Team-M-Final-Report

MARKET RESEARCH – MKTG1254

Lecturer: Lukas Parker

Team M - Group 3

2015-01-05

Report

KEY DRIVERS & BARRIERS OF

YOUNG VIETNAMESE WHEN SELECTING MOVIES

Prepared by:

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhu - s3411854

Ly Nguyen Phuc - s3411847

Vuong Duy Khanh - s3408784

Ha My - s3324485

1| M a r k e t R e s e a r c h – C J E & M

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report examines the key drivers and barriers of

Vietnamese young adults in selecting movies, regarding the

genres that they like and the importance of movie plot as well

as online rating/review. In order to gain deep insight into

these, we conducted qualitative research with two focus

groups, each with a sample of six Vietnamese aged 18 to 25.

Overall, the results showed that many Vietnamese young adults

preferred relaxing cinema experience and associated this with

genres such as Romance, Cartoon & Comedy. They also preferred

US-UK movies for many genres because of the innovative &

detailed movie-making. In comparison, some watched Vietnamese

movies to support the local industry, and nobody prefer Korean

films as they were said to be too idealistic with only one

motif.

Many respondents agreed that plots are very important in

selecting a movie to watch. Some checked plot beforehand to

stay more focused during a thought-provoking movie, or not to

waste their time on a bad one. Those who do not check plot2| M a r k e t R e s e a r c h – C J E & M

might be able predict the storyline on their own, or they just

want to let their imagination run wild. Also, “deep movies”,

regardless of genres, are the most preferable type of movies

among those who read movie plots.

In terms of online rating and review, some trust their

friends’ opinions on social media because they think friends

have similar tastes after all. Meanwhile, others that check

online rating/review on other websites tend to to trust these

and make their own judgment, because they think that different

people have different tastes. We also notice that all

respondents who check online rating and review on websites

also check plot when choosing movies to watch.

Based on the key drivers & barriers, we group the target

customers of CJ E&M into four groups of Conscious Evaluator,

Fun Activator, Impressionable Watcher & Bandwagoner. This

classification namely takes into account what young Vietnamese

prefer in movie plot (thought-triggering or relaxing) and what

their attitudes are towards rating/review (trust themselves or

the relevant groups). The difference in their key drivers &


barriers, attitudes & behaviors indicate their movie choices &

cinema habits.

The result of our research is aligned to our secondary

research about local cinema market that Vietnamese are more

interested in foreign movies with relaxing content; however,

this report expands into some other interesting findings with

deeper understanding & more specific details. A recommendation

for CJE&M is that it should focus on the movie plot (either

relaxing, relevant or sophisticated) and pay attention to

word-of-mouth especially on social media as this is a very

powerful source of online rating/review.


INTRODUCTION

The movie industry in general & Vietnamese film market in

particular are growing tremendously, attracting many movie-

makers. However, the taste of young people towards movie

choices is changing fast & unpredictably. This report’s

objective is to identify the key drivers & barriers of young

Vietnamese when selecting a movie, specifically focus on

preferred genres, the importance of movie plot & online

rating/review; therefore their attitudes & behaviors towards

movies choices.


SECONDARY RESEARCH

1. Industry Overview

According to Jaeger (2014), the movie industry is one of the

most profitable and exciting businesses in the world, a

business where the revenue can exceed the expected number.

Following the development in economy, the entertainment need

of Vietnamese is also getting higher. With the transition

state management mechanism, Vietnamese movie industry was

planned and developed toward the modernization and integration

(Lan, 2014). Vietnam is now a potential market in movie

theatre for local as well as foreign movie distributors.

Hollywood Reporter ranked Vietnam as 13th country has the

strongest growth rates in Southeast Asia (Vietnamnet 2013).

2. Local Market

Developing economy and enhancing standard of living are main

reasons which help rocketing box office sales in Vietnamese

cinema. Movie theater market in Vietnam is growing extremely

active. According to Thu (2011), ticket sales are now

estimated to grow by 20% per year; although there are only

about 150 screening room may exist. This market in Vietnam has6| M a r k e t R e s e a r c h – C J E & M

grown from $ 2 million to 25 million since 2006 to recent.

This shows that theatre market in Vietnam is extremely large.

However, the sad thing is most of the movie theaters are

imported from abroad. Vietnam cinema market is considered as

the major market of Hollywood behind the world's second movie

market - China. The "blockbuster" films always reach record

sales when coming to Vietnam (Khanh, 2014). According to

statistics, about 80% of the movie imported from Hollywood

accounts for 75% ticket sales. Therefore, in the past few

years, many blockbusters are opened at the same time with

schedule in the North American market. Even, there are many

films are released before a week compared with the common

schedule of the global.

