Thailand’s Appetite for Bite-sized News

Thailand is an avid consumer of short-form news videos.

According to a new digital news survey by the U.K.-based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Thailand had the highest viewing rates for short news clips in the Asia-Pacific region, with nearly 90 percent of respondents watching online news snippets at least once a week. Platforms like YouTube, Line, and TikTok are “integral parts of daily life” for many Thais, noted the report.

The most widely-viewed short videos involve breaking news stories. A video montage of a terrorist operation in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, received 1.6 million views on YouTube. Two agricultural workers from Thailand were killed in the attack.

The three-minute-long clip, produced by Thairath TV, opens with footage from a security camera at the entrance to Kibbutz Be’eri, a citrus-farming community near the Gaza border. An armed militant is shown firing at a car as it approaches the gate. The video is interspersed with still photos of destroyed homes and vehicles at the kibbutz.

Thairath TV is the country’s leading provider of online news, with a 46 percent market share. The channel is a subsidiary of Thairath, one of Thailand’s oldest newspapers. The Reuters Institute study indicates that traditional media houses maintain a firm grip on content despite platforms like YouTube and TikTok making inroads into video distribution.

However, given Thailand's strict censorship laws, mainstream media tend to “tread cautiously,” on stories involving political parties or the royal family. Youth-focused platforms like TikTok have plugged the gap by serving as “conduits for alternative perspectives.”

As a multinational media company, TikTok has a greater degree of latitude when it comes to sourcing content. A short-form video on Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who collapsed in December 2022 due to a heart condition, was shared 2.4 million times on the platform. Posted by New York-based Vice News, the minute-long clip covered a topic that has received limited airtime in traditional media outlets.

TikTok has experienced a “remarkable” growth spurt in Thailand in 2024. The Reuters Institute survey found that nearly 40 percent of respondents used the platform as a news source on a weekly basis, a nine-point increase over the previous year. “This trend signifies a growing openness to diverse sources of information and a willingness to engage with news in innovative ways, potentially paving the way for a more dynamic and inclusive media landscape in Thailand,” wrote the authors.

A “stunning” electoral verdict in 2023, which gave the reformist Move Forward Party (MFP) a majority, likely drove news-seeking audiences to video-based platforms. The MFP’s former leader Pita Limjaroenrat has a loyal fan base on social media.  A 21-second clip of his nomination as the 30th prime minister of Thailand received 1.3. million likes on TikTok. Despite his party's popularity, however, Pita failed to assemble a viable coalition to form a new government.

Social media video swarms can sometimes drive news cycles. A contagious outpouring over the hit movie “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” propelled the film to box office highs across Southeast Asia this summer. The Thai-Chinese family saga shattered records in Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as moviegoers shared short videos documenting their tearful reactions to the film.

In the Reuters Institute survey, Thailand ranked third after Kenya and Nigeria in its weekly consumption of short-form news videos. The report concluded that Thai audiences were “deeply immersed” in a digital world where social media had rapidly displaced traditional outlets as the primary source of news.