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In 2020, Vietnamese spent 25% of their time on smartphones surfing Facebook and 12% of their time watching YouTube.
According to the 2021 Mobile App Report released by Appota, games were still the most downloaded category on both iOS and Android platforms. However, Android users were more inclined to play mobile games (accounting for 64.5% of downloads on Android) than iOS (41.2% of downloads).
Among the most popular applications in Vietnam, social networks and apps for watching movies and messaging were the most downloaded by Vietnamese. These applications account for 28% (social networks), 16% (movies) and 15% (texting, calling) respectively.
Average usage time of apps over total smartphone usage time.
The report also shows that Facebook and YouTube were the two applications that users spent the most time when using smartphones. Specifically, Vietnamese spent 25% of their time using Facebook and 12% of their time watching YouTube. Behind these two platforms are Zalo (7%), Messenger (6%) and TikTok (4%).
According to Appota, in 2020, TikTok was the most explosive application with 30% of mobile users in Vietnam installing it. By 2020, TikTok become the 4th most popular social network in Vietnam, after Facebook, Zalo and Instagram.
In Vietnam, during the time of social distancing, TikTok became one of the most popular entertainment applications with nearly 2 million downloads per month. Notably, most TikTok users are the Gen Z generation, who are from 16-24 years old.
TikTok’s success with the short video format is an indication that this market will continue to explode in the future. This year, YouTube and Instagram will enter the short video market with Youtube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
Food delivery apps boom
From initially having only one name, Now, the food delivery application market in Vietnam is growing rapidly with the appearance of many technology giants, such as Grab and GoJek.
In the past, food delivery applications were not popular in Vietnam. The needs and habits of users were not great enough. Since 2017, when ride-hailing apps expanded into food delivery segment, this has completely changed.
In 2016, the number of people regularly using online food delivery services in Vietnam was small, accounting for only 20%. By 2020, this rate had quadrupled. The outbreak of Covid-19 has contributed to a strong push to the development of the service industry.
In fact, Vietnamese users’ habits are gradually changing. According to Qandme’s statistics, the frequency of using third-party food ordering services in Vietnam is constantly increasing. Meanwhile, the form of direct call to order has declined sharply and is no longer popular.
Seventy percent of the population use mobile phones. As many as 64% of subscribers are equipped with 3G and 4G connectivity. With a high rate of smartphone and Internet usage, along with changing daily habits, Vietnam is becoming a land of great potential for developing digital economic models.
This article was originally published in VNA