In early 2024, a single TikTok livestream in Vietnam generated an astonishing VND 75 billion in sales, approximately US$3 million. Hosted by the TikTok account 'Quyen Leo Daily', the stream targeted family-oriented consumers and owed much of its success to popular influencers who ignited excitement and engagement, driving strong sales momentum.
It’s not unusual for TikTok livestreams in Vietnam to attract over 1.8 million unique viewers per session. Top streamers often run multiple streams daily, some lasting over 10 hours, maintaining high levels of fan engagement.
The scale and success of these livestreams highlight how influencer marketing has become one of the most vital channels in Vietnam’s advertising landscape. This growth is not merely a reflection of a global trend taking root locally; it is fuelled by a unique blend of cultural dynamics and rapid digital transformation that make Vietnam especially fertile ground for influencer-led campaigns.
Quyen Leo Daily and team celebrating huge sales during a TikTok livestream in Vietnam.
At the heart of this momentum is Vietnam’s exceptionally high social media penetration. Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Zalo have become integral to the daily lives of millions, particularly in a mobile-first market where smartphones are ubiquitous.
Another key driver is Vietnamese consumers’ deep trust in peer recommendations. Traditional advertising often struggles to gain credibility, while influencers, especially micro and nano influencers, offer something far more compelling: authenticity.
Meanwhile, social platforms have evolved into powerful commercial ecosystems. Facebook, Zalo, and especially TikTok are no longer just social hubs; they have become vibrant marketplaces. Influencers, with their engaging content and clear calls to action, serve as ideal guides, seamlessly leading consumers from discovery to purchase.
“This synergy is particularly potent in Vietnam, where social selling and the convenience of cash-on-delivery are deeply embedded cultural practices,” says Linh Nguyen, managing director of T&A Ogilvy Vietnam and head of influence at Ogilvy Vietnam. “This highlights the need for brands to think beyond mere ‘likes’ and ‘views’ and focus on conversion pathways. Influencers are becoming direct sales channels, not just awareness drivers.”
From a business perspective, the shift in marketing budget allocation is telling. What began as a cost-effective alternative with attractive ROI in its early days has matured into a core component of digital strategy.
“We’re now seeing influencer marketing command anywhere from 15% to 30% of a brand’s overall digital marketing budget. For agile D2C brands or those heavily reliant on social commerce, this proportion can even exceed 40%,” adds Nguyen. “This signals a maturation of the channel. It’s no longer experimental; it’s a proven performance driver. For us, this means moving beyond simple campaign execution to integrated strategies that align influencer efforts directly with business KPIs, demonstrating tangible ROI to our clients.”
Micro-influencers and hyper-localised content
With the average Vietnamese spending four to six hours online daily, driving relevance through geographically and linguistically tailored content is imperative. Vietnam is not a monolith; distinct dialects, traditions, and sensibilities across the North, Central, and South regions make localised content a strategic necessity.
“This inherent diversity is precisely where micro-influencers shine,” says Nguyen. “By nature, they are deeply embedded within specific, often niche communities. They speak the local language, understand the local humour, and genuinely resonate with the unique aspirations, traditions, and daily lives of their immediate audience.”
Cultural sensitivity is equally important. Campaigns aligned with Vietnamese traditions, such as Tet (January to February), Mid-Autumn Festival (August to September), or Back-to-School season (early September), offer emotional storytelling moments that deepen consumer-brand relationships. Whether it’s a family-centric narrative during Tet or a skincare tip before year-end celebrations, these culturally relevant angles enhance impact and memorability. Beyond major festivals, the best localised content reflects everyday Vietnamese life, the morning hustle at a local market, shared family values, or the quiet joy of small personal victories.
“When micro-influencers deliver locally resonant content, the results speak for themselves,” says Loan Menuge, influencer lead for Goat Vietnam. “The combination of authenticity and cultural fluency drives higher engagement and conversion. These stories go beyond transactions; they build connection, trust, resonance, and results. A skincare campaign tied to Tet preparations, for example, does more than showcase a product; it tells a story that Vietnamese consumers see themselves in. That connection is what turns interest into action.”
While unified by language, Vietnam’s North, Central, and South regions each have distinct social values, communication styles, and definitions of identity and aspiration. A single product, say skincare or wellness, may serve all three groups but for different reasons. Traditional branding or ATL channels struggle to craft distinct emotional triggers for each audience without fragmenting the brand voice or complicating media planning.
“Influencer marketing solves this paradox,” says Ngan Vo, group account director at TBWA Vietnam. “It allows one brand to coexist within multiple ideological realities by letting each influencer express the same offering through a lens that feels personal and native to their community. Instead of localising language, you localise meaning, through accent, lifestyle context, values, and tone.”
