Zing News: The Lesson of Smartphones & Mobile Advertising

This article bethinks Zing News' journey to claim top spot as 'The most read Vietnamese newspaper' and adds in some reflections on doing mobile advertising.

ONCE UPON A TIME

There was a time not long ago when everyday, stacks of freshly printed newspapers sat atop office desks patiently waiting to be read, in other words, the Thanh Nien/Tuoi Tre era. But that epoch seems to have died down. Now, ink on flattened woods is replaced with 1 and 0 coded onto an LCD screen. Now, people read news via smartphones and desktops, thus opening new space for advertisement and kickstarting the digitalization of newsrooms. So in this age, an interesting question emerges: ‘Which news app performs the best?’

The top of mind answer would be VNExpress, right? Well...not anymore. Actually, the most read digital newsroom is Zing.vn, as of August 2018, surpassing and stripping VNExpress of their infamous claim, according to ComScore. Zing News became the top news app and a formidable mobile ad platform in such a short time. So how did they achieve this spectacle?

AND THE QUEST BEGINS!

First off, Zing needed a game plan. VNExpress was born in 2001 and dominated the early chapters of dot com era, hence the slogan ‘The most read Vietnamese paper’. So, if Zing News, a newcomer in 2013, wanted to overtake VNexpress, they had to either disrupt the category or seek new market, in this case mobile internet. They chose second option and succeeded in capitalizing an emerging smartphone ecosystem. Vietnam is a rising star in terms of smartphone. According to the Mobile App Report in 2017 by Appota, 42 millions Vietnamese (45% of the population) use mobile internet, 70% of whom has subscribed to either 3G or 4G services. Not stopping, the smartphone penetration trend increases sharply, with a staggering 52% margin spanning 5 years. A fair explanation to this disruption is that rural areas now switch from feature phones to smartphones, with 1 in 3 people owning one, Adtima reported.  

If Zing News, a newcomer in 2013, wanted to overtake VNexpress, they had to either disrupt the category or seek new market.

With correct strategy, Zing.vn then focuses on building user experience. The app boasts clean interface with neat designs that enables easy reading and quick browsing. Furthermore, it is one of the few news apps that allow topic adjustment. Moreover, Zing News has a dedicated segment reporting news from a specific region in Vietnam so readers can get updates about their hometown quickly. Next, the digital newsroom experiments with various formats like Long Form, Infographic or Video News to increase readers’ interests and engagement (Adtima). 

Intuitive and user-friendly interface of Zing News app

New experimentations of Zing News: Long Form, Video News, etc

EXCELLENT IN MOBILE ADVERTISING

Most importantly, Zing pays close attention to mobile advertising, as this market is booming in recent years (Adsota 2018). Plus, there are strong reasons to support its successful endeavors in this sector. First, Zing.vn has the most active daily users and most readers (ComScore 2018), acting as a juicy platform for advertisers. Also, it is part of a larger app ecosystem (Zing MP3, Zalo, Zing TV) established by VNG, thus making it easier to leverage strategy of seamless ad promotion across platforms.

Second, advertisement on Zing.vn is managed by VNG’s Adtima, a digital marketing agency specialized in mobile ad. The app is particularly useful in Adtima’s focus on content marketing, interactive content and brand PR. A good case study is Biti’s ‘Di và Yeu’ campaign where Zing News played a central of role of publishing promoted articles for the shoe manufacturer and hosted a microsite for user competition with more than 2,000 entries. Zing’s Long Form format also acts as a superb channel for brand PR.

(Top) Paid articles from Biti's; (Bottom) Snippets of Zing's microsite http://zing.vn/divayeu/

BUT STILL HAVE ROOM FOR ADJUSTMENTS

Vietnamese consumers have the highest app uninstallation rate in APAC region, yet at the same time very willing to try new apps/features.

A product is never without quirks. There are some details Zing needs to focus on to further enhance its mobile advertisements. It needs to make newer formats (Infographic, Long Form, etc.) accessible to smartphones like mentioned above since they play a key role in leveraging mobile ad performance, for three reasons. Firstly, Long Form has proven successful in promoting brands, celebrities and various other products. But it is only desktop friendly, while people are reading less and less on these machines. Thus making Long Form accessible to smartphones would increase audience reach and popularity, which in turns generate more revenue for Zing.

Secondly, most ads on the app are hard-selling in-feed ads, meaning they lead viewers directly to the buying page, without much introduction to the product. That tactic wouldn’t generate much results. Infographics and Long Forms can then act as salesmen and talk about the product/service, presenting them more nuancedly. In additions, these usual in-feed ads can be replaced by interstitial ad or video ad because the first has highest CPM while the latter proves to be the most effective with high completion rate (Adsota 2018 (1); Adsota 2018 (2)).

Thirdly, Long Forms and Infographic needs to appear on the app to ensure its survival. This is crucial because Vietnamese consumers have the highest app uninstallation rate in APAC region, yet at the same time very willing to try new apps/features (Appota). Doing so will enrich readers’ experience, keep them interested in Zing.vn and prevent them from buying into other news app.

Statistics on the effectiveness of video advertising

WHERE FOR ZING FROM HERE?

Now the last question remains. How should Zing develop now, being the category lead? Besides working on the recommendations above, they need to keep up their strength on user experience and timely reporting while explore more engaging areas such as AR/VR experience to increase reading time and retention rate. But it isn’t over for other newsrooms yet. With rapid internet penetration, expansion of smartphone penetration, increased 3G & 4G subscription and adventurous mindset from Vietnamese consumers, competitors still have a chance to bounce back and overtake Zing, although that is a long shot to aim for.

REFERENCE

Adsota 2018 (1), ‘Vietnam Mobile App Advertising & Monetization Report (2017)’, SlideShare, May 21, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://www.slideshare.net/AdsotaAds/vietnam-mobile-app-advertising-monetization-report-2017-91368988>.

Adsota 2018 (2), ‘Vietnam Digital Ad Report H1, 2018’, Appota, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://appota.com/uploads/report/Adsota_-_Vietnam_digital_ads_report_H1,_2018_(EN).pdf>.

Adsota 2018 (3), ‘Vietnam Mobile App Market Report_First Half of 2018’, Appota, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://appota.com/uploads/report/Vietnam_mobile_app_market_Report_2018_EN.pdf>.

Adtima, ‘Hành vi và diện mạo người dùng di động tại Việt Nam’, Adtima, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://adtima.vn/blog/hanh-vi-va-dien-mao-nguoi-dung-di-dong-tai-viet-nam-article94>.

Adtima, ‘Viết lên câu chuyện tình yêu trên Zing.vn’, Adtima, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://adtima.vn/case-study/bitis-di-va-yeu-article43>.

Adtima, ‘Zing.vn chính thức trở thành báo điện tử top 1 Việt Nam’, Adtima, viewed 3 April 2019, <https://adtima.vn/blog/Zing-news-bao-dien-tu-top-1-vietnam-article86>.