3. Customer Understanding

According to Khanh (2014), Vietnamese people are attracted by

foreign movies with high-quality, high visual effects and

great plot. Vietnamese movies lose ground compared to imported

films (especially Hollywood) due to lack of compelling

scenarios or superficial interpretation of actions/actresses.

In particular, montage techniques of local movies cannot

compare with the Hollywood movie. Besides, Vietnamese audience


likes to watch action, comedy or romance films when coming to

the cinema for relaxing. According to Tuoi Tre online (2013),

the ignorance of the audiences for art films and excitement

for instant-noodles films is a real issue that Vietnamese

filmmakers should consider. The audience prefers movies with

having humorous, gentle content and not delivering too much

profound and obscure message. Besides, with the integration of

internet, more and more people seek for online reviews/rating

through friends and trustful sources when selecting films,

especially for Vietnamese movies.

4. Knowledge Gap

The secondary data illustrated a general view about Vietnamese

cinema industry together with some knowledge about customer

understanding with local movie industry. The related online

information can be used for identify consumers' favorite

genres; however, there is no data about what specific type of

genres, or what characteristics of movie genres they prefer.

The detailed information about ratings/reviews of a movie

appears to be assessed incorrectly or unavailable for

audiences.


RESEARCH PROBLEMResearchProblem Research Question Research Objective

What make

people

choose a

movie and

what stop

them?

What movie genre(s) do

young Vietnamese like?

To identify young

Vietnamese’ specific

genres of preference.

How important is the

movie plot when young

Vietnamese select a

movie?

To discover how

important the movie plot

is when young Vietnamese

select a movie.

How important is

online rating/review

when young Vietnamese

select a movie?

To discover how

important online

rating/review is when

young Vietnamese select

a movie.


METHODOLOGY

1.Research Method

Given the project’s objective, we decided to conduct

qualitative research to gain better insight & deeper

understanding of young Vietnamese’s choices of movies. We

chose focus group technique because respondents are more

comfortable & free to discuss their ideas and multiple

perspectives back & forth. We can also reduce many errors such

as non-response, response bias (acquiescence and extremity),

and also sample selection as we selectively choose the focus

group participants.

2. Instrument Development

First, we determine what should be asked. To ensure

questionnaire relevancy and accuracy, we identify key

independent variables based on our research objective. We

choose to focus on genres, plot and online review/rating.

Secondly, our type of questionnaire and survey research method

depends on our target audience. An offline group focus with a

moderator is suitable for a small sample of Vietnamese youth

from 18 to 25. Third, we designed the content of the questions


and the form of response to each question. Open-ended

questions are best for the focus group because they encourage

discussion and explore more ideas, thoughts and insights of

the respondents. Fourth, we tried to pay attention to the

question wording, avoiding complexity, ambiguity and

assumptions. Fifth, we pre-tested the instrument to make sure

the information collected addresses the research questions.

The purpose of the pre-test is ‘to uncover any problem that

the questionnaire may cause’ (cite). When we had the

responses, we recognize some mistakes relating to wordings and

also some reminders of staying focus on the objectives of the

project about the Vietnamese and Korean films. We adjust and

fix those problems and the final draft of the instrument is

included in the appendix.

3. Sampling

We defined our target population, sampling frame and sampling

technique for this project. First of all, our target

population are movie-goers in Ho Chi Minh City, aged 18 - 25.

In our case, we did not have a sampling frame because it is

very costly and we do not have access to it. We used non-


probability sampling- convenience sampling technique because

it is low cost and less time-consuming. Twelve volunteer

respondents that were most conveniently available were

obtained.

4. Fieldwork

We conducted two focus groups. In order to gather respondents,

each group member collected the contact of three people that

they know and the group leader set two time slots for the

respondents to choose from.

The process was similar for two sessions. Each session varied

from 45 to 60 minutes with 6 participants. Having agreed to

sign the consent form, the participants gave us the permission

to record and transcribe the interview, and also to contact

them after the interview if more information is needed. There

were two moderators explaining the purpose of the interview

and breaking the ice at the beginning. Then two moderators

started the discussion and took note independently. The

atmosphere was friendly and interactive.


5. Qualitative Data Analysis

o Step 1: All recorded answers are transcribed into

spreadsheets. The team read & reread to really understand

the data and some follow-up if needed.

o Step 2: We go back to the research questions, gather

relevant answers, and identify the consistency as well as

differences in the data.

o Step 3: We use the inter-coder reliability method with

two people coding the same data to ensure the

reliability. We will assign similar responses to

attributes or factors of the movies choices (descriptive

coding), then link their movies choices with the reasons

(interpretive coding), and look at inference to develop

explanation (pattern coding).

o Step 4: We look for what the patterns are and how things

are related in the repeated answers from the

interviewees.


