Social video becomes the new normal

Khoi Le, head of Business and Solutions at Facebook in Vietnam

The consumption of online videos quadrupled during COVID-19, according to a WARC survey conducted across 10 markets, doubling the company’s forecast figure before the outbreak. Consumers spend around four hours a day watching online videos and 75 per cent reported maintaining these viewing levels afterward, particularly men.

On June 23, Facebook hosted the virtual event “Facebook Video Summit 2021”, sharing interesting findings on video consumption in Vietnam in the new normal as well as recommendations for brands and businesses to grab better insights into user behaviours.

Key findings and recommendations for businesses are:

Social video becomes the new normal

From 2013 to 2020, time spent using social media has increased by over 40 per cent.

More than 70 per cent of the total population are internet users. Amongst them, about 95 per cent of users consume videos every month.

68 per cent of users watch videos at least once a day. On average, Vietnamese video consumers spend more than 1 hour for each watching session on the social network.

Up to 97 per cent of users identify Facebook as a top video platform. 74 per cent said they watch publisher videos because “I can watch videos on Facebook everywhere, every time”. 63 per cent said, “I go to video feed every time I’m on Facebook”.

Amongst video platforms, Facebook has the highest video consumption throughout the day especially around 8h-11h, 11h-14h, 14-17h.

According to Facebook Ads Manager, around 69 million potential video consumers on Facebook are between 18 to 65 years of age, including 73.9 per cent MillennialZ (18-40), 26.1 per cent Gen X and Boomers (40 – 65+); and 50.7 per cent male users (18-65+) and 49.3 per cent female users (18-65+).

New discoveries on video watching behaviours

Short videos (less than 3 minutes) are most consumed

On average, each day, consumers watch short videos (less than 3 minutes) 2.1 times, medium-length videos (from 3-10 minutes) 1.7 times, and long videos (more than 10 minutes) 1.5 times.

Preference of length, however, varies throughout the day: 58 per cent prefer medium videos in the morning, 51 per cent prefer short videos at noon, while 55 per cent prefer medium videos in the evening.

Facebook is leading in short and medium videos. 87 per cent of viewers choose Facebook to watch short and medium-length videos.

Personalisation influences choices

- Content relevancy to personal hobbies and user behaviours on the social network is the key motivator for watching a video.

- Facebook Watch follows this content personalisation tendency, thus predicts and suggests video content based on users’ preferences and habits. In one platform, users can now watch videos from friends and family members, alongside videos from content creators and brands.

Vietnamese users are ready to engage with brands while watching videos

Facebook video is differentiated as interactive, real-time, and shareable. Consumers admit that Facebook video is 1.3 times easier to interact with, 75 per cent of consumers watch the videos that are shared, liked, or commented on by their family or friends on Facebook.

97 per cent of users confirm that they want to receive advertisements and interact with brands. Facebook Video prompts action with brands better compared to other video platforms. Nearly 90 per cent of video consumers are ready to perform an action after watching videos on Facebook.

Recommendations for businesses to optimise video content

More opportunities for online marketing/selling on video platforms await, bringing greater outcomes thanks to higher authenticity, interaction, and positive emotions shared by both sellers and shoppers. With 69 million potential video consumers aged 18-65, Facebook offers a huge marketplace for marketers and opens great opportunities for businesses to reach customers.

Based on video-watching behaviour, Facebook provides holistic advertising solutions including short-video ads on the News Feeds and Stories, interactive ads (voting, AR), branded content, as well as in-stream ads.

Facebook shared three important recommendations which help brands and small and medium businesses in Vietnam to optimise their investments into video content on the platform.

First, advertisers must highlight the brand’s key messages, creating a strong personal connection with Facebook Video’s in-stream ads, since this is the solution having a high view-through rate, up to 76 per cent in Vietnam.

Second, advertisers should focus on the quality of branded content on Facebook, since two-thirds of surveyed users said that they believe in branded content.

Third, it is necessary to create meaningful connections with consumers through interactive advertisements, since 89 per cent of Vietnamese users admit that social networks help them engage more and better with businesses.