The 1.5-second limit means it’s nearly impossible for advertisers to deliver any message to viewers that they can click “next” or continue watching. The “suspended” regulation for nearly a decade suddenly applied will cause unfairness In fact, the handling of violations of regulations on advertising not in fixed areas “waiting to turn off or open ads on electronic newspapers up to 1.5 seconds” has been regulated since 2013 at Decree No. 158/2013/ND-CP not until Decree No. 38/2021/ND-CP newly issued. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the unit in charge of drafting these documents, said that the provisions of the new Decree have followed the process of the Government. Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents . However, not all policy beneficiaries are aware of the drafts during the consultation process. According to Mr. Tran Trong Dung, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Journalists Association, there are press agencies that have not yet been consulted. The regulation has been in place since 2013 and many press agencies do not know, which can be explained by the fact that advertising has not taken place in accordance with the regulations. Thus, the regulations are set but not enforced, the press has made mistakes for a long time without handling, which means that the law has been inadequate since its issuance. Then suddenly applying it will cause unfairness to advertising on other electronic forms. 1.5 seconds time is not reasonable Studies show that, if an ad attracts attention in the first 5 seconds, readers will decide to continue or not. Research on video advertising by Facebook and Nielsen has also come up with quite interesting numbers that , 47% of the value of a video campaign is transmitted within the first 3 seconds and 74% of the value of a video campaign is communicated through the first 10 seconds. This study also shows: When readers watch the first 3 seconds of a video on Facebook, 65% of these will watch at least 10 seconds, 45% watch 30 seconds. Another Twitter study also found a strong link between watching the first 3 seconds of a video and whether or not viewers watched the entire video. With 1.5 seconds, the viewer only had time to open and close. The 1.5-second limit means it’s nearly impossible for advertisers to deliver any message to viewers that they can click “next” or continue watching. Commenting on this issue, Mr. Vo Thanh Hai, Director of Viettel Media said that 1.5 seconds is not enough to convey a certain message to viewers. And so viewers will not receive the information they need to decide whether to continue or ignore. “Social networks like Google or Facebook have carefully studied the psychology of viewers so that they give the time to turn on or off ads. Psychological studies have shown that with an ad on or off time of 5-6 seconds, it will make viewers accept it. If the time to turn off or open the ad is too long, it will make the ad viewer inhibit and hate it. Thus, the advertising effect will not be as expected. But if the time to turn on or off the ad is less than 5 seconds, it will not be enough for the ad units to convey their short message to the viewers. Obviously, the terms and conditions need to be carefully studied.” Mr. Hai analyzed. Discrimination will cripple the journalism economy The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained that social networks, YouTube are not press agencies, the criteria for operation as well as the audience for participation and interaction are also different. Therefore, the regulation and application of advertising activities on social networks is not the same as that of press agencies. In fact, in terms of content and direction, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has clear operating principles and purposes; comply with legal regulations. In terms of business, competition is fierce; even the mechanism of non-business units is more constrained to the press than other types of enterprises. So, if the legal corridors on advertising keep that mindset, it will cripple the journalism economy. Forecasting difficulties approaching the press in the context that the Covid-19 epidemic has not stopped, some newspapers have stated: “Limit advertising in the press, Google, Facebook are happy to benefit?”, “Rules of the game to eliminate competition”, etc. The chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Journalists Association described the state of journalism at that time as “shrink”. And Mr. Nguyen Truong Son, Standing Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Advertising Association estimated specific numbers: If these provisions are implemented, more than 80% of advertising revenue now goes to Facebook, Google. Should soon accept and amend Mr. Nguyen Truong Son said that the Vietnam Advertising Association has sent documents to the authorities to soon propose the government to amend the Law on Advertising, creating a legal corridor for the press, media and advertising industry. operate smoothly. “This Law on Advertising has been in effect for nearly 10 years but has not yet imposed a fine on any press agency. Decree 38 is specific and has sanctions. However, the regulation that the timeout to turn off or open ads in a fixed area exceeding 1.5 seconds is inadequate. If the press agency is not fined, it is a violation of the law, but applying sanctions will cause difficulties for the press agency. Mr. Son said. On June 1, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that it will conduct a review of 10 years of implementation of the Law on Advertising and guiding documents in order to grasp the changes of advertising activities, new means and methods of advertising to from there, there are recommendations and proposals to amend the regulations in line with reality in 2022. The Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Journalists Association stated that there should be more seminars to listen to and exchange ideas from relevant parties. Especially the opinions of the press agencies, in order to develop appropriate guidelines, overcome the inadequacies with the subjects governed by the text and promote the advantages.