Get to know your dataFocus analysisCategorize informationIdentify patternsInterpret & report

o Step 5: We analyze all the data and come up with the key

findings including main themes, patterns and ideas

related to our research questions.

There are three data analysis methods used in our research.

The first method is quasi-statistics, which makes the

qualitative data more measurable, and to see whether some

patterns is significant or not to the decision-making of CJ

E&M. The second method is logical, which use flow charts,

diagrams, and so on to illustrate these with pictures as well

as written descriptions. Finally, typology is the method in

which we group the data into categories based on patterns (key

drivers or barriers that drive the decisions) for segmentation

of the customers, and identify their key drivers, barriers,

attitude and behaviors.


Drama/Romance

RESULTS

Research Question 1:

Movie genres that young Vietnamese prefer.


Genres

Themes

Origi


The importance of movie plots when young Vietnamese choose

movies.


Do youcheck plotsbeforehand

Yes

No

Sourceof plot

Websites

SocialMedia

How theyread plots Read

carefully

Scan throughReason:

don’t wantto waste

time on “bad

Reason: lazy

Reason: don’t want to

Table 2: Movie plot checking behavior of Vietnamese

young adults


Do you check online rating/review beforehand?

Yes

No

Source

Website

Social media

AttitudeTrust

Follow the majority

Friends have same tastes

DoubtfulDifferent people have different tastes

Different people have different tastes


The importance of online rating/review when young Vietnamese

choose movies.

Table 3: Attitude and behavior of Vietnamese young adults aboutonline rating and review


DISCUSSION & IMPLICATIONS


Preferred Genres

In the respondents’ description of their most favorable genres

like Romance, Cartoon & Comedy, “relaxing”, “entertaining” and

“family theme” appeared a lot, which may indicate their

preference for relaxing and entertaining cinema experience. A

respondent said that: “I like Cartoon because it‘s so cute & I

feel very relaxed watching it, like Big Hero 6 for example.”

Most interviewees also said that they prefer “family theme”

for Comedy because it is “simple & relevant” to their daily

lives.

When being asked to name a few movies of their favorite

genres, the respondents only named US, UK movies for Action,

Cartoon and Sci-fi genres, and most respondents explicitly

stated that they only prefer US-UK movies for Action. “US-UK

is so creative in their movie-making. They really invest a lot

& every detail about these films are just so real &

exciting!”, a respondent shared his opinion.

Only a few Vietnamese Comedy and Romance movies were

mentioned, and no Korean movies were mentioned for any genre.


A respondent who watches many Vietnamese films said that her

reason is to “know & support our own cinema industry”. On the

other hand, all respondents have never watched any Korean

movie in cinema but have watched many Korean series on TV.

This may suggest that the respondents do not go to the cinema

for Korean movies, perhaps there are not many Korean films

available in cinema to choose from, or Korean films’

cinematographic factors just do not attract movie-goers. A

respondent said: “I do not watch Korean films. They are lame

and they only have 1 motif, and the storyline is too

idealistic”.


The importance of movie plots when young Vietnamese choose

movies.

9 out of 12 respondents do not check movie plot when choosing

a movie mostly because they are “lazy” and do not want to “be

spoiled about the content” and therefore spoil the cinema

experience. A respondent stated: “I am just lazy. Most of

these movies I can predict the storyline already”. Another

respondent said that: “I like to imagine what will happen


next, it excites me. Checking the plot will destroy the

suspense”.

The rest check plots when choosing movies because they “do not

want to waste time on ‘bad movies’.” Another interesting

response from an interviewee was: “I usually check movie

plots, especially for sophisticated movies such as Christopher

Nolan’s. While watching movies if I am too focus on the

storyline I will not be able to get the underlying message. So

I read plot carefully beforehand so that I can pay attention

to other things during the film”.

“Deep movies”, regardless of genres, are the most preferable

type of movies among those who read movie plots. When being

asked to describe what “deep movies” are, the respondents

often refer to movies that have highly complex characters,

storyline and meaning. A respondent said: “The plot should be

meaningful & interesting enough for audience to keep on

watching. Movie content is really important, especially for

Vietnamese movies I will most likely pay attention to the

depth of the storyline, code of conduct and humanitarian

message of the films.”.



The importance of online rating/review when young Vietnamese

choose movies.

