Leading paid streaming services Vietnam in Q3 2021

A Decision Lab survey conducted in the third quarter of 2021 among internet users in Vietnam revealed that FPT Play was the leading paid-streaming service at 24 percent of respondents. Netflix, the only foreign player among major paid over-the-top (OTT) services in Vietnam, ranked second with 22 percent of surveyed internet users. FPT Play is a digital television application that offers a variety of copyrighted content, a service first introduced by FPT Telecom JSC, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s IT giant FPT Group.

Vietnam: OTT platforms on the rise

During the coronavirus lockdowns, Vietnam saw its daily internet usage hit a record high. In 2020, a Vietnamese person reportedly spent on average roughly seven hours on the internet and almost three hours on broadcast TV and video streaming. With millions of people stuck at home and craving daily entertainment content, there has been a soaring demand for both free and paid OTT media services, especially among young adults. While US-based streaming providers Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ continued to dominate the global subscription-based video on demand (SVoD) segment, local platforms, such as FPT Play and VTV Go, have the upper hand in Vietnam.

To pay or not to pay?

While paid OTT services have enjoyed rising popularity in the wake of COVID-19, many Vietnamese internet users still prefer freely accessible, advertising-based video on demand. YouTube reigned as the most dominant streaming platform for audio and visual content, including movies, across all generations in Vietnam in 2021. However, more and more people are willing to pay for higher-quality and exclusive content, suggesting the continuing growth of the SVoD segment in the country.