Filippo Giachi - Managing director for Asia-Pacific DOCOMO Digital

That was particularly true in 2020 when the introduction of economic restrictions and social distancing rules pushed SVOD subscriber numbers up 21 per cent year on year to reach 5.1 million, according to Statista’s Digital Market Outlook. Those numbers increased again by another 10 per cent to hit 5.1 million in 2021, while Vietnamese SVOD services are expected to add anything between 400,000-600,000 paying customers a year between 2022 and 2025 and will total 7.5 million by the end of Statista’s forecast period.

Most Vietnamese adults aged between 16-64 (60 per cent) said that the main reason they use the internet is to watch videos, TV shows, and movies, according to GWI data compiled in the third quarter of 2021. Separate research appears to confirm that upward trend. According to a survey of 1,631 Vietnamese residents aged 16+ conducted by Rakuten Insight in May 2021, 47 per cent now use an SVOD service every day, and 35 per cent several times a week.

GWI, an audience targeting company, found that as of the third quarter of 2021, almost all (94 per cent) Vietnamese adults stream TV content over the internet at least once a month and spend an average of 84 minutes a day doing it. That represents half of the total time watching TV in any format, including linear and broadcast.

Turnover from SVOD services has accelerated in parallel, surging 41 per cent year on year to reach $126 million in 2020. High levels of growth came again in 2021 when SVOD revenue jumped 28 per cent year on year to reach $162 million, according to Statista’s Digital Market Outlook. What’s more, turnover is expected to hit $200 million this year and $302 million by 2025.

Vietnam is unusual in that a local, homegrown SVOD platform commands a more significant proportion of subscribers ahead of other global players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+. A survey of 1,440 people in Vietnam carried out by Decision Labs in the third quarter of 2021 revealed FPT Play as the biggest SVOD provider measured by subscriber numbers in the country at that time, accounting for 24 per cent of paying customers ahead of Netflix in second place (22 per cent) and VTV Go in third (17 per cent). FPT Play was tenth in App Annie’s rankings of mobile apps in Vietnam, measured by consumer spending in 2021.

Other local players MyTV (6 per cent), K+ (5 per cent), and Viettel TV (7 per cent) command much lower shares of the market, but there are a lot of them. Like VTV, cable TV providers VNPT and SCTV have developed online content stores and streaming apps of their own to help them retain viewers. At the same time, local telco Mobifone joined rival operator Viettel in launching MobiTV.

The most recent market entrant is VieON, a smartphone app developed and launched in June 2020 by the Vietnamese media, entertainment, and technology group DatViet DAC with BCG Digital Ventures’ backing. Tencent Video also offers video-on-demand services in Vietnam after purchasing the assets and customer base of iFlix and integrating them into its Southeast Asian focussed WeTV platform.

While there’s little doubt that demand is growing, there is also evidence to suggest that many people in Vietnam still prefer to stream content from advertising-based video-on-demand platforms. YouTube, for example, was the second most visited website in Vietnam during December 2021, according to web traffic analysis data compiled by Amazon’s Alexa Internet subsidiary.

Elsewhere, a survey of around 1,000 Vietnamese adults conducted by SpotX and Milleu Insight in October 2020 found that 86 per cent regularly used video-sharing platforms, while 64 per cent accessed free or paid TV and 48 per cent over-the-top equivalents. YouTube again became the leading platform for streaming movies amongst internet users in Vietnam in the third quarter of 2021.

Whatever the source or price of the streaming they consume, it is clear that smartphones play a key role in viewing habits. Of the 1,631 Vietnamese residents aged 16+ polled by Rakuten Insight last May, 61 per cent said they used smartphones to view SVOD services, more than those who used their laptops (53 per cent), tablets (23 per cent), and desktop PCs (16 per cent) and second only to people viewing the same content on large screen smart TVs (66 per cent).

While the demand is there, the scale and the ferocity of the competition for paying SVOD subscribers in Vietnam means providers will have to plan their content strategies carefully if they are to continue expanding.