According to Nielsen, you just can’t beat word of mouth when it comes to believable information about goods and services. But you can certainly beat most forms of online and mobile advertising, as TV, radio and newspaper do with room to spare.
There’s more good news for broadcasters: Since 2007, both have gained in consumer perception of trustworthiness, with TV ads rising from 56% to 62% and radio from 54% to 57%.
Six digital ad platforms all had the confidence of less than 50% of consumers. The categories are search engine ads, online video ads, ads on social networks, display ads on mobile, online banners and mobile text messages, which brought up the rear with the trust of a paltry 37% of respondents.
“Brand marketers should be especially encouraged to find owned advertising among the most trusted marketing formats,” said Randall Beard, global head, Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. “This form of advertising is trusted by nearly 70 percent of consumers globally, which emphasizes the notion that marketers maintain the ability to control the messages about their brands in a way that consumers consider credible. This perceived credibility is a key component in advertising effectiveness.”
Here are Nielsen’s results:
Category | 2013% | 2007% |
People I know | 84 | 78 |
Branded websites | 69 | 60 |
Consumer online opinions | 68 | 61 |
Editorial content | 67 | na |
Ads on TV | 62 | 56 |
Branded sponsorship | 61 | 49 |
Ads in newspapers | 61 | 63 |
Ads in magazines | 60 | 56 |
Billboards/outdoor | 57 | na |
Ads on radio | 57 | 54 |
Email signed up for | 56 | 49 |
Ads before movies | 56 | 38 |
TV program ad placement | 55 | na |
Search engine results | 48 | 34 |
Online video ads | 48 | na |
Ads on social networks | 48 | na |
Display adson mobile | 45 | na |
Online banner ads | 42 | 26 |
Mobile text ads | 37 | 18 |
Source: Nielsen |