8.5 per cent to Bt17.54 billion in 2014 from Bt16.16 billion in 2013.

Other types of software services also displayed an uptrend of 9.1 per cent, suggesting that Thailand is on the verge of entering the digital age.