Those who prefer sources such as websites (IMDB for example)

tend not to trust these ratings because they think that

“people have different tastes”. The reason they check online

ratings is that they “just want to know what other people

think” of the movies. A respondent even said that “the more

people talk about that film, the less likely the movie is

really good. Because if the majority can draw out the message,

that movie is not really deep and well-crafted.”.

There are also respondents who use social media, mostly

Facebook, as their main source of online rating and review. A

respondent stated: “If my friends say it is a good movie, I

will go watch it. They have the same tastes as me anyway.”.

Another respondent said: “You can surely evaluate a movie

based on the majority’s opinions. The crowd is not stupid”.

We also notice that all respondents who check online rating

and review on websites also check plot when choosing movies to

watch. This may indicate that these respondents are

consciously curious & consider carefully before choosing any


movie, not only about what people think about the movies but

also about what will happen in the storyline. In addition, all

respondents who check and trust the online review and rating

of their friends on social media do not check plots before

choosing movies.


Conscious EvaluatorPlot-drivenTrust self

Impressionable WatcherSocial-driven

Passive in decision-making

BandwagonerPlot-driven

Trust majority

Relaxing/Entertain

ing

Group Judgment

Thought -triggering

Personal judgment

Fun ActivatorSocial-driven

Active in decision-making

Movie-watchers classification:

Table 6: Classification of Vietnamese young adults’ movie

watching behaviors.

This classification indicates the key drivers and barriers of

fours type of movie watchers, in terms of what they prefer in

movie plot (thought-triggering or relaxing) and what their


attitudes are towards rating/review (trust themselves or the

crowd effect).

The result of our research is aligned to our secondary

research about local cinema market that Vietnamese are more

interested in foreign movies. The research expands the finding

by adding that US and UK movies are the most favorite ones of

Vietnamese young adults. Moreover, Korean movies are not

favored in any genres. Our secondary research goes on

explaining the reason why this phenomenon happens by showing

that US and UK win over Vietnamese movies by their high

quality, visual impacts and plots. Our research and the

secondary research also show a similar point that Vietnamese

young adults tend to watch drama, romance when coming to the

cinema to relax with their friends. Our research then,

continues to point out that for these genres of movies,

Vietnamese young adults only prefer US, UK and Vietnamese

ones. Korean movies are ignored by young cinema goers.

However, the research concludes that Vietnamese young adults

like watching movies that has ‘deep’, ‘complex’ content. This

contradicts with the secondary research that indicates


Vietnamese audiences prefer watching films that has simple and

gentle content. The difference can be resulted from the fact

that our sampling only has university students, who might have

a more sophisticated taste for movies.

In summary, most Vietnamese young adults prefer watching

either relaxing, entertaining or deep and complex movies.

Movies that has clear match to these description or combine

these descriptions will win the young adult audience in

Vietnam. Lastly, most important and influential source of

online rating and review is social media as most young adults

believe this source and thus, drive them to watch movies that

have good rating/review on social media. Digital marketing on

social media like Facebook will likely to drive more

individual reviews, rating and comments about movies,

therefore encourage more movie-goers.


LIMITATIONS

We incurred some limitations while conducting this research.

First, we used Convenience sampling method, so most of the

interviewees were our friends. This may cause them to have

similar opinions; therefore the responses are quite similar

and are not very generalisable. Secondly, there was there is a

quality gap between two groups as the respondents of the first

group are already friends and the interview went more smoothly

than the second one. Last but not least, the moderators were

unskilled with no experience or training, which may affect the

interview outcome.

One way of improving the quality gap between 2 groups is to

mix different personalities in 1 session in order to create

better atmosphere among the respondents.


CONCLUSION

Overall, the most favored genres of young Vietnamese are

Drama/Romance and Cartoon. Many young Vietnamese prefer movie

genres with relaxing themes and some other look for deeper,

more thought-triggering ones. Most of them prefer US-UK

movies, some prefer Vietnamese movies, and none prefer Korean

ones. In terms of movie plot, some check it before selecting

movies to understand the movie better, or not to waste time

watching bad films. Others do not check plot because they are

either lazy or do not want to be spoiled. For online

rating/review, those that check on websites tend not to trust

these, and those who check on social media tend to believe

their friends’ opinions.


