Vietnam reports high growth in mobile market

The Vietnamese mobile application market has undergone significant changes and is currently experiencing strong growth. According to Sensor Tower, a market research company, Vietnam ranked 11^th globally in app downloads in 2023, with 3.4 billion downloads. The country was also ninth in the world in terms of time spent in apps, with 104 billion hours recorded last year. This means the average Vietnamese person spends about four hours per day using mobile apps.

The market saw around 12 per cent growth on-year in the number of downloads and a 10 per cent increase in time spent on apps.

Simon (Bobby) Dussart, CEO of Adjust

Simon (Bobby) Dussart, CEO of Adjust, a Germany-based mobile marketing analytics platform, highlighted the growing number of smartphone users in Vietnam. “In 2022, about 72 million people in Vietnam had smartphones with apps, and by 2023, that number grew to 84 million. Smartphone penetration is expanding rapidly, and the time spent on apps is driving revenue growth.”

App revenue is also increasing, as users are spending more on in-app purchases. In 2023, in-app revenue in Vietnam reached $385 million, representing a 9 per cent on-year growth in store revenues. This contradicts the previous assumption that Vietnamese users prefer free apps and are reluctant to pay for in-app content.

During a press meeting in Hanoi last weekend, Dussart identified three key factors driving Vietnam’s mobile market: high smartphone usage, widespread mobile internet coverage, and a young population eager to embrace new technology.

“An app’s revenue generally comes from three sources: advertising, subscriptions (such as YouTube Premium to avoid ads), and in-app purchases (such as buying in-game items). While around 95 per cent of users only use free features, a small portion–about 2 to 5 per cent–are known as ‘whales’ in the industry, as they are willing to pay for premium services,” Dussart explained.

He pointed out that some gaming apps have “whale” users who are willing to spend $500 or $1,000 on in-game items, while other apps, like photo editing platforms, offer free trials before users must pay to continue using premium features.

To help businesses reach their customers more effectively, Adjust has introduced new solutions for its Vietnamese partners. One such tool, TrueLink, is Adjust’s latest deep-linking solution that enables marketers to redirect in-app users, strengthen brand trust, and expand marketing campaign reach.

“App marketers can quickly create short, easy-to-edit deep links optimised for a range of campaigns, including QR code marketing, referral marketing, and affiliate marketing,” Dussart said. He added that nearly all mobile apps need to run ads to engage users in such a competitive market, particularly in gaming and e-commerce. Without advertising, it’s challenging to gain new users.

Adjust’s solutions help optimise advertising budgets by offering tools to measure and analyse the effectiveness of campaigns, calculate revenue, and target users who are most engaged and willing to spend.

Dussart also noted that Adjust is expanding its presence in Vietnam, both in terms of scale and the number of partners, across industries such as gaming, finance, e-commerce, and entertainment.

“The market here is growing, unlike some regions in Europe where the mobile app market is saturated. We see more time spent in apps, more downloads, and more revenue every year in Vietnam. This organic growth allows our clients to capture a significant share of that market,” he said, adding that Vietnam is currently one of Adjust’s fastest-growing markets globally.

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