Vietnam media news covers a sector of the local economy that is growing rapidly despite a somewhat challenging regulatory environment. This section monitors those regulations as well as over-the-top services, sports, advertising, social media, and film and television industry developments.

Two foreign firms warned against ads on restricted content in Vietnam

the-shiv September 15, 2024

The MIC maintains a blacklist and a whitelist of places where advertisements can and cannot be shown which is supposed to make it easier for advertisers to avoid breaking the rules. In reality, however, both lists are very short and severely limiting, making it difficult on a practical level for advertising firms to comply…

Video Games in Vietnam: Cheat Sheet 2024

the-shiv September 9, 2024

Video games in Vietnam are very popular to both play and produce. In fact, one of Vietnam’s biggest companies, VNG, draws most of its revenue from Vietnam’s video game sector. Furthermore, as internet and smartphone penetration continue to grow mobile games in particular continue to pull in millions of dollars in revenue. With this in mind, this article covers key regulations, rules, and realities with respect to producing and distributing video games in Vietnam.

The New York Times receives licence to open Vietnam office

the-shiv September 7, 2024

Of note, it’s not easy to do business in Vietnam for foreign news media outlets. Vietnam’s media industry is small and heavily regulated, particularly in terms of censoring content, though this does not seem to apply to international media outlets to the extent that it does to local news media producers. That said, foreign news operations in Vietnam are still limited in terms of what they can do…

Vietnam News Media Industry Overview 2024

the-shiv September 3, 2024

The Vietnamese news media industry in 2024 continues to evolve rapidly, influenced by technological advancements, economic growth, and changing consumer preferences. While state-owned media still dominate the landscape, independent outlets and digital platforms have gained significant traction, offering a more diverse range of perspectives and news coverage…

English News in Vietnam for Foreign Firms 2024

the-shiv September 3, 2024

English news in Vietnam comes in a range of forms including a number of English-language news publications. There are, however, limitations on what can and cannot be reported in Vietnam with one of the strictest media censorship regimes in the world. Vietnam’s media industry is also relatively small which can

Gambling ad sports broadcast embeds headache for Vietnam pay-TV providers

the-shiv August 29, 2024

This comes after Pay-TV providers were warned earlier this year that showing gambling ads on television was prohibited. The association has instead recommended that the Ministry of Information and Communication focus on cracking down on, and blocking, illegal gambling website sites.

Extension proposed for casino pilot program allowing Vietnamese bettors

the-shiv August 26, 2024

In general, gambling is illegal for Vietnamese in Vietnam with casinos only open to foreigners. That said, during the COVID-19 pandemic these rules were relaxed at the Corona Casino in Phu Quoc. Local residents were permitted to gamble at the establishment as part of a pilot program that was to run for three years, however, is now likely to be extended to the end of 2024.

FIFA bans Vietnam football club from new signings over unpaid wages

the-shiv August 15, 2024

Of note, Guirassy, was due to be paid out three months’ salary, about US$19,500, but the club’s bank accounts were frozen over unpaid taxes. These were eventually cleared, however, by that time Guirassy’s visa had lapsed and a renewal had not gone through so the bank was unable to process the transaction. At this point with fines and interest the club was up for an additional US$8,400. It’s still not clear when this will be paid.

Vietnam to sell itself as filming location in US despite censorship issues

the-shiv August 7, 2024

In the past, Hollywood studios have generally used Thailand as a stand-in for Vietnam on the back of a more well developed film industry in Thailand as well as complicated procedures for getting approval to film in Vietnam. Most recently, producers of the Netflix series The Sympathiser, who had intended to film in Vietnam, could not get approval to do so on the back of censorship issues…

Olympics kicks off but Vietnam won’t be watching with no broadcast rights

the-shiv July 29, 2024

Notably, Vietnam was relatively late securing the rights to the Tokyo Olympics with a deal only made two-days before the opening ceremony. A last minute deal this time around, however, seems unlikely–it would be very last minute. That said, it’s not clear there is a lot of interest in Vietnam in the Olympics anyway and it could be that cash strapped local media outlets are saving their money for sports, namely soccer, that are hugely popular in Vietnam and subsequently command much bigger audiences…