Challenges
Despite immense opportunities, rapid growth in Vietnam’s influencer marketing space brings challenges. Issues such as fake followers, undisclosed sponsorships, and evolving legal frameworks pose risks not only to campaign performance but also to long-term brand trust.
“One of the most persistent issues in Vietnam’s influencer space is the presence of fake followers and artificial engagement,” says Menuge. “With the proliferation of bots and purchased metrics, it’s becoming harder for brands to assess the true influence of a creator.”
Transparency in paid promotions also remains a challenge. While regulations are evolving, clear disclosure of sponsored content is not yet universally practised or fully understood by all influencers or brands.
However, concerns like fake followers and engagement fraud are gradually becoming less dominant. The bigger issue now is compliance. Vietnamese law is tightening, requiring influencers and brands to be jointly responsible for advertising content accuracy and avoiding misleading claims.
“Decree 147/2024/NĐ-CP regulates social network accounts’ comments, posts, and livestreams,” says Dr Bui Quoc Liem, lecturer in Professional Communication at RMIT University Vietnam. “The draft revised Advertising Law also proposes that celebrities should compensate if their advertising is false. This promotes professionalism but requires all parties to adapt quickly and monitor content closely.”
Short-form video and livestreaming
Vietnam’s digital landscape is rapidly transforming, led by the explosive growth of short-form video and livestream shopping. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, Shopee Live, and TikTok Shop are reshaping how Vietnamese consumers discover products, engage with brands, and make purchases.
“Short-form video and livestreaming aren’t ‘emerging’ anymore, they’re here, now, and totally reshaping how we think about content and commerce,” says QynhNhu Nguyen, VML Vietnam business lead, influencer business. “Vietnamese consumers, especially younger ones, crave content that’s quick, entertaining, and interactive. They want to feel something and act immediately.”
Livestream shopping exemplifies this shift. It’s not just content, it’s a commerce engine. Influencers become live hosts, demoing products, engaging viewers in real time, and driving immediate purchases through limited-time offers and social proof. It blends entertainment, urgency, and trust into one seamless experience.
“For agencies, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s not enough to produce good creative; we need to deliver at speed, at scale, and with a clear path to conversion,” adds Nguyen. “Our strength lies in building that operational muscle, consistently delivering high-quality short-form video and livestream content that meets the demands of this fast-paced, ‘shop-now’ environment.”
However, Vineeth Dhruvan, CEO of Publicis Media Vietnam, warns that while short-form content builds curiosity and emotional response, livestream shopping pressures consumers to convert quickly, often driven by bundling and vouchers.
“These practices are not sustainable and need intervention with more purposeful engagement that helps consumers understand the core value of the product,” says Dhruvan.
AI technology
AI-driven analytics and influencer marketing platforms are providing unprecedented insight and efficiency, especially in influencer discovery and vetting.
“This moves us beyond subjective judgment to objective, data-backed recommendations,” says Nguyen. “It’s also crucial for brand safety, helping us identify genuine engagement and flag suspicious patterns like bot followers, addressing persistent challenges from the outset.”
These platforms can analyse influencers’ past collaborations to ensure brand fit and avoid conflicts of interest, which is essential for maintaining authenticity and long-term brand reputation.
Vero, a PR agency in Vietnam specialising in influencer marketing, has developed its own methodology called InFluent to ensure data-driven influencer-brand engagement.
TrueVibe, a key pillar of InFluent, provides precise data sets explaining why an influencer was selected, how their audience aligns with the brand’s identity, and the impact of their content.
“This moves us beyond the usual pool of ‘familiar faces’ to discover creators across niches and scales, informed by relevance, engagement quality, and authentic audience connection rather than sheer popularity or follower count,” says Nguyen Thi Trinh, Vero’s VP for brand influence. “This clarity enables us to tailor campaign strategies confidently and optimise results throughout the campaign cycle.”
TrueVibe provides precise data sets that explain why a particular influencer was selected for a campaign.
More broadly, technology’s role in influencer marketing has evolved dramatically.
“A few years ago, it was mostly about discovery, using tools for social listening or finding the right influencers. Now, we’re talking about full automation and AI integration across the campaign lifecycle,” says QynhNhu Nguyen, VML Vietnam business lead, influencer business. “When measuring ROI, real-time dashboards and data visualisation let us optimise campaigns as they run, not just after.”
Popular AI-integrated influencer marketing platforms in Vietnam, such as CreatorIQ, Influencity, Influsoft, Revu, and TUBRR Network, help brands optimise influencer selection, management, and measurement, enabling data-driven decisions and improved ROI.
In essence, technology is transforming influencer marketing from an art into a science.
“It enables brands to make more informed decisions, optimise investments, and ultimately demonstrate clearer, more quantifiable ROI,” says Linh Nguyen, head of influence at Ogilvy Vietnam. “This fosters greater confidence in the channel for long-term growth, solidifying influencer marketing’s role as an indispensable part of the modern marketing mix.”
