Vietnam Digital Advertising Report (2019, trends for 2020)

2019
REPORT
Vietnam Digital Ads

TABLEOFCONTENTS
SUMMARY
03 04 15 30 42
01. VIETNAM
DIGITAL AND
MOBILE MARKET
OVERVIEW
02. VIETNAM
DIGITAL
ADVERTISING
MARKET
03. VIETNAMESE
USERS’ BEHAVIOUR
ON DIGITAL
PLATFORMS
DIGITAL
ADVERTISING
TRENDS
PREDICTION
IN 2020

SUMMARY
Adsota Team,
2019 is the year that marks the steady growth of the advertising industry in general and
digital advertising, in particular. User’s behavior and shopping activities on online platforms
over the past few years has been significantly influenced by the raise of new touchpoint.
The emergence of various smartphone models such as Realme, Oppo and Samsung with
affordable prices has led to a soar in the number of mobile users in Vietnam. In a society
that gradually switches its aim to integrating everything in one mobile device including
fintech and e-commerce, marketers has regarded mobile as an indispensable channel in
their digital campaigns. This thriving trend marks the rise of new mobile- friendly content
formats such as vertical video, short video, together with the "explosion" of Tik Tok.
All the above trends will be reviewed through vividly visualized data and numbers from
Adsota's Vietnam Digital Advertising Report 2019. The report will provide you with the most
noticeable insights and trends in digital advertising throughout the whole year of 2019. We
hope that with all the contents that Adsota has summarized in this report, digital marketers
will gain useful information and be ready to grasp the newest trends of the year 2020 with
a lot of more efficient and high targeted advertising campaigns. Happy reading!

01
VIETNAM
01DIGITAL AND MOBILE MARKET OVERVIEW

VIETNAM’S DIGITAL OVERVIEW
97M
Dân số
50.1%
Nam giới
49.9%
Nữ giới
32.6
Độ tuổi trung bình
36%
Dân số thành thị
145.8M
Số thuê bao di động
Source: We Are Social (2020)
97M
Population
50.1%
36%
Male
49.9%
32.6
145.8M
Female
Average Age
Urban population
Number of mobile subscribers

VIETNAM’S DIGITAL OVERVIEW
70% (68.0M)
67% (65.0M)
59.8% (58.0M)
97%
72%
13%
1%
Since 1997, when Vietnamese people were
exposed to the Internet, the country has witnessed
the fastest growth in the number of Internet users
in the region and the world. The number of Inter-
net users reached 68 million (70% of the popula-
tion) in 2019. Internet connection in Vietnam is
currently among the best and most stable in South-
east Asia. Social network platform is also on the
rise recently. In 2019, the increase in social
network users is by 9.6% (with 5.7 million new
users), ranked 6th worldwide. This impetus gave
Vietnamese people a better approach to additional
digital and entertainment content.
The Growing Trend Of Internet And Social
Network Users In Vietnam In 2019
Adult Users Of Smart Devices
(Survey-based)
Social Network Users Mobile phone
(All types)
Smartphone
Wearable Smart Device
Tablet
Internet Users
Social Network Users On
Mobile Platforms

Others
Others
Source: Gfk, Stat Counter (2019)
OPPO AND SAMSUNG ARE RULING IN VIETNAMESE SMARTPHONE MARKET
Smartphone And Tablet Market Share In Vietnam
A large proportion of the market share of smart mobile devices in Vietnam
at the end of 2019 belongs to Samsung and Oppo. Low-cost mobile
segment continues to grow dramatically, with Realme, the rising star,
swiftly reached 6.3% market share.
However, the actual market share of Apple might be multiple times larger
as Vietnamese users prefer hand-carried iPhone to retailed ones due to
lower pricing. According to statistics from Stat Counter, it is iPhone that
Vietnamese people use the most nowadays with 40.4% of the number of
devices. Big brand names such as Sony and Huawei nearly vanished on
the Vietnamese mobile market map.
In contrast, the tablet market in Vietnam shows signs of leveling oﬀ and
gradually saturating. Apparently, only Apple and Samsung have launched
new models, and remains the dominant position.

ANDROID WON THE SMARTPHONE SEGMENT, WHILE IOS DOMINATED TABLET DEVICES
2019
2018
2017
Android iOS Others
iOS 13 iOS 12 Earlier
9.0 Pie 8.1 Oreo 5.1 Lollipop
6.0 Marshmallow Others
48.39% 24.76% 26.85%
38.68% 15.02% 9.80% 7.67% 19.51%
Source: Stat Counter (2019)
Android is still the most popular operating system in Vietnam as it is operated on
58% of the total number of active smartphones. This ﬁgure for iOS is more than
40%.
As for the current tablet market, iOS is undoubtedly the most popular operating
system, with 73% of the total active devices in 2019.
A large percentage of Vietnamese users have not upgraded their devices' operating
systems to the latest version. App developers and marketers should take this
characteristic of users into consideration, to optimize and promote their apps to be
compatible with these available versions of operating system.

