Investors understand well that it cost tens to hundreds of billions of dong to develop a social network and obtain hundreds of members. However, though the numbers of visitors and members have been increasing steadily over the last three years, social network owners still do not want to reveal their revenue and profit.
Investors understand well that it cost tens to hundreds of billions of dong to develop a social network and obtain hundreds of members. However, though the numbers of visitors and members have been increasing steadily over the last three years, social network owners still do not want to reveal their revenue and profit.
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| A meeting of Zing Me's members |
Vietnam once witnessed the boom of social networks in 2007. However, a lot of social networks run by domestic administrators then had to shut down or shifted to use other brands. Only two years later, when Yahoo 360 Plus appeared to replace Yahoo 360, did the domestic social networks begin developing well, namely Zing Me, Tamtay, YuMe, and foreign social networks also appeared, such as Yahoo 360 Plus and Facebook. In 2010, the community welcomed Goonline of VTC and Kunkun of Viettel.
Investors believe that since 2009, the domestically built social networks have approached to the world’s technologies; therefore, the number of members has been increasing rapidly.
Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VinaGame, the owner of Zing Me, said that with the improved capability to update information, satisfy basic needs such as writing blogs, playing games, sharing motions, pictures, and the function of connecting members, Vietnamese social networks have seen the numbers of users and usage time increasing rapidly.
Khai also believes that the development of 3G networks can also serve as a reason leading to the further development of social networks.
Money spent, but receipts not come yet
Google Ad Planner, by June 2011, Zing Me had had 6.7 million members, YuMe 2.8 million, Tamtay 1.1 million. Meanwhile, according to Yahoo Vietnam’s report released in July 2011, the main clients of Vietnamese social networks are the ones aged from 15 to 24.
The report also pointed out that in 2010, only 41 percent of Internet users accessed to social networks, while the figure is expected to increase to 55 percent in 2011.
Though the number of visitors has been increasing rapidly, social networks still dare not dream of obtaining high revenue in the immediate time. Le Hong Minh, Chair of VinaGame, said he cannot remember how much money he has spent on developing Zing Me over the last two years, but he is sure that this is a huge amount.
Phan Anh Tuan, Director of Go.vn project, also said that the initial investment in the project is relatively big, because it is necessary to implement the versions on computer, smart TV and mobile phone at the same time.
“In order to have a social network which runs effectively, it is necessary to have good technical infrastructure, attractive content and good staff to run it,” Tuan said.
When asked why investors still keep injecting money in social networks, while it remains unclear about… the revenue, Khai said that if he did not have confidence in a bright future, he would not have pour money into social networks.
Coca-Cola, Pond’s and Adidas have had their information pages on Zing Me, but these are the “relations of the future”, therefore, Zing Me has not collected fees from the clients.
On YuMe, the social network with millions of members, there are only several ad banners, which means, a modest income to the owner. Meanwhile, YuMe still has to pay high to run and develop the social network. Besides the huge amounts of money to be spent to “feed” the apparatus, the network also has to pay high royalties for good articles to attract more visitors.
Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, a senior executive of Ringie, a media company, said that he once worked for a social network, where he found out that the network spent billions to develop, while the income was really very modest.
Keeping optimistic about the future
Despite the current big difficulties, social network operators still believe that a bright future is awaiting them.
The Marketing Director of a mobile phone distribution company said that in general, it costs 40 million dong to produce an ad film scrip, and 40 million dong for ad fee. If the film scrip is posted on a social network, it would attract up to 200,000 viewers just within one month.
Joe Nguyen, the representative of ComScore, a market survey firm, said that when using social networks, enterprises can have interactions with clients, which is the outstanding advantage if compared with other traditional media channels.
At present, only Zing Me has the payment method Zing Xu and Goonline has vCoint.
(Source: SGTT)
Investors believe that since 2009, the domestically built social networks have approached to the world’s technologies; therefore, the number of members has been increasing rapidly.
Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VinaGame, the owner of Zing Me, said that with the improved capability to update information, satisfy basic needs such as writing blogs, playing games, sharing motions, pictures, and the function of connecting members, Vietnamese social networks have seen the numbers of users and usage time increasing rapidly.
Khai also believes that the development of 3G networks can also serve as a reason leading to the further development of social networks.
Money spent, but receipts not come yet
Google Ad Planner, by June 2011, Zing Me had had 6.7 million members, YuMe 2.8 million, Tamtay 1.1 million. Meanwhile, according to Yahoo Vietnam’s report released in July 2011, the main clients of Vietnamese social networks are the ones aged from 15 to 24.
The report also pointed out that in 2010, only 41 percent of Internet users accessed to social networks, while the figure is expected to increase to 55 percent in 2011.
Though the number of visitors has been increasing rapidly, social networks still dare not dream of obtaining high revenue in the immediate time. Le Hong Minh, Chair of VinaGame, said he cannot remember how much money he has spent on developing Zing Me over the last two years, but he is sure that this is a huge amount.
Phan Anh Tuan, Director of Go.vn project, also said that the initial investment in the project is relatively big, because it is necessary to implement the versions on computer, smart TV and mobile phone at the same time.
“In order to have a social network which runs effectively, it is necessary to have good technical infrastructure, attractive content and good staff to run it,” Tuan said.
When asked why investors still keep injecting money in social networks, while it remains unclear about… the revenue, Khai said that if he did not have confidence in a bright future, he would not have pour money into social networks.
Coca-Cola, Pond’s and Adidas have had their information pages on Zing Me, but these are the “relations of the future”, therefore, Zing Me has not collected fees from the clients.
On YuMe, the social network with millions of members, there are only several ad banners, which means, a modest income to the owner. Meanwhile, YuMe still has to pay high to run and develop the social network. Besides the huge amounts of money to be spent to “feed” the apparatus, the network also has to pay high royalties for good articles to attract more visitors.
Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, a senior executive of Ringie, a media company, said that he once worked for a social network, where he found out that the network spent billions to develop, while the income was really very modest.
Keeping optimistic about the future
Despite the current big difficulties, social network operators still believe that a bright future is awaiting them.
The Marketing Director of a mobile phone distribution company said that in general, it costs 40 million dong to produce an ad film scrip, and 40 million dong for ad fee. If the film scrip is posted on a social network, it would attract up to 200,000 viewers just within one month.
Joe Nguyen, the representative of ComScore, a market survey firm, said that when using social networks, enterprises can have interactions with clients, which is the outstanding advantage if compared with other traditional media channels.
At present, only Zing Me has the payment method Zing Xu and Goonline has vCoint.
(Source: SGTT)
