It's been going on in the United States, and several other geographic markets, for some time. But now the Vietnamese market, according to reports, is about to face the same kind of advertising fight that many others have seen for some time, as the dominant form of media, television, is about to face stiff competition from Internet and mobile advertising.

A recent study conducted by TNS (News - Alert) Media Vietnam across 4800 households, and 4800 people between the ages of 15 and 54, revealed that, while television is still king of media distribution in Vietnam, it's rapidly facing competition from its newer-media counterparts. 27 percent of households surveyed have at least two televisions in the house, and in the Mekong River Delta area, six percent have at least three. 83 percent of respondents watch at least some television every day, and large portions of the country, including 63 percent of respondents in the southeast region--including Ho Chi Minh City--that have cable television. The average number of channels a Vietnamese household can receive is 20, and in the southwest, the number nearly doubles to 39, with foreign channels preferred over their domestic equivalents.

As for the media breakdown, the average Vietnamese person spends between 200 and 256 minutes on television, 33 to 76 minutes on Internet access, 18 to 49 watching video clips--ostensibly via the Internet or mobile devices--12 to 44 minutes listening to the radio and just five to 28 minutes with a newspaper. Prime time for media access, in both television and Internet access, in Vietnam is a bit unusual too, with the highest number of TV viewers and Internet users hitting between 1:30 pm and 5:00 pm daily, with most citing lower overall costs as their reason for preferring television and the Internet.

But while this is all important to advertisers, the real punch comes, as is generally the case, with the youth's consumption of media. More young people are watching television between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon and in that prime time period of 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm. More young people are reading newspapers than their older counterparts, and while 77 percent of users like television advertisements thanks to their rich media blend of sights and sounds, 35 percent said they like their ads on the Internet. While television is currently the most effective advertising channel, it's facing increasing competition from its Internet-based and mobile equivalents.

This is a story that's currently playing out around the world. While cable upfronts are still seeing massive amounts of cash realized, the gains in the Internet advertising field and the mobile device-based advertising field are both substantial in their own right and impossible to fully ignore. Advertising is all about reaching users where they live--whether it's on the road with billboards, in their homes with newspapers or the Internet, or moving around with mobile devices--and when users change their habits, the advertising mix needs to follow, as we're starting to see in Vietnam, and have been seeing in other markets besides. Advertising is always something of a volatile market, but keeping an eye toward market trends will help make the overall concept much more reasonable.

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