Cambodia’s rising digital landscape of interest to GBA

Cambodia is fast becoming a strategic link in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) thanks to a wave of Chinese investment reshaping its economy. While Preah Sihanouk province is gaining some notoriety as a gaming hotspot, Phnom Penh is emerging as a vibrant hub for digital media and innovation.

Across the country, TikTok is transforming how creators, media, politicians, musicians, and brands connect with audiences. The social media platform is increasingly viewed by many in the digital media and content creation space as a critical platform for cultural expression, commerce, and grassroots community engagement. A key player taking part in this digital shift is BAM Media, a Khmer-language digital platform founded less than six months ago by Brett Goulding and Hugues (Hugo) Morel.

According to BAM, they exemplify Cambodia’s growing digital engagement, connecting the country’s youth with its global diaspora through short-form videos and targeted advertising.

In terms of reach, BAM’s audience extends beyond Phnom Penh to cities like Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, and Paris, strengthening Khmer cultural ties well beyond Southeast Asia.

Bridging local and global Khmer-speakers

Morel explained that he sees this reach as especially meaningful for Cambodia’s scholarship students abroad, suggesting it could provide valuable data for businesses and institutions in and outside of Cambodia.

“We have in Cambodia a lot of people that are going to scholarship in Australia and other countries. So this can be pretty interesting data that those businesses collect later.” While BAM is currently exploring potential collaborations with companies in Australia, Morel emphasized they are still in the early stages of identifying the most promising opportunities. “We haven’t said anything completely yet,” he said.

Initially focused on Khmer pop culture topics such as music, fashion, cars, and technology—the platform targeted Cambodia’s dominant youth demographic, Generation Z. But Morel noted that BAM’s audience has broadened significantly over time. “We really touch everybody and anybody with our content,” he said.

The BAM co-founder explained that the media landscape BAM is cultivating is one that fills a gap traditional Cambodian media often leaves untouched. “In Cambodia, you have a lot of what we call like a traditional media… most do not intend to take, I would say, risk, but moreover like to take a side”.

BAM states that it strives to go beyond fact-reporting by embracing storytelling and community engagement from a distinctly Cambodian point of view, creating content that resonates authentically and feels accessible.

Initially centered on Khmer pop culture—music, fashion, cars, and technology—to attract the Gen Z audience that dominates the country, BAM’s audience has since broadened to include people aged 18 to 40, reflecting Cambodia’s closely connected community, where media consumption patterns show more overlap across platforms than in many other markets.

Youthful demographics and urban landscape

Cambodia’s demographic profile further highlights this youth-driven digital surge. The country features a slightly lower male-to-female ratio, 0.96 to 1, with average ages of 25.8 for males and 28.2 for females. Notably, 18- and 19-year-olds make up the largest adult concentration, embodying the digital-native Generation Z, roughly 13 to 28 years old.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, is home to about 1.57 million residents, while the coastal city of Sihanoukville has around 156,700 residents.

Compared to other Southeast Asian urban centers like Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh is modest in size—a fact even more pronounced when contrasting with Guangzhou, a GBA core city with over 14 million people.

Connectivity boosts digital platforms

Cambodia’s mobile and internet connectivity numbers highlight the digital boom underpinning platforms like BAM. By early 2025, the country boasted 25.3 million active cellular connections—exceeding its population thanks to multi-SIM use. Social media penetration is also strong in the country, with 12.9 million active user profiles representing 72.4% of the population. According to DataReportal, Internet penetration in Cambodia also climbed steadily, reaching 60.7% of the population.

In terms of mobile internet speed Cambodia posts speeds of about 53.15 Mbps with internet penetration over 60%, largely driven by mobile data usage. However, challenges remain, including limited infrastructure and network congestion. In contrast, Both Vietnam and Thailand have more advanced infrastructure, Vietnam enjoys much faster speeds, with reported mobile internet speeds exceeding 150 Mbps and near-complete 4G LTE coverage nationwide, along with expanding 5G deployment. Meanwhile, Thailand leads the region with mobile internet speeds around 117 Mbps, supported by government initiatives and competitive telecom providers which drives their better connectivity performance compared to Cambodia’s emerging but developing digital landscape.

Turning to BAM’s content production, Morel described the scale and flexibility required to sustain their diverse audience needs. The platform produces around eight videos a day, summing to nearly 3,000 videos each year. Unlike many media outlets that may rigidly follow trends, BAM balances content anticipation and trending topics carefully.

“We keep one section to be able to answer any trend or breaking news,” he explained, detailing that this typically accounts for two to four videos daily. The majority of their videos are pre-researched topics crafted well in advance, often involving interviews and thematic exploration.

Morel described BAM’s audience as ‘unusually broad’ for social media platforms, where distinct age groups typically segregate across apps like TikTok and Facebook.

“In Cambodia, you can have people, like, even the Deputy Prime Minister or Prime Minister are following us, for example,” Morel said. “On any platform, we get the same type of people. The only difference is more about the content people are looking for.” In many instances, content varies by platform, with TikTok favoring political and entertainment videos, while Facebook hosts more educational and news content. However, the audience largely overlaps across these mediums.

BAM’s content strategy incorporates trending topics and hashtags, but the platform avoids blindly following social media fads. Instead, they adapt to the platform and audience needs. For instance, videos on TikTok might spotlight cultural or political themes, while LinkedIn posts are crafted as professional written content or slideshows.

BAM’s content production and audience diversity

Turning to BAM’s content production, Morel described the scale and flexibility required to sustain their diverse audience needs. “The platform produces around eight videos a day, summing to nearly 3,000 videos each year,” he said.

Unlike many media outlets that may rigidly follow trends, BAM balances content anticipation and trending topics carefully. “We keep one section to be able to answer any trend or breaking news,” Morel explained, detailing that this typically accounts for two to four videos daily. The majority of their videos are pre-researched topics crafted well in advance, often involving interviews and thematic exploration. These videos vary across educational content, music, and other subjects aligned with audience interests.

Co-founder, Hugues (Hugo) Morel

Co-founder, Brett Goulding

This approach, Morel said, is more organic than formulaic; “There is no exact thread on the percentage.” The co-founder also acknowledged that BAM is still developing its analytic capabilities, particularly as they prepare to launch a new website equipped with AI analytics tools to better understand viewer engagement. “We would like to have more analytic behind this. This is also one of the reasons why we’re doing the website,” Morel noted, signaling a clear commitment to evolving BAM’s content strategy based on data insights.

As the platform continues to innovate and grow, Morel told the Times, “We believe in our product, I really think that audiences connect and partners can see that in the results.”

So far, BAM has established a presence on seven platforms and currently employs full-time staff dedicated to engaging its growing audience. With plans to expand this team further, BAM is committed to deepening its community interaction and strengthening the connection between Khmer speakers worldwide. Report By Nadia Shaw, MDT