VIETNAM IS AMONG THE TOP 15 COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF SMARTPHONE USERS
851.1M
345.9M
59.90%
25.30%
79.10%
45.60%
66.30%
31.10%
57.20%
49.50%
79.90% 82.90%
77.50%
54.80% 54.00%
44.90%
33.60%
Penetration Rate
Top 15 Countries/markets By Number Of Smartphone Users
Source: Newzoo (2019)
96.9M
95.4M
260.2M
83.9M
72.6M
65.9M 65.6M
55.5M 50.7M 45.4M 44.8M 43.7M
36.3M
Belong in the top 15 countries with the
highest number of smartphone users
(Active Smartphone Users), Vietnam
ranked 14th with 43.7 million users out
of 97.4 million of the total population,
which made the penetration rate grow
up to 44.9%. This statistic has proven
the enormous potential and rapid
growth of the Vietnamese mobile
market in recent years.
China is leading the chart, with 851.2
million smartphone users by the end of
2019, far ahead of the second and the
third which are India (345.9 million
users) and the United States (260.2
million users), respectively. With its
great demand and steady growth, China
is expected to continue to hold the
leading position for the long future to
come.

10. United Kingdom
Source: AppTweak (2019)
Hạng
502.609.100 50%
50%
Source: AppTweak (2019)
VIETNAM IS AMONG TOP 10 COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST APP DOWNLOADS IN 2019
Leading Countries In App Downloads 2019
In the ranking of the top market with the
most downloads on Apple Store and
Google Play by the end of the second
quarter of 2019, Vietnam is one of the two
Southeast Asian countries (along with
Indonesia) appearing in this list at 7th
place. According to these statistics, there
are approximately 750 million app down-
loads from Vietnam, which shows a huge
demand for mobile apps from the Viet-
nam market. Another representative of
Southeast Asia, Indonesia, ranks 4th place
in the list. The top 3 is Brazil, United
States, and India, which are inherently the
biggest market in the world, continue to
maintain their position.
1.
3.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
2.
4.
10.
United Strates
Japan
United Kingdom
Russia
India
Brazil
Indonesia
Mexico
Turkey
Vietnam
5 184 710 900
3 333 197 400
1 890 386 400
1 536 383 300
1 115 105 900
877 837 700
748 641 400
711 545 900
564 410 200
502 609 100
2% 98%
63% 37%
9% 91%
3% 97%
22% 78%
10% 90%
21% 79%
17% 83%
61% 39%
50% 50%
Rank Country Total Downloads iOS Android

49.5%
6.3% 6.3% 6% 5.7%
1. Games 2. Photography 3. Social 4. Entertainment 5. Healthcare 2. Photography 3. Social 4. Entertainment 5. Healthcare
7%
3.8% 1.9% 1.3%
1. Games
APPLE STORE
82.2%
GOOGLE PLAY
Source: Applyzer (2019)
GAMES IS THE CATEGORY WITH THE MOST APPS ON THE STORES
Proportion Of App Categories in Vietnam 2019 – Grossing

Source: App Annie (2019)
FACEBOOK, GOOGLE AND VNG ARE THE BIGGEST PUBLISHERS
Top Apps of 2019 By Combined iOS and
Google Play Downloads
Top Games of 2019 By Combined iOS and
Google Play Downloads
App Publishers
With The Most
Downloads
Game Publishers
With The Most
Downloads
1. Facebook
Messenger
6. Shopee
7. B612
8. Lazada
9. WiFi Master
Key
10. Kwai(快手)
2. Facebook
3. Tik Tok
4. Zalo
5. Zing MP3
1. Arena of Valor
6. Subway
Surfers
7. Rules of
Survival
8. Zombie
Tsunami
9. Temple
Run 2
10. Talking Tom
Gold Run
2. Free Fire
3. Helix Jump
4. My Talking
Tom
5. PUBG MOBILE
Social Network apps and Messaging apps such as Facebook, TikTok, and Zalo bring the most downloads
to the publishers in the Vietnamese market. Two game genres, which are Battle Royale (Free Fire, PUBG,
Rules of Survival) and Hyper Casual (Helix Jump), continue to be the leading trend of the mobile gaming
industry worldwide including Vietnam. Facebook, VNG, Google, and SEA (Garena) were the most
successful publishers in Vietnam last year, thanks to the high app popularity.

96%
95%
51%
22%
19%
Most Popular Social Network Platforms*
*Based on the percentage of internet users
who claims using each platforms
FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, ZALO ARE THE MOST POPULAR SOCIAL AND MESSENGER PLATFORMS IN VIETNAM
In 2019, Youtube surpassed Facebook to become the most popular social media platform by internet users in Vietnam, with 96%
of respondents saying that they do use this platform, followed by Facebook with 95% of daily active users. The trend shows a high
positive correlation with the general direction of digital marketing worldwide as video gradually becomes an influential format
drawing huge traffic. Therefore, the thrive of video marketing is undoubtedly noteworthy for marketers in 2020. Meanwhile,
Facebook Messenger continues to be a prevalent messaging, followed by Zalo. Marketers nowadays are getting familiar with
messaging platforms as advertising operation channels, thanks to their native display ability, with an insignificantly negative
impact on user's experience.
79%
Most Popular Messaging Tools*
74%
33%
28%
23%

KEY TAKEAWAYS
FOCUS ON
SMARTPHONE1
BIG OPPORTUNITIES
FOR APP DEVELOPERS
AND MARKETERS
2
Game category is taking the lead on the app store, with 49.5% of
the number of apps (Apple Store) and 82.2% of the number of
apps (Google Play). It can be inferred that Vietnamese users spend
most of their time using smartphones on playing games. Besides,
social networks, e-commerce, messaging, hypercasual, and
battle royale game apps have the most downloads in 2019.
Mobile marketers should pay extra attention to these catego-
ries to place their displayed advertising elements in apps
eﬀectively.
Apple and Samsung are the leaders of a declining tablet market in
Vietnam. The emergence of new smartphone models with
larger screen sizes made owning another tablet device unnec-
essary. However, it's not the time for publishers or app marketers
to completely "ignore" tablet devices yet although mobile apps
and advertising formats that are more compatible with smart-
phone screen sizes are more favored.

