Singapore-based Virgin Radio (Asia) has teamed with Thailand's Bec-Tero Entertainment to form Virgin Bec-Tero Thailand.
The company has appointed Thailand's You & I Corporation to sell all its airtime, provide radio programming, sales and other consulting services for radio stations licensed to it.
You & I Corporation is owned by Bec World, Thailand's largest commercial media company and parent of Bec-Tero Entertainment.
Virgin Bec-Tero stations covered by the agreement are 95.5 FMX, Virgin smooth FM 105, Eazy FM 105.5 and 89 FM. FM 105 was relaunched at the beginning of November, with the rest to follow by January 3.
Virgin Bec-Tero Radio managing director Christopher Hall described FM 105's relaunch as "soft".
"It isn't a massive budget for the campaign, however, we do intend to substantially promote all four formats and the Virgin Bec-Tero advertising system over the coming months," Hall said. FM105 has 142,000 daily listeners in Bangkok, with its core listeners aged 25 to 44. New programming aims to narrow that demographic to the more lucrative 25 to 35 age group.
Media buyers have welcomed Virgin's entry. Initiative Media managing director, Wannee Ruttanaphon, said: "There's still plenty of room for improvement."
MindShare (Thailand) managing director, Kevin Clarke, agreed the partnership would benefit the industry. "The industry here has tended to be a little traditional and conservative," Clarke said.