Online advertising will be crowned From June 1, Decree 38 on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of culture and advertising will officially take effect. However, a few days ago, the Vietnam Advertising Association in its petition pointed out a number of shortcomings in this new Decree, which is the sanctioning regulation “Waiting time to turn off or open ads is not fixed area exceeding 1.5 seconds” and “Design and layout advertising mixed with news content”. 80% OF CAKES ARE INTO FACEBOOK, GOOGLE BAGS According to the analysis in the petition of the Vietnam Advertising Association signed by Standing Vice Chairman of the Association Nguyen Truong Son as well as shared by businesses in the industry, the regulations on “Waiting time to turn off or open advertising reports that do not stay in a fixed area beyond 1.5 seconds” is unrealistic, too short to be able to convey the message. Compared with cross-border advertising platforms, the current interface allows viewers to skip ads in as little as 5 seconds. Sharing with VnEconomy, an expert in the field of advertising said that, in theory, businesses will spend advertising money on channels that have many viewers, and bring high efficiency. So when advertising in any channel is difficult, businesses will look to another channel… According to the report Vietnam Digital Marketing Trends 2021, the size of the online advertising market in Vietnam in 2020 is estimated at 820 million USD. It is forecasted that in 2021, this revenue will reach about 955 million USD. In which, up to 80% of the “piece of cake” of revenue goes to Google, Facebook … In the context of industrial revolution 4.0, online advertising is increasingly popular. Leading in terms of market share, online advertising sales in Vietnam are currently cross-border platforms Facebook and Google. And with the above regulation, this expert said that in the coming time, not only 80% of advertising money will flow into the pockets of “giants” but even more. Although the state encourages brands to advertise in Vietnamese newspapers, with such tightening regulations, businesses and brands will have to turn to advertising on cross-border platforms such as Facebook, YouTube… Thus, if advertising in the press of domestic enterprises is being tightened by the strict regulations of this Decree, cross-border advertising enterprises are naturally benefited by the standard , their operating principles as well as we have not been able to handle the violations of these platforms when they are not based in Vietnam. This has created an unequal competition between domestic advertising enterprises/press agencies and cross-border advertising networks… A representative of the Vietnam Advertising Association said that this will certainly affect the revenue of electronic press agencies that mainly rely on advertising. If the advertisement is published on electronic newspapers for only 1.5 seconds and is not inserted into the content, then no business wants to advertise because it will not be effective. Mr. Nguyen Quang Nhat, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Outdoor Advertising Club shared, the number of advertising businesses and agencies in Vietnam is quite large, but in fact, collecting 10 dong, they had to spend 7 dong on Google and Facebook. Advertising funding for news agencies will be increasingly difficult. According to a business with more than a decade of experience in online advertising, the press is currently caught between the problem of charging readers and users and collecting advertising fees. Since there are no user fees, newspapers can only charge from advertising activities. In the advertising fee collection there are a number of formats and if specified to only 1.5 seconds is too short, lacks factual basis and needs to be studied to extend the time. Currently, advertising platforms on OTT like YouTube are usually 5-6 seconds and have a warning to users that they can/will be off after how many seconds… KEY KEYS NEED TO CORRECT ADVERTISING LAW International practice, with free press similar to Vietnam, advertising is allowed to be interspersed with news/article content and customized based on the audience reading the newspaper. Readers have the right to click to view or skip the advertising content. The act of “Designing and arranging advertisements mixed with news content” is one of the administrative violations to be handled. Although this regulation is aimed at protecting the interests of readers, it is not fair in ensuring the rights of individuals/organizations purchasing advertising services as well as businesses providing advertising services. The tools to reach customers through mainstream media products are narrowed, causing obstacles and difficulties for the advertising industry. According to businesses, this new regulation will help readers have a cleaner online newspaper space, no longer bothered by ads. This Decree will prevent the phenomenon of many news sites abusing the form of contextual advertising, confusing readers as well as consumers. In the coming time, these regulations will also become obsolete because the trend of online advertising will take the throne with many different forms of attracting attention; application of technology platforms, cross-border Internet platforms. Therefore, it will become increasingly difficult for the press to call for advertising as advertising will flow into other applications. This business thinks that, with pages that have too many ads and are annoying, it is easy for bored readers to leave and not re-enter. A newspaper without readers cannot call for advertising and hardly survive. Newspapers themselves will have to adjust this issue accordingly and especially improve the quality of information content. Advertising and content must always be tied together. If the information is not good, the number of viewers is small, the advertising is no longer available, the press will have a hard time surviving and vice versa. However, even newspapers that invest in quality articles and respect their readers, with this advertising regulation, will still violate… In fact, the waiting time to turn off or open ads in a fixed area does not exceed 1.5 seconds, which is specified in the Law on Advertising, the implementing Decree and is now repeated. But because it is unreasonable, in the past 10 years, no unit has been fined under this regulation. However, according to Mr. Son, when Decree 38 was issued, we understand that the government is very interested in this, focusing on discipline, all citizens must obey the law, from June 1 onwards. All parties must strictly comply and violations will be punished. To overcome the above shortcomings, a representative of the Vietnam Advertising Association said that Decree 38 is a sub-law document, so it is impossible to violate the law. Therefore, the most important thing is to petition the Government to submit to the National Assembly to amend the Law on Advertising.