02
VIETNAMDIGITAL ADVERTISING MARKET
02

ALL TYPES
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
$0.6
$0.9
$1.2
$1.5
0
$0.3
$1.2
$1.26
$1.33
$1.38
$1.43
`
20.6%
22%
27.2%
21%
22.5%
44.6%
41.3%
29.9%
17.4%
64.8%
20.5% 22.5%
23.4%
24.2% 24.7%
Source: eMarketer (2019)
VIETNAM’S ANNUAL DIGITAL ADVERTISING SPENDING IS STILL ON THE RISE
Projection Of Total Spending On Media and Online
Advertising Of Vietnam Market 2019 (Unit: Billion USD)
Percentage Of Digital Spending On Total
Online Media Spending
Digital Spending
Total Spending On Online Media
% Rate For Digital Spending
Although spending on digital online platforms
has been on the rise for the last few years, the
Vietnam advertising market is still “covered”
mostly by traditional advertisements. In 2019,
Vietnamese brands spent approximately 284
million USD on online ads, only taking up 20.6%
of the spending on all forms of advertisement.
This is an average number compared with
Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand
(22%), Singapore (27.2%), and Philippines
(21%). However, this ratio pales in comparison
with other countries like Korea, Japan, and
China.
Digital advertisement in the Vietnam market is
predicted to grow steadily in the following
years, taking up to 24.7% the sum of the spend-
ing on advertisement in 2022. This means
digital marketing will slowly but surely become
an essential factor in marketing activities.

LINKS
STATUS POSTS
23.9%
12.9%
6.7%
6.2%
4.9%
2.8%
4.5%
38%
Others
FMCG
Source: Statista (2019)
RETAILS - E-COMMERCE AND FMCG ARE THE MOST GENEROUS SPENDERS
Vietnam Digital Advertising Spending By Industries
Retails/
E-Commerce
In 2019, brands in the industries of retails/
e-commerce and FMCG were the biggest
spenders for digital advertising with 23.9% and
12.9%, respectively, out of the total online
advertising budget. Other major spending
groups are Automobiles, Financial Services,
Tourism, and Telecommunications.
These ﬁgures have shown the resources that
e-commerce businesses are willing to invest in
digital advertising in recent years, which is
linked to the "money burning" race of e-com-
merce businesses such as Shopee, Lazada,
Sendo, and Tiki on advertising channels. This
trend is expected to continue in 2020.
Autom
obiles
Financial services
Tourism
Telecom
munications
Techno
logies

34 569 900
30 929 800
27 114 500
24 364 700
Shopee
Sendo
Tiki
Lazada
28% 72%
1.
2.
3.
4.
21.3%
10.2%
6.5%
4.6%
Total visiting traffic
between foreign
e-commerce platforms
and domestic platforms.
Source: iPrice (2019)
VIETNAMESE E-COMMERCE BUSINESSES MARK A LEAP WITH THE SUPPORT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING
Most Visited E-commerce Platforms In Vietnam (Web-based)
RANK PLATFORM MONTHLY VISITS
PERCENTAGE
OF APP
USERS
Foreign
Platforms
Domestic
Platforms
The e-commerce industry in recent years is in a
fierce money-burning race among regional giants
such as Shopee and Lazada, together domestic
enterprises such as Tiki and Sendo. Businesses
must invest a lot of their budgets in warehouse
infrastructures, human resources, and notably
marketing and advertising campaigns in order to
leverage their position in the market. Enterprises
with insufficient capacity will soon be "eliminated"
from this race.
In 2019, Vietnam's e-commerce industry reached
a total value of US $ 38 billions. In terms of the
number of visits in the past year, Lazada was
falling behind after being surpassed by Shopee
and Tiki at the end of 2018. It has also been
surpassed by Sendo in the last two quarters.
Domestic e-commerce platforms are gradually
taking a significant piece of the cake over big play-
ers from regional markets thanks to its profound
understandings of the local market and effective
use of Influencer marketing.

18.95
millions 18.04
millions
50.48
millions
34.5
millions
27.1
millions 24.3
millions
24
millions
31
millions
Q3/2017 Q3/2019
#4 #5 #3 #1 #1 #2 #3 #4
Source: iPrice (2019)
VIETNAMESE E-COMMERCE BUSINESSES MARK A LEAP WITH THE SUPPORT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING
Monthly Website Visits Of Big E-commerce
Platforms In Vietnam From 2017 To 2019
2019 is a successful year for e-commerce businesses
in the Vietnam market that used Influencer Marketing
as the main tactic of promoting their product. Shopee
rose to the top of the market with campaigns partici-
pated by “top tier” worldwide KOLs such as Cristiano
Ronaldo, BlackPink, and notable Vietnamese influenc-
ers, which are Huong Giang and Hoai Linh. Tiki joined
the race when choosing the golden couple Truong
Giang - Nha Phuong as the brand ambassador, as well
as taking wide coverage in a lot of popular Vietnamese
music videos. Sendo, though "quieter", also had
famous female singer My Tam as the brand ambassa-
dor. The only platform outside this trend - Lazada, had
suddenly “fallen behind” in the race, experiencing the
most significant decrease in market share and
number of visitors in recent years.
After a period of applying influencer marketing, both
Shopee and Tiki have impressively advanced their
positions in the rankings of user’s monthly website
visits in Vietnam. Along with attractive promotional
programs and good system optimization, it is undeni-
able that influencer marketing has brought great
efficiency and coverage to Vietnamese e-commerce
platforms. Eventually, Lazada has to catch up on this
trend. They have had Gil Le, Miu Le, game streamers
like PewPew, ViruSs do live streams in their recently
promotional campaigns.

