Online, mobile ad revenues projected to grow fast

Online and mobile media channels in Vietnam are forecast to post rapid growth in advertising revenue though television and print newspapers still hold a lion’s share of the ad market.

Speaking at a press conference as part of the Asian Publishing Convention (APC) 2010 in HCM City yesterday, Cyril Pereira, co-chair of the convention, ascribed the growth to Vietnam’s current and future increases in the youth population, one of the youngest in Asia.

Youths are Internet and mobile targets as seen worldwide, Pereira said.

The young population will be a driving force for online and mobile communications, Pereira responded to the Daily’s question about how Internet and mobile channels would affect ad revenues of television and print newspapers.

Pereira said ad revenues from late 2008 to 2009 fell globally, from developed countries to emerging markets including India and China, so it was not unique for Vietnam if this occurred.

Pereira painted a good future for Vietnam’s online and mobile advertising segments, citing what had happened in the United States. He said it took 127 years for the newspapers stateside to reach advertising revenue of $20 billion, and 13 years for the online, mobile and digital media to achieve the same level and beyond.

“So I would imagine that the same speed, maybe faster would be happening here (in Vietnam),” Pereira said. He reiterated Vietnam was developing based on old traditions and good foundations, including young population.

On its website, the APC quoted a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers as saying online and mobile ad revenues were projected to expand from $24.2 billion last year to $34.4 billion in 2014, while newspaper sales were estimated to fall from $24.82 billion to $22.3 million over the same period. Television remains in the first place.

In a telephone interview with the Daily yesterday, Do Kim Dung of the Vietnam Advertising Association (VAA) put Vietnam’s current total ad revenue at less than $ 1 billion and said internet and mobile segments made up a very small proportion of this amount.

The vice chair of VAA said that he believed in the fast growth of.ad revenue through online and mobile channels in Vietnam in coming years, especially the mobile channel as this helped companies approach directly their target customers.

“Online and mobile advertising will certainly grow strongly in Vietnam as it is still in its infancy at the moment,” Dung said. But he insisted clear regulations in place to back the growth of these market segments.

Pereira said the speed of online and mobile ad expansion would depend much on the growing role of the private sector as marketing and communication activities were decided by the market, not authorities.

To fully tap the opportunity of the new advertising segments in Vietnam, Pereira suggested a media organisation properly develop a combination of print and digital channels to offer customers more choices.

Pereira said about 200 representatives of publishing companies and organisations from Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and elsewhere joined the two-day 4th Annual APC in the city to showcase their publications and related technology as well as share their views about the industry.

Tags: Vietnam infotech, Vietnam mobile ads, Vietnam online ads