Ms. Do Thu Trang, Marketing Manager of Newway Company, said that this is the 8th time that Newway has participated in the exhibition. Here, Newway introduces new products, specializing in inkjet printing, which are manual printers with high technical requirements. Modern packaging printing technology of SIC Printing Import-Export Joint Stock Company at VPSE 2021 “We participate in exhibitions every year because we see the positive effects it brings. After each exhibition, the number of our partners and customers from all regions increases. This is a fairly effective investment attraction. I hope businesses in the field of printing and advertising will have many opportunities to cooperate at home and abroad, attracting investment in Hanoi in this field ”, emphasized Ms. Thu Trang. In the framework of the International Exhibition of Machinery and Equipment for the printing, packaging and printing industry of Vietnam labels (VPSE 2021), SIC Printing Import and Export Joint Stock Company also exhibited a huge booth including products and modern printer line. Mr. Nguyen Duc Dung, Sales Manager of SIC said that the company has participated in the 3rd VPSE 2021 exhibition. Through the exhibition, SIC has attracted many interested customers and partners. According to Mr. Dung, the trend of using paper packaging has been very developed in recent years, so this is an opportunity for companies to find a satisfied partner. Since participating in the exhibition, the company has developed many new customers, usually after each exhibition there will be at least 30 customers / partners from all over the provinces, creating many opportunities for business cooperation. and attract customers to the Hanoi packaging advertising industry. Ms. Do Thu Trang, Marketing Manager of Newway Company: “This is a fairly effective investment attraction” Present at a large showroom with the most modern 2-sided printer technology today, Mr. Tran Long, Deputy Technical Department, sales specialist of 3-domain printing advertising and commercial limited liability company said, This is the third time the company has participated in the International Exhibition of Advertising Equipment and Technology in Hanoi. After each participation, the number of customers and partners increased by 30%, the brand also “exploded” more, especially in the field of providing advertising materials. “The exhibition has opened up opportunities for Hanoi businesses to a business exchange environment, attracting investment from provinces. In addition, many advertising companies in the provinces and cities, although not participating in the exhibition, but through the spread of the media, they realize that this is a prestigious playground so they come to trade. I hope more and more domestic and foreign partners visiting this exhibition will cooperate with Hanoi enterprises ”, Mr. Tran Long shared. Mr. Tran Long: “I hope more and more domestic and foreign partners visiting this exhibition will cooperate with Hanoi enterprises” According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dao, General Director of Southeast Trade Promotion and Advertising Joint Stock Company, after 8 years of establishment, development and 3 years of affirming its role in the North, VietAd Exhibition has become important events not to be missed by the advertising industry business community. This is a place to trade, meet, exchange experiences as well as open up new cooperation opportunities for businesses in the advertising industry. Starting in 2017, VietAd Exhibition was organized at the same time the International Exhibition of Machinery and Equipment for printing packaging industry, printing Vietnamese labels, VPSE. With the support and sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Information and Communications; was chaired by the Vietnam Advertising Association and Hanoi Advertising Association with more than 1,000 booths of more than 250 participating enterprises. Two-sided printers operating at the show This year VietAd Hanoi focuses on introducing many advanced machines, equipment and technologies of the advertising industry, including many areas such as the display of advertising machinery: Digital inkjet printers, UV printers, printers Heat transfer, heat press, CNC engraving machine, laser cutter, fiber cutter, multifunctional color photocopy machine, Led technology, equipment, advertising materials: ink, decal, mica, hiflex, glue, PP , standee, advertising screen … VietAd Hanoi Exhibition has become an important event that cannot be ignored of the Vietnamese advertising business community. This is a place to trade, meet, exchange experiences as well as open up new cooperation opportunities for businesses in the advertising industry. In particular, VietAd Hanoi 2021 contributes to enhancing competitiveness and promoting the development of the advertising industry for the capital economy in particular and for Vietnam in general. Posts and photos: Bao Thoa