LINKS
55.20%
67.1%
67.8%
68.1%
68.4%
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
SPENDING FOR MOBILE ADS MAKES UP A LARGE PROPOTION OF DIGITAL MARKETING BUDGET
Source: eMarketer (2019)
Following up with the above trends, mobile ads are
on the rise and will play an increasingly important
role in the near future.
Mobile advertising budgets in 2019 have increased
sharply compared to a year before, from 55.2% of the
total online advertising budget (in 2018) to 67.1% in
2019. Mobile Ads are also forecasted to grow steadi-
ly. It is expected to reach 67.8% of the total digital
budget by 2020 and 68.1% by 2021.
Total Spending For Mobile Ads/ Total Spending For Digital Ads
(Spending for Mobile Ads includes advertisement on smartphone, tablet
and other smart devices, except MMS or P2P message)

ALL TYPES
3.81%
VIDEO POST
6.55%
PHOTO POST
5.22%
3.25%
LINKS
2.71%
STATUS
The Ratio For The Number Of People Who Engage
With A Facebook Page’s Posts Vs. Page Reach For
Every Type Of Content On Social Media
VIDEO – THE LEADING FORMAT OF DIGITAL CONTENT
Video is the most engaged format of content on Facebook in
Vietnam, with a rate of 6.55% of total reach. It can be understood
that when a Facebook post in the format of video reaches 100
users, there will be more than 6 of them interacting (comment,
react, share). Meanwhile, the average interaction rate of all types
of posts on fanpage is only 3.81%, of posts containing images is
5.22%, of posts that contain links is 3.22%, and of status is the
lowest with 2.71%. Therefore, visual elements such as images or
videos are very important for every post on social networks.
These numbers also once again confirm the effectiveness of video
content in 2019. Marketers need to pay attention to the content
and duration of their advertising video clips on social media to
increase brand recognition. In particular, the “fast food”,
mobile-friendly, and highly interactive videos such as live videos,
short videos, and vertical videos proved to be effective and will be
the trend in the near future.

2016 2019
Like it
So so
Dislike
”
-
Source: Q&Me (2019)
Most Popular Types Of Content On Social Media
VIDEO – THE LEADING FORMAT OF DIGITAL CONTENT
33%
30%
37%
31%
29%
40%
35%
27%
38%
40%
26%
34%
49%
30%
21%
19%
32%
49%
18%
37%
34%
24%
32%
44%
22%
38%
40%
27%
39%
34%
Content
With Video
Content
With
Celebrity
Content
With Game
Content
With Q&A
Content
With
Infographics
Content
With Video
Content
With
Celebrity
Content
With Game
Content
With Q&A
Content
With
Infographics
Social media users’ interests are always geared toward video content. Among the types of content included in the survey, content with the presence of
celebrity had the highest reach in 2016, with 40% of users surveyed saying they were interested in this type of content. Video content was also popular at
the time with 37% of its users. By 2019, video content has taken the leading position with nearly 50% of the people surveyed. Previously, in 2016, infographic
content with a lot of information and high expertise tended to be unattractive to the majority of users. However, the numbers from 2019 also show a greater
openness of users to social media content, even to content with infographics, as the number of “like it” or “so so” options has increased compared to the
past.

#1 YouTube (Google) #2 Facebook
#4 #5#3
Source: Comscore (2019)
Leading Video Sharing Platforms Owners In Vietnam
VIDEO SHARING PLATFORMS IN VIETNAM – YOUTUBE LEADS IN TERMS OF TRAFFIC
Monthly Unique Visitors: 13 676 000
Videos: 3 496 033 000
Average minute per viewer: 1 522.20
Videos: 51 115 000
Average minute per viewer: 2.5
Videos: 42 051 000
Average minute per viewer: 38
Videos: 18 628 000
Average minute per viewer: 6
Videos: 193 902 000
Average minute per viewer: 153.5
Admicro - VCCorp 24H Advertising
Group
Adtima – VNG
Corporation
The owners of the leading video media platforms in Vietnam are also those with the highest digital advertising revenue in recent years.
Google, with its YouTube video platform, still obviously takes the lead with more than 13 million unique visitors (the number of people - the
network account by IP address) visited the site on average in a month, and nearly 3.5 billion videos were posted. Apart from the two giants
Facebook and Google, domestic owners such as Admicro, 24H, or Adtima are the next with their own platforms. These will probably be the
leading media platforms in the Vietnamese market in the next few years.