REFERENCE LIST

Bao Moi 2013, ‘Rạp chiếu phim: xác lập diện mạo mới’,

Baomoi.com, 12 June, viewed 20 December 2014,

<http://www.baomoi.com/Rap-chieu-phim-xac-lap-dien-mao-moi/132

/11228252.epi>

Jaeger, J 2014, ‘The Movie Industry, Mecfilms.com, viewed 23

December 2014, < http://www.mecfilms.com/moviein.htm>

Khanh, Q 2014, ‘Phim Việt "thờ ơ" với... 1.000 tỷ đồng doanh

thu?’, Giaoduc.net.vn, 15 October, viewed 25 December 2014,

<http://giaoduc.net.vn/Van-hoa/Phim-Viet-tho-o-voi-1000-ty-

dong-doanh-thu-post151037.gd>

Lan, N 2014, ‘Tháo gỡ các “nút thắt” để điện ảnh Việt Nam phát

triển’, Hanoimoi.com.vn, 9 March, viewed 24 December 2014,

<http://hanoimoi.com.vn/Tin-tuc/Doi-thoai/667232/thao-go-cac-

nut-that-de-dien-anh-viet-nam-phat-trien>

Thu, P 2011, ‘Hàn Quốc sớm chiếm lĩnh thị trường rạp chiếu

phim Việt Nam’, Tinmoi.vn, 12 July, viewed 24 December 2014,

<http://www.tinmoi.vn/han-quoc-som-chiem-linh-thi-truong-rap-

chieu-phim-viet-nam-01551694.html>


http://www.tinmoi.vn/han-quoc-som-chiem-linh-thi-truong-rap-chieu-phim-viet-nam-01551694.html

http://www.tinmoi.vn/han-quoc-som-chiem-linh-thi-truong-rap-chieu-phim-viet-nam-01551694.html

http://hanoimoi.com.vn/Tin-tuc/Doi-thoai/667232/thao-go-cac-nut-that-de-dien-anh-viet-nam-phat-trien

http://hanoimoi.com.vn/Tin-tuc/Doi-thoai/667232/thao-go-cac-nut-that-de-dien-anh-viet-nam-phat-trien

http://giaoduc.net.vn/Van-hoa/Phim-Viet-tho-o-voi-1000-ty-dong-doanh-thu-post151037.gd

http://giaoduc.net.vn/Van-hoa/Phim-Viet-tho-o-voi-1000-ty-dong-doanh-thu-post151037.gd

http://www.mecfilms.com/moviein.htm

http://www.baomoi.com/Rap-chieu-phim-xac-lap-dien-mao-moi/132/11228252.epi

http://www.baomoi.com/Rap-chieu-phim-xac-lap-dien-mao-moi/132/11228252.epi

Vietnamnews, 2013, ‘Vietnamese cinema marks six decades of

growth’, Vietnamnews.vn, 15 March, viewed 25 Demcember 2014,

<http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/236819/vietnamese-cinema-

marks-six-decades-of-growth.html>.

Vietnamnet, 2013, ‘Vietnamese cinemas earn $43 million in

2012’, English.vietnamnet.vn, 10 May, viewed 26 December 2014,

<http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/art-entertainment/74222/viet

namese-cinemas-earn--43-million-in-2012.html>.

Tuoitre, 2013, ‘Phim Việt loay hoay tìm lối - Bài 1: "Ăn đong"

thị hiếu’, Tuoitre.vn, 28 October, viewed 27 December 2014,

<http://tuoitre.vn/tin/van-hoa-giai-tri/dien-anh/20131028/phim

-viet-loay-hoay-tim-loi---bai-1-an-dong-thi-hieu/576841.html>.


http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/236819/vietnamese-cinema-marks-six-decades-of-growth.html

http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/236819/vietnamese-cinema-marks-six-decades-of-growth.html

APPENDIX

FOCUS GROUP INSTRUMENT

Probing Questions

Do you like watching Korean/Vietnamese movies?

How often do you go to the cinema?

Before selecting a movie, what factors do you usually

consider?

Questions list

What movie genre(s) do young Vietnamese like?

1. What is your favorite movie genre(s)? Choose 1-3 genres only

and rank them.

2. Name some of your favorite movies of that genre? (interviewer asks

general content if movie is not popular in order to identify specific sub-genres)

How important is the plot when young Vietnamese select a

movie?

1.

2.

3. Do you check out the plot when selecting a Korean/Vietnamese

movie?

3.31| M a r k e t R e s e a r c h – C J E & M

4. Where do you often check the plot? (interviewer suggests via Youtube

trailers, IMDB, rotten tomatoes, friends etc.)

5. Do you read the plot carefully or just scan through? Why/Why

not?

How important is online rating/review when young Vietnamese

select a movie?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. Do you read online rating/review when selecting a

Korean/Vietnamese movie?

7. What online source do you look for movies rating/review

(interviewer suggests via IMDB, rotten tomatoes, newspaper, review, friends etc.)

8. Do you trust the rating/review that you read? Why/Why not?


Team-M-Final-Report

Documents

Transcript of Team-M-Final-Report