Vietnam in View 2014 Monetizing OTT – Is Free the Best Price?

 

With: •Benjamin Yun, VP Business Development SEA, Movideo  •Nguyen Nguyet Phuong, Project Director, MyTV  •Esther Nguyen, Founder & CEO, POPS Worldwide  • Do Viet Hung, CEO, VTVlive

With: Benjamin Yun, VP Business Development SEA, Movideo; Nguyen Nguyet Phuong, Project Director, MyTV; Esther Nguyen, Founder & CEO, POPS Worldwide; Do Viet Hung, CEO, VTVlive

matt-kurlanzik

Matt Kurlanzik

21st Century Fox

Director, Government Relations Asia

On September 11, 2014, CASBAA conducted its Vietnam in View summit in Hanoi that gathered many of the leaders of the TV and media industry to discuss the current state and future prospects of the Vietnamese market.    From market development and regulatory frameworks to TV production, the event was a great success and touched on many crucial issues.  One of the more provocative subjects was the future of distribution and consumption of Vietnamese content, and a panel of four industry professionals focused on over the top (OTT) video and attempts to monetize this content in Vietnam.The four speakers represented a variety of interests – from Movideo  an online video delivery platform, to traditional cable platforms entering the OTT space like My TV and VTV, to POPS Worldwide a multichannel network focusing on local Vietnamese content.   All the speakers agreed that OTT video is a tremendous opportunity and stressed that OTT video may allow “non-traditional” players to enter the video production and distribution business.The panelists also focused on the need for Vietnam to update its technological infrastructure to allow for high quality content and delivery in order to prevent buffering and a poor user experience.  Expanding 4G was cited as crucial to the development of OTT in Vietnam, but fixed internet connections also need to be improved before widespread OTT adoption may be possible.  According to Akamai, Vietnam’s average connection speed was 1.8mbps for Q4 2013, placing it at 113th place worldwide – and well below the 3.0mbps that American streaming device maker Roku recommends for HD quality content streams.

In concluding remarks, the panelists expressed that OTT in Vietnam:

  • will allow consumers to choose to watch on a number of devices
  • is still “chaotic at the moment”
  • will allow traditional pay TV operators to increase ARPU
  • is something media companies need to learn more about and join in

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