Media impact under the lens as Vietnam ad spending reaches $3 billion

Kantar Worldpanel, a global company specializing in shoppers’ behavior research, said, “This kind of spending has motivated advertisers, media agencies and media owners to continue to work tirelessly to better understand the return on investment (ROI) of the dollars they spend."

Isolating the impact of media on brands showed that the average impact of a media campaign in the uplift of any fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand was 4.5 percent of the total sales, the firm said in a newly-released report.

The study also found that more than a third of the people attracted to a brand after seeing its advertising became new shoppers and that looking through this lens would help determine the success of any media campaign.

“Getting the most out of any media investment starts with careful planning and accurate targeting of the target audience, be it potential new shoppers or existing shoppers whose increasing loyalty is sought,” Kantar Worldpanel stated.

Though the local media environment was changing rapidly with the rise of digital formats, as of today, TV remained the most relevant touch-point to FMCG shoppers in both urban and rural areas of Vietnam.

Even with spending on TV advertising expected to drop to 66 percent in 2018 and that on online ads to rise to 30 percent, it showed that TV still offered the greatest potential in terms of total exposure, according to the firm.

It said that in rural areas, FMCG advertising could benefit loudspeakers which still reach 76 percent of key decision makers, thanks to activities organized by the local authorities.

Regional differences

The study also saw the regional aspect playing a key role in shopping culture in Vietnam.

HCMC leaned slightly towards traditional media channels, while Hanoi did so towards digital formats.

Newspaper and magazine penetration was highest in HCMC with over a third of key decision makers reached by the former and almost a fifth by the latter.

“And if we add another filter to look at older decision makers, or the most affluent, these figures can soon rise to 40 per cent or more,” the report said.

While the digital reach in HCMC was slightly higher at present, these channels can work well in Hanoi where people spend more time online than their southern counterparts.

On average, Hanoians spend 3.1 hours a day online compared to 2.6 hours on TV, it noted.

Meanwhile in the rural areas, those in the south spent more time on digital media channels than those in the central and in the northern regions, at around 2.2 hours online per day compared to 2.1 hours for TV.