3%
6%
15%
65%
86%
91%
Source: Q&Me (2017)
FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE ARE STILL THE BEST PLATFORMS FOR ADVERTISEMENT IN VIDEO FORMAT
Most Popular Platforms For Video Content
Others
CocCoc
Ad Network/ DSP
Website/Businesses’
platforms
Facebook
Youtube
Using video marketing is one of the most
basic tools in the digital marketing activi-
ties of Vietnamese businesses. Up to 85%
of businesses in Vietnam use this tactic in
their marketing activities.
Along with that, Facebook and YouTube
are still the two most popular platforms
for businesses to post their promotional
videos thanks to the high traﬃc and
various advertising formats. Besides,
businesses are gradually taking advantage
of their owned platform/website, with
65% of businesses surveyed. Moreover,
some ad networks from media agencies
are also a highly valued choice.

`
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND ONLINE NEWSPAPER HAVE THE HIGHEST VISITS IN VIETNAM
Websites With The Highest Visits In Vietnam
Monthly Visit:
371 700 000
The search engine - Google and two social
networks Facebook and YouTube respec-
tively continue to be the 3 websites with
the highest number of visits in Vietnam.
Vietnamese people also visit major online
newspapers such as VnExpress, Zing.vn,
Kenh14.vn and 24h.com.vn. Another
search engine that takes turn in the list is
Coccoc's website.
It is worth noting that all these names are
very eﬀective platforms for marketers in
recent times. Google, Facebook, and
Coccoc are platforms that have signiﬁcant
revenue from advertising with various
solutions and ad formats . Meanwhile, the
leading newspapers are now in the
network of reputable advertising agencies
such as Eclick (VNExpress), Adtima
(Zing.vn), Admicro (Kenh14), 24H Group
(24h.com.vn).
YOUTUBE
Monthly Visit:
334 100 000
KENH14
Monthly Visit:
33 200 000
VNEXPRESS
Monthly Visit:
68 300 000
FACEBOOK
Monthly Visit:
341 600 000
24H
Monthly Visit:
28 100 000
GOOGLE
ZING.VN
Monthly Visit:
55 800 000
COCCOC
Monthly Visit:
28 600 000

87% GEN Z
82% MILLENNIAL
66% GEN X
66% GEN Z
44% MILLENNIAL
30% GEN X
67% GEN Z
90% MILLENNIAL
86% GEN X
25% GEN Z
16% MILLENNIAL
5% GEN X
Source: Decision Lab (2019)
FACEBOOK IS THE “MULTI-GENERATIONS” SOCIAL NETWORK WHILE TIKTOK & INSTAGRAM ARE GEN Z’S WORLD
Social Media Usage By Generations
Facebook is considered a "national"
social network with millions of users of
all ages and generations. Meanwhile,
Tiktok is only popular among young
users (25% of Gen Z surveyed said to
use this social network). Another social
media application - Zalo messaging is
popular with older users (86% of Gen X
and 90% of Millennials).
When executing advertising campaigns,
marketers need to identify which social
media platforms have users of the age
groups corresponding to their targeted
customer proﬁles, have appropriate
communication channel and deliver the
suitable messages.

66%
34%
Mobile
App
Mobile
Web
40%
60%
53%
47% 61%
39% 59%
41%
44%
56%
38%
62%
25%
75%
30%
70%
43%
57%
22%
78%
19%
81%
51%
49%
Source: Vpon (2018)
Ad Inventory ratio of Mobile Website and Application in Asia
MOBILE APPS TAKE MORE AD INVENTORY THAN MOBILE WEBSITE
Mobile advertising space (advertising
inventory) in Asia mostly belongs to
the mobile app. Regional markets all
have a higher proportion of mobile
apps, and the Vietnam market is no
exception.

7%
5%
65%
22%
2.06%
0.60%
1.06%
1.91%
9.18%
7% 5%
1%
65%
22%
4.53%
3.58%
7.34%
1.78% 0.84%
Source: Mobvista (2018)
NATIVE ADS HAVE THE HIGHEST CONVERSION RATE IN SEA MARKET
Impression Clickthrough Rate
Conversion Rate
75%
50%
0%
25%
10%
0%
5%
10%
0%
5%
Impression, Click-through rate and Conversion rate of mobile ads
formats in SEA market.
Among mobile advertising formats in Southeast Asia, native in-feed
ads have the highest impression with 65%, while full-screen ads
(Interstitial) have the highest click-through rate. Native app wall (list of
ads oﬀer) is the format with the highest conversion rate.
Rewarded
video
Native in-feed
video
Interstitial Non-
rewarded
native
feed ad
Native
app wall
Rewarded
video
Native in-feed
video
Interstitial Non-
rewarded
native
feed ad
Native
app wall
Rewarded
video
Native in-feed
video
Interstitial Non-
rewarded
native
feed ad
Native
app wall

KEY TAKEAWAYS
VIDEO CONTENT IS
THE MOST ATTRACTIVE
DIGITAL CONTENT
FORMAT
1
TARGET THE RIGHT
SOCIAL MEDIA
CHANNEL
2
NATIVE IN-APP MOBILE
ADVERTISING IS ALWAYS
THE CREDIBLE FORMAT
3
On Facebook, video is the most interactive
content in Vietnam, with an interaction
rate of 6.55%. Vietnam is also one of the top 5
countries that have the highest watch-time on
YouTube in the world. The proves that video is
still the most effective content format. Not only
does brands and marketers need to invest
more on videos but they also need to focus on
the rising format with impressive interaction
rate - live videos.
In the context that Mobile Ads are expected to
grow steadily in the coming years, advertisers
need to find the most optimal formats for
them. Traditional banner ads are inherently not
highly appreciated visually on websites or
mobile platforms. Along with that, video and
reward ads are considered to be time-consum-
ing for users and can easily be ignored. There-
fore, native in-app ads proved to be an
effective form for marketers to promote
their products or applications. The conver-
sion ability of the native app wall format
also reached the highest rate with 9.18%,
far behind other ad formats.
Social networks also have different age groups
of users, when Facebook is a social network of
all ages, Tik Tok is for Gen Z and Zalo has the
majority of users are Gen X and Millenial. There-
fore, marketers need to pay attention to using
social media channels that are appropri-
ate for each of their customers, while
offering content suitable for each age
group that they target.

