RS’s big boss is confident that RS will continue to grow and the revenue in 2017 will exceed the target. Channel 8 and its beauty business help spur the growth. In the first six months, the company has bagged over 100 million baht. Channel 8 is doing well with excellent prime time rating, reaching a million eyeballs, catapulting its growth by 40% from earlier this year. For the fourth quarter of the year, RS will release new news programs, TV series, dramas and boxing programs to push the ratings to exceed 500,000 eyeballs. Khui Khao Yen will be extended, while a new news program Khui Khao Kham will be introduced. Keeping the Bollywood momentum going, Mahabali Hanuman has been recently released, while four new dramas will soon hit the screen, featuring top actors and actresses.
Ladprao- Surachai Chetchotisak, Chief Executive Officer of RS Public Company Limited, is confident that the company will continue to thrive in the second half of the year, with Channel 8 and its beauty business as main earners. RS is expected to exceed the revenue target of 3.5 billion baht, a 15% growth from last year. In the first half of the year, RS’s net profit reached 99.1 million baht, a 352% increase from the same period last year. AGB Nielsen Media Research unveiled that Channel 8’s prime time rating is more than 1 million eyeballs per minute, a whopping 40% increase from earlier this year, in which the average rating was 700,000 eyeballs per minute. Channel 8 is enjoying a steady and stable growth, while the company’s beauty business is going forward in full force after having reached a new high month after month despite the slow economy.
In the past three years the TV industry has gone through a crisis as advertising revenue has decreased significantly while the number of players has increased. The competition in prime time period is fierce, while non-prime time periods are hard to sell as viewers prefer watching programs online. However, there’s always an opportunity in every crisis, and Channel 8 thinks differently and manages to keep its rating among the top 5 of the country. Meanwhile, its health and beauty business, thanks to the global trend in health and beauty, has been a constant success.
To attract more eyeballs in the second half of the year, with an aim to reach an average rating of 500,000 eyeballs per minute by the end of the year, Channel 8 will present more “easily digestible” contents to attract more viewers. Khui Khao Yen will be extended to 150 minutes, while a new news program Khui Khao Kham is introduced on September 4, increasing the channel’s news ratio to 40%, followed by dramas and series at 30%, variety shows at 20% and boxing programs at 10%. The channel increases the news content because it is an area that it excels in, judging from the rating of Khui Khao Chao, which has the highest rating on weekends and third highest rating on weekdays among news programs. Production cost is also low, and the returns are very profitable.
In addition to news programs, to attract viewers in prime time from Monday to Thursday, it has released Bollywood series Mahabali Hanuman to keep the viewers hooked. Soon after its debut, the series has reached an average rating of 2 million eyeballs per minute. Four new dramas will soon hit the screen – Jai Luang, Ngao Athan, Bussaba Puen Foon, and Saneh Nang Khruan, featuring non-RS actors and actresses such as Andrew Gregson, Poothanate Hongmanop, Thikamporn Ritta-Apinan, and more.
For prime time period on Friday to Sunday, Channel 8 presents boxing programs. Channel 8 has the most boxing programs and its boxing programs have the highest rating among new digital TV channels. The programs include 8 Max Muay Thai, The Champion Muay Thai Tad Chuek, Muay Thai Battle, Muay Mun Supermax, and Sangwian Nak Su. It has also recently secured the right to broadcast 8 HBO Boxing and the UFC. Interesting matches include UFC 215, UFC Fight Night and UFC Fight Night.