Vietnam Outlaws Unskippable Video Ads, Forcing Platforms to Rethink Ad Tech

Vietnam has banned unskippable video ads for users in the country-a direct shot at forced-view pre-rolls and mid-rolls that have long subsidized streaming, social, and gaming apps. What’s notable here is the clarity: this targets the format itself, not just disclosures or placement. For global platforms, that means geofenced compliance at the ad-serving layer and a contraction of a lucrative inventory class tied to guaranteed completions. The bigger picture: regulators are codifying “user choice” into attention economics, and the “Skip Ads” button just became a compliance feature.

Under the hood, ad stacks will need precision: filter out non-skippable creatives at request time, enforce VAST skipOffset and skippability flags, and update SSAI packagers to honor skip events while still firing accurate quartile and completion beacons. Client SDKs (think IMA clones and custom players) must surface consistent skip UX and telemetry, or risk broken measurement and billing. Expect shifts in ad strategy-shorter skippables, more rewarded placements in games, tighter frequency caps, and pricing models that lean on viewability and time-to-skip rather than guaranteed completion. Worth noting: this could compress brand CPMs that relied on captive views while rewarding formats that can earn attention without coercion.