03
VIETNAMESE
USERS’ BEHAVIOUR ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS
03

6H42M
2H33M
2H31M
1H11M
.
MORE THAN 6 HOURS SPENT ON THE INTERNET
Time Spent For Online Media
Total Time
Spent Online
Using Social
Media
Watching TV or
Streaming
Video-on-demand
Content
Streaming Music
According to a survey from We Are Social,
Vietnamese people in 2019 spent an
average of 6 hours 42 minutes daily to
access the internet on all devices. Coinci-
dentally, 6 hours 42 minutes is also the
average online time in a day of internet
users worldwide.
During that 6 hours, Vietnamese people spend an average time of 2 hours
and 33 minutes on social network, 17 minutes higher than the world average.
Entertainment streaming platforms (music, TV shows) such as Netﬂix, Spotify
are also on the rise in the Vietnam market. In 2019, Vietnamese people spent
2 hours 31 minutes a day on streaming TV and 1 hour 11 minutes on listening
to streaming music. In addition to TVCs for TV shows, marketers have begun
to pay attention to audio advertising through platforms like Spotify or Zing
MP3.

1:47 1:57 2:07 2:16 2:34 2:36 2:33 2:33
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ranked # 21 in the
world for the average
time spent social
media in a day
Source: GlobalWebIndex (2019)
THE AVERAGE ONLINE DAILY TIME OF VIETNAMESE PEOPLE ON SOCIAL NETWORK MAINTAINS AT MORE THAN 2 HOURS
Average Daily Time A Vietnamese Spends On Social Networks (Hourly)
The amount of online time on social networks of Vietnamese people has remained stable at 2 hours and 33 minutes in the
past two years. After the booming period in 2015, since 2016, the online time of Vietnamese users has stopped at more than
two and a half hours. This is an average ﬁgure compared to the world data when Vietnam ranked 21st out of all the countries
surveyed. Filipinos have the most time online in the world (both on social networks and the internet) with 4 hours and 10
hours a day.

1%
THE MAJORITY OF USERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO CATCH UP WITH RELATIVES AND FRIENDS
The Majority Of Users Use Social Media To Catch Up With Relatives And Friends
Source: Q&Me (2019)
CATCH UP WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS 76%
GET INFORMATION ON NEWS AND EVENTS 48%
FIND OUT ENTERTAINMENT NEWS 39%
MAKE NEW FRIENDS 30%
SHARE PICTURES AND VIDEOS 26%
PLAY GAMES 13%
FOLLOW BUSINESSES AND BRANDS 11%
FOLLOW CELEBRITIES 9%
FIND POTENTIAL DATES 7%
SHARE REVIEWS AND OPINIONS 7%
3%CO-ORDINATE EVENTS
OTHERS 1%
Contact and update news from friends and relatives, update
the latest information about entertainment activities and
nearby events are the keywords that social network users in
Vietnam give out when asked about the main purpose of
using social network. 76% of people surveyed said they use
social networks to follow and interact with their friends and
relatives. The next three activities are news and information
updates on events (48%), entertainment news (39%), and
making friends (26%).
The survey’s data also showed that only 11% of people use
social networks to track information from brands or
businesses, while up to 30% follow entertainment contents.
Therefore, brands need to invest more in innovative and
interactive content formats instead of traditional one-sided
content to raise brand awareness.

Facebook
YouTube
Mobile Apps
Website
Facebook
Messenger
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%
FACEBOOK IS THE MOST POPULAR ADVERTISING CHANNEL
Most Popular Advertising Channels Advertising Eﬃciency On Social Media
Source: Q&Me (2019)
Other social media
besides Facebook
Other video
platforms beside
YouTube
Others
36%
64%
51% 49%
Percent of users clicking the
ads within 7 days
Percent of users purchasing
products after seeing ads
Facebook remains the most popular channel for consumers to
click on ads, with 53% of people surveyed saying they often click
on ads on social networks. They are followed by ads on YouTube
(42%) and Mobile App (20%).
Social media advertising has also shown its eﬀectiveness, with
more than 64% of users clicking on Facebook ads in 7 days. The
number of people who decide to buy after seeing ads on social
networks is also up to 51%.

ALL TYPES
LINKS
STATUS POSTS
3
6
9
12
15
FEMALE USERS IS MORE INTERACTIVE THAN MALES
Interactive Activities On The Facebook In 30 Days
Male
Female
Comment Like post Share post Click ads
The average number of times a person performed interactive
actions on Facebook over a 30-day period (survey-based)
Female social media users tend to interact more
with social media posts. Within 30 days, the
number of actions (interactions) of female users
on social networks such as comments, react,
share, or click on ads is always marginally higher
than men.
This is a notable fact for executives and manag-
ers when implementing campaigns on social
networks. For brands aimed at female custom-
ers, promote the interactivity of the article such
as discussions, likes, shares will increase the
coverage and accessibility of the products.

