Global Media Intelligence 2019: Vietnam

Key Features

Smartphones are central for the young urbanites who make up much of Vietnam’s emerging digital population. But wearables and smart-home options are also gaining in adoption.

  • Smartphone ownership among internet users ages 16 to 64 in Vietnam stood at 98.2% in H1 2019, according to GlobalWebIndex. Some 20.9% of those polled also had a feature phone.
  • The number of internet users owning a desktop or laptop PC slipped marginally between H1 2018 and a year later, to 70.5%. By comparison with smartphones and PCs, tablets played a lesser role; 33.9% of internet users owned one in H1 2019—but this relatively low figure isn’t surprising in a mobile-first country, where larger-screen devices were often an adjunct to a mobile phone. Tablet owners were more likely to be living in urban areas and in well-to-do homes. It’s worth pointing out that these figures don’t reflect penetration rates in the wider population; the sample surveyed in Vietnam skewed young and urban (see note below).
  • Uptake of several other digital devices is also high by global standards. Almost half of respondents owned a smart TV this year, and 15.0% owned a smartwatch. In addition, 12.7% owned a smart-home product, such as a system enabling users to monitor visitors remotely via a mobile app. All of these devices were more common among 25- to 44-year-olds.
  • Vietnam’s internet users have shown little interest in virtual reality (VR) headsets. Only 4.1% of those surveyed in H1 2019 owned one, though the share did reach 7.0% among respondents in the top 25% of households, ranked by income. Penetration of game consoles was also remarkably low, at 8.8% overall—though again, ownership was more widespread in urban and affluent homes, reaching double digits.

authors

Karin von Abrams

Contributors

Joanne DiCamillo
Kathleen Hamblin
Chart Editorial Manager
Dana Hill
Director of Production
Erika Huber
Copy Editor
Stephanie Meyer
Senior Production Artist
Heather Price
Deputy Editor
Hilary Rengert
VP, Research Strategy
Amanda Silvestri
Senior Copy Editor

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