So far, lots of hope, but not much payment
Two recent articles described the developments and problems in Vietnam’s OTT television industry.
- VietnamNet provided this account of the difficulties that piracy causes fledgling OTT operators:
Read here - ICTnews.vn also carried a story (translated below), describing some of the players in the market.(ICTnews.vn)
OTT (Over The Top) is an irresistible trend, not only in the telecom market. Even Vietnam’s TV service providers are joining in. So far, VTVcab, FPT Telecom and VTC have jumped into the market, but user fees are proving hard to get.
VTVcab is the first official service provider; its service branded VTV Plus began in January 1/2013. It is the product of cooperation between VTVcab and the Communications Network and Services Corp. (Medianet Corporation). This application allows you to view multiple live TV channels, additional features and especially the completely new experience for interactive television.
VTV Plus allows viewers to recognize the device being used to select the signal flow and appropriate resolution to help the audience watch TV with the best quality on all devices, even though in motion.
Mr. Pham Anh Chien, Medianet Chairman, said VTV Plus offers coverage on all display systems (iOS, Android and Windows Phone, as on every screen phone, tablet, PC, Laptop or SmartTV.) Consumers need only to download the app; the channels provided on the system are on VTV VTVcab Plus
FPT Telecom provides its FPT Play app on the Apple and Google app stores. Since its initiation in 10/2013, FPT Play has attracted over 100,000 users downloads and installations.
FPT Play offers about 85 channels including SD and HD signals, and integrated entertainment features such as music videos, and television shows. It also has the ability to identify types of clients connected, so that the conversion quality can match. This enables users to see the contents with stable quality on all types of connections including 3G or WIFI. It also offers automatic notification to users of compelling new content.
Mr. Vu Anh Tu, Chief Technology Officer of FPT Telecom, said FPT Play’s superiority is the ability to transmit stable, high quality and rich content. In the upcoming version of FPT Play “Play HD” will provide connectivity between the two products, allowing users to interact better with the TV and use the content in a consistent manner on all TV screens, tablets, and mobile devices.
VTC has developed “VTC Play” OTT over the past year. It offers software support for both iOS and Android and the most common set top box receivers in the common market. VTC is running technical trials, allowing phone and tablet users to download the software, as well as laptops connected to the site.
Autumn is for testing fees
VTV Plus began offering service from 01.01.2013 and from 01.07.2013 began testing fees. To date, there are more than 2.5 million registered user accounts. However, Pham Anh Chien said, despite the high numbers there is very little payment. This despite the fact that VTV Plus gives viewers flexibility in payment – they can use monthly, weekly or even daily subscription, or pay per view of premium subscriber content.
“The amount of growth is very good but so far it is mainly free users; amounts paid are very little,” Chien said. Currently VTV Plus is still in the investment stage; its next task is to create a set of paying customers. Mr. Chien said that OTT TV is full of potential service providers, all of which hope to collect user fees from the content or through interactive TV services.
Mr. Vu Anh Tu said, FPT Play is currently being offered free of charge to all users. Commercialization of digital entertainment apps in Vietnam will take a long time and require particularly well-thought commercial strategies to take account of the special ways of thinking and style of the Vietnamese consumer. The evidence is that a lot of users already access online sites to watch movies that are full of ads, and even malware (malicious software such as viruses, trojans, etc.). The only reason they will tolerate this is to see a DVD-quality movie for free.
In addition, FPT Telecom views mobiles and tablets as a component of the ecosystem of products catering to video services — it provides user priority for Vietnam’s FPT Telecom products.
Similarly, Le Hoang Son – VTC Digital Director said, VTC will provide free services as well as services to its customers. But in the long run, for increased content, customers will have to be charged.
(This is a machine-assisted translation of the original article in Vietnamese, which can be found here)