Digital media veteran Joe Nguyen joins OTT platform VieON as MD

Vietnamese OTT platform VieON has appointed Joe Nguyen (pictured) as its managing director. In his new role, he will help to build VieON into a stronger OTT player by building its SVOD subscriber base and its growing AVOD advertising business, alongside a large team. Nguyen was previously at Comscore for over 10 years, where he was VP, Southeast Asia and India, and later SVP, APAC. He also worked at Omniture as regional manager, Southeast Asia and at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels as director of global eCommerce. Other companies he has worked at include Open World, Interactive Audience Measurement Asia and Pacific Market Concepts.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Nguyen said that he decided to take on this role as he wanted to be in the middle of the growing OTT industry as the industry is a booming one. A recent study titled "The Future of TV 2022" by The Trade Desk found that OTT consumption is up 22% YoY in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian viewers now stream 9.7 billion hours of content every month, up from eight billion last year, with the average viewer spending 48.6 hours watching OTT every month. 

Along with the lure of working in a growing industry, Nguyen added that he has always had plans to eventually live in Vietnam. "For me, it is really about getting to know the company, the people and the workplace culture. I have never worked professionally in Vietnam before so it is important that I learn how everything works before pushing too many initiatives," he said. In his new role, Nguyen will be helping the company build VieON into a stronger OTT player by building its SVOD subscriber base and its growing AVOD advertising business.

Some of the brands VieOn currently works with include Masan, a major retailer in Vietnam, along with international players such as Pepsi, Nestlé and Tiger. A search on LinkedIn showed that there are currently 65 employees. "I started working in media back in the 90s with Discovery Channel. Since then, I have been more digital with roles that span from tech to operations and sales. In the last two years, I have been a consultant with the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), which has helped me understand the OTT business across Asia," Nguyen said. 

Vietnam has the highest smart TV usage in Southeast Asia (27%), according to Magnite's APAC research in 2021. AVOD is the most popular method of OTT viewership, with 74% choosing a free-streaming or ad-lite platform rather than paying for services. They also enjoy mobile as much as TV, and 54% spend the most time streaming on mobile.

In general, Vietnam is a growing market and Nguyen said consumers there are savvy and brand conscious. Hence, brands looking to enter the market should take time to build their brand equity rather than just "throw products onto an eCommerce platform".

In addition to AVIA, Nguyen is a mentor and advisor to Quest Ventures and Trustworthy Accountability Group respectively. According to his LinkedIn, he was also a board member at the Mobile Marketing Association, APAC and eMarketingEye, a digital marketing agency based in Sri Lanka.

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