Supply of slot machines in Vietnam close to outstripping demand: Gaming exec

the-shiv July 4, 2024

As a result, the gaming executive says that border closures and the subsequent reduction in tourists visiting Vietnam saw the market become oversaturated as the number of players fell significantly. He says the market has still not fully recovered and that many gaming clubs that took a financial hit during the pandemic are in need of further investment to get moving again…

Gambling in Vietnam: Foreign Investor Quick Read 2024

the-shiv June 20, 2024

Gambling in Vietnam is illegal but that doesn’t stop a sizable amount of betting occurring. This tends to peak around major sporting events. Recognising that this might be a problem, or perhaps that Vietnam is missing out on millions of dollars worth of tax revenue, there have been recent moves to try to legalise the practice. In this light, this cheat sheet runs through how gambling works in Vietnam, who can gamble, and the key regulations governing gambling that is already permitted…

Illegal Vietnam gambling sites sponsoring sports teams in Europe

the-shiv June 15, 2024

Gambling in Vietnam is illegal but is still rampant. There have been some attempts to legalise the practice, particularly sports betting, with guidelines for a pilot program legislated back in 2017, but no business has as yet taken up the opportunity. This is in large part due to very restrictive regulations that limit the size of a bet to VND 1 million or about US$42 and to just a handful of sports. A minimum capital contribution of VND 1 trillion or US$42 million is also required…

Esports match fixing highlights breadth of corruption in sports in Vietnam

the-shiv June 10, 2024

Professional sports leagues in Vietnam have struggled to develop on the back of limited investment and low pay for sports players that has resulted in players developing side hustles like match-fixing. More prominently, the Vietnamese Premier League was voted the third most corrupt league in the world back in 2016, and not much has been done to clean up Vietnamese soccer since–As recently as February, five players were charged for match fixing…

Tax from cross border service providers hits US$157.4 million in Vietnam so far this year

the-shiv June 10, 2024

This is perhaps most interesting in the context of Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law. Specifically, the law requires foreign firms to open a local office, which many of them have simply not done, hence, paying the aforementioned tax as a cross border service provider…

Video game platform Steam confirmed blocked in Vietnam

the-shiv June 2, 2024

There has been some speculation over the last few weeks that blocking Steam in Vietnam may have been blocked at the request of local game developers to protect the local industry. Whereas these comments from Le do not necessarily rule that out, he does claim that attempts were made to contact the company but received no response–ergo, this might just be a shot across the bow to get Steam’s attention.

Apple deleted 5,000+ Vietnam apps mostly for fraud, one at gov’t request

the-shiv May 23, 2024

Just one app was also removed in 2023 for beaching Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law. This law requires cross border service providers like streaming sites and online video game distributors to open local offices and store data locally. That said, with just one takedown request for the whole of last year (for comparison in China it was 1,285) enforcing this law in Vietnam looks to be shaping up as…

Vietnam real estate news outlet fined, licensed revoked for misquoting sources

the-shiv May 21, 2024

In Vietnam, the Law on Press distinguishes between different kinds of media outlets with varying degrees of newsgathering permitted and subsequently government control. CafeLand looks to have been licenced as an ‘electronic magazine’ which is, more-or-less, a trade publication. It had, however, per the assessment of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City, extended its operations beyond its remit, becoming more like a news outlet and engaging in more extensive newsgathering.

Vietnam’s Creative Industries for Foreign Firms 2024

the-shiv May 20, 2024

Vietnam’s creative industries are not particularly well developed. Whereas creative industries make up about 5 to 10 percent of global GDP, in Vietnam that figure is only estimated to be about 3 percent. This is for a number of reasons, many of which foreign creatives and investors in creative industries

Vietnam tech-giant’s losses quadruple after audit

the-shiv May 16, 2024

VNG’s Zalo currently has about 72.5 million user accounts and its success has put VNG in the government’s good graces. This may speak to reports last week that the Steam gaming platform had been banned in Vietnam at the request of local game producers.