40%
45%
30%
28%
28%
27%24%
THE MAJORITY OF USERS CLICK ON ADS WHEN THEY HAVE THE NEED FOR THE PRODUCTS
Reasons To Click On Ads/CTA Buttons
Source: Q&Me (2019)
By Mistake Attractive Promotion/Discounts
Have To See The Ads To
Watch The Desired Contents
Products/Services Match
My Interest
The Favourite Brands
As The Ads Look Impressive
Funny Contents
Advertisers need to be very careful when
tracking the results of their advertising
campaigns because it is possible that
among the number of clicks on banner
ads, there might be many interactions that
happened because users accidentally did
the wrong click. According to a survey from
Q&Me, this number is 24%. Also, 28% see
or click on the ad just to see the content
they want.
However, there are still positive signals to
the advertisements of which products
meet the needs or interests of customers.
Other noticeable criteria are eye-catching,
entertaining, funny content or content
belongs to favorite brands, attractive pro-
motions/discounts also gain a good
amount of clicks and interactions.

LINKS
42%
30%
20%
8%
Internet (Mobile)
Internet (PC)
TV
Others
MOBILE – POTENTIAL CHANNEL TO REACH CUSTOMERS
Amount Of Time For Media Channels
Source: Q&Me (2019)
Most of the online time of Vietnamese
adults is spent on their mobile devices
Currently, mobile is not only a trend
but also a mandatory channel in digital
marketing. Whenever marketers think
about digital, they have to think of
mobile ﬁrst, spend more advertising
budget on mobile marketing as well as
optimize the user experience on
mobile platforms such as app or web-
site.

59% 79% 53%
Source: Google, Kantar (2018)
MOBILE IS THE KEY TOUCHPOINT IN CUSTOMERS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESS
Smartphone is
becoming an
important
touchpoint, as
well as a
catalyst for
purchase
decision of
buyers
Southeast Asian consumers
use smartphones to
research products they are
interested in before making
a purchase.
Consumers in Southeast
Asia will still look up
information about
products online while
shopping, even at the
point of sale.
Consumers in
Southeast Asia have
a habit of buying
online through the
phone.

53% 20%
THEREFORE, USERS HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF MOBILE WEBSITE
Source: Google, Kantar (2018)
User will leave the
website if it does
not ﬁnish loading
after 3 seconds
Conversion rate
drop within every
second the
website “delays”
to load
Brands need to optimize the user
experience on their mobile sites if they
don't want their customer base to
decrease. Designing mobile-friendly
websites (RWD-Responsive Web
Design or Mobile Responsive Web) is
not only a popular method but also a
must. According to Google, to optimize
for mobile websites for their brands,
businesses need to pay attention to
invest in two main technologies, AMP
(Accelerated Mobile Pages) and PWA
(Progressive Web Application).

MOBILE FIRST
LUÔN LÀ XU
HƯỚNG
Although consumers in SEA and Vietnam are spending a lot
of time on online channels, the time spending for TV
channels is not completely "cut off". Although digital spend-
ing is currently growing in recent years, Traditional adver-
tisement are still taking the bigger share in the market.
Spending on digital advertising only takes up 20.6% of the
expenditure on all forms of advertisement, which is the
average figure in the region. Marketers should avoid follow-
ing the "trend" so much that they might neglect effective
traditional advertising channels such as OOH, TVC. As long
as the brand's marketing budget is sufficient enough,
the multi-channel marketing strategy will be the
most ideal and effective solution.
Facebook remains the most popular channel for consumers
to click on ads. Social media advertising has also proven its
effectiveness, with more than 64% of users clicking on
Facebook ads within seven days. The number of people who
decide to purchase a product after seeing ads on social
networks is also up to 51%. Social Media will undoubted-
ly be the main digital channel of brands for many
years to come, along with online video platforms.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
FOCUS ON DIGITAL
BUT DON’T FORGET
TRADITIONAL CHANNELS
1
SOCIAL NETWORK IS
THE MOST POPULAR
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
CHANNEL
2

Vietnamese spend most of their time on social networks
following and updating news from friends and relatives,
keeping up with events around them, and reading entertain-
ment content. In addition to that, they also regularly access
the online newspaper to update the news. This shows that
online users have no desire to be "surrounded" by
purchasing messages from brands while using social
networks. Therefore, brands need to create natural,
creative, and highly interactive content to attract
users' attention.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
DELIVER
APPROPRIATE
MESSAGES
3
MOBILE FIRST IS
ALWAYS AN
INPORTANT TREND
4
Mobile platforms is not only a trend but also a mandatory
channel in digital marketing as Vietnamese adults spend
most of the online time on mobile devices. Whenever
marketers think about digital, they have to think of
"mobile ﬁrst". The smartphone is becoming an import-
ant touchpoint, as well as a catalyst for the purchase
decision of buyers. Brands need to optimize the user
experience on their mobile sites if they don't want their
customer base to decrease. Designing mobile-friendly
websites (RWD-Responsive Web Design or Mobile Respon-
sive Web) is not only a popular method but also a must.

