Industry sources believe the ban will see budgets moved to other media or below-the-line rather than dry up.
Pornsiri Rojmeta, group CEO at Leo Burnett, said: "We will have to redraw the communications plan and look for new opportunities to penetrate the arena."
The new regulations, which affect drinks with more than 0.5 per cent alcohol content, will mainly impact beer companies, as regulations on hard liquor have been in place for several years. Beer companies spend around 1.2 billion baht (about US$30 million) on TV advertising alone, and an estimated 60 to 80 per cent of these ads are screened between 6pm and 10pm. Pornsiri expects 20 to 25 per cent of budgets currently allocated to TV to flow into other media.
Heineken, a Burnett client, concedes that the new rules will impact visibility "but depending on how you move your marketing funds and what else you do to support you marketing plan, you should be able to support your business", said commercial director, Jeff Kimble. Heineken is keen to secure some of the post-10pm slots "because TV remains the best way of building awareness".