2020
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
TRENDS PREDICTION
2020

2019 is the year that marks the rise of a new video platform - TikTok. Along with that, the platform
paves the way to the new shorter, more interactive, more "fast food" video contents that are short
clips and vertical videos. The popularity of Tik Tok and Instagram's IGTV has set a new trend in the
way users interact with video content.
An attractive advertising video needs to be concise, creative, simple, and highly entertained in order
to attract viewers. Having compatible size with mobile devices, short videos with vertical format are
much more accessible with media users (who mainly use mobile devices to log in to social network).
Less than a minute is the ideal duration for short videos posted on social media.
In addition to adjusting the video format to be trendier on social media, marketers also need to
reﬁne the messages they want to deliver, especially when the amount of time spent by users on
online content is signiﬁcantly decreasing with the appearance of short videos.
Audio Ads will also be a potential format for marketers in 2020, due to the growth of music stream-
ing platforms like Spotify or MP3 Zing. In Vietnam, the percentage of smartphone users listening to
music accounts for 78%, and up to 68% of them listen to music when multitasking. Audio advertising
was also proved to be an accessible tool that helps users to memorize information faster and longer
through "screenless moment." For a 30-second audio ad, brands need to deliver the message as
quickly and concisely as possible, using a positive and upbeat tone with about-55-to-70-word script.
1. NEW CONTENT FORMATS:
VERTICAL VIDEO, SHORT VIDEO AND AUDIO

Social Commerce is a feature that allows consumers to directly make instant
purchases on photos or regular posts on social network's newsfeed or advertise-
ments without leaving the app
Business or shop owners only need to upload photos with items and tag prices on
products like a normal post, then users can easily see the prices and make
purchases with just one click. This feature of social networks allows brands to
reach new customers in a quick, easy way, helps shorten the sales funnel and
increase the conversion rate between interaction and the brand's order
Currently, popular social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all
oﬀer this feature. Therefore, shop owners can link their online shops to social
networks easily. Social Commerce promises to be a key tool for eCommerce and
small businesses in the future. Combining Social Commerce and Inﬂuencer Market-
ing will be a remarkable marketing strategy in 2020.
2. SOCIAL COMMERCE/SHOPPABLE POST

3. MICRO - INFLUENCER
A KOL who is classified as a celebrity (over 1 million followers) or a macro influencer
(250 thousand - 1 million followers) will surely receive a lot of advertising invitations
from many brands. However, when an influencer appears and represents for too
many campaigns or brands, customers' trust will considerably reduce. In contrast,
micro-influencers with fewer than 50k followers have their reach in every aspect of
daily life and can interact with their followers frequently. Most of their followers trust
in their messages and promotion which results in a higher conversion rate.
A micro-influencer is often an expert in one major field, specialized in creating content
that can naturally reach millions of viewers and very attached to his/ her community.
Using micro-influencer also proven to be more cost-effective for marketing
campaigns on social media.
Statistics show that influencers who have a community of 30,000 followers or less
often have an average of 60% more engagement than celebrities or macro-influenc-
ers, while the cost is cheaper from 6 to 7 times. Therefore, platforms or networks of
micro-influencers such as OTA Network, Minet, 7Saturday, or Viralworks will play a
more important role in the field of online advertising.

-
4. DATA - DRIVEN MARKETING
2020 will be a year that marketers will focus more on the application of data and
technological advances. Together with automation marketing, they will become
powerful tools for marketers to carry out personalized marketing campaigns.
Personalized marketing is implementing marketing strategy with personalized
content for each specified group of potential customers through collecting and
analyzing data based on user habits on different platforms The data is analyzed
and collected to help marketers create different customer portraits, from which
to come up with campaigns targeting the right audience, with the right message
at the right time. The main available data sources that are commonly used are
online advertising campaigns, demographic data, and customer relationship
management (CRM) systems.
Nowadays, when customers are constantly besieged with advertising messages,
they will only be interested in highly personalized messages that meet their
needs instead of generic ones. Emails and customized messages will also
become increasingly important, especially in B2B Marketing, where customers
always have high requirements for the content delivered.

At the moment, content marketing is no longer about providing raw informa-
tion or conveying a one-way message to consumers. In the time of digital age,
customers are bombarded by too many contents and advertisement
messages everyday. Therefore, customers now tend to pay more attention to
visual content that offers fresh and high interactive experience.
In that context, interactive content was applied to bring "a breath of fresh air"
to the online audiences. Among all kinds of interactive formats, live streaming
is claimed to be the most effective form of interactive marketing, especially
when it is used in combination with streamers and micro-influencers to
promote products. This trend is becoming more and more popular in recent
times.
Because of its uniqueness and interactivity, interactive content will encourage
users to react, share, or discuss the topic, which can contribute to the
increase of brand awareness. The mixture of interactive content with differ-
ent types of traditional content across multiple channels will be ideal for every
business in the upcoming 2020.
5. INTERACTIVE CONTENT

VIETNAM MOBILE MARKETING LANDSCAPE
Mobile Game
Publisher
Advertising & Marketing Mobile Payment Social Platform Carriers Events
News and Media Infrastructure

VIETNAM DIGITAL ADS ECOSYSTEM
Digital Agency
Influencer Marketing Platforms &
Agencies
Livestreaming Platform Social Platform
MCNs Social Listenng Tools

Adsota.com
Adsota is a marketing company under Appota corporation.
We strive to become the leading integrated marketing company that elevates digital landscape
in Vietnam. Adsota provides digital solutions to help content creators, publisher and advertisers
improve customer acquisition and maximize revenue growth.
ABOUT ADSOTA

HEAD OFFICE:
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Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi, Vietnam
Hotline: (+84) 911 983 189
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Website: adsota.com
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