Trust in online advertising growing, but lowest of all media

Maybe it’s the appeal of Don Draper and the success of Mad Men, but trust in advertising is significantly higher than it was six years ago.

Trust in online advertising is increasing, as is the believability of television, radio and movie advertisements, according to a new global survey of 29,000 consumers in 59 countries by Nielsen in its 2013 Trust in Advertising report.

Word-of-mouth, branded websites and opinions of consumers showed the highest trust levels, while online advertisements in video form, on social networks and in online banners and display ads had the lowest trust levels among consumers.

Ads sent via mobile phone texts were the least trusted of all, even though the level of trust has doubled since the previous survey.

Television ads were in the top five most trusted mediums, and advertisements before movies showed one of the biggest increases. The only medium that showed a slight decrease in trust was newspaper ads (-2 percent).

 

FORMS OF ADVERTISING	2013	2007	% chg.
Recommendations from people I know	84%	78%	6%
Branded websites (owner ads)	69%	60%	9%
Consumer opinions posted online	68%	61%	7%
Editorial content in newspaper articles	67%	—–	—–
Television ads	62%	56%	6%
Brand sponsorships	61%	49%	12%
Ads in newspapers	61%	63%	-2%
Ads in magazines	60%	56%	4%
Billboards and outsides advertising	57%	——	——
Radio ads	57%	54%	3%
Email I signed up for	56%	49%	7%
Ads before movies	56%	38%	18%
TV program product placements	55%	——	——
Ads in search engine results	48%	——	——
Online video ads	48%	——	——
Ads on social networks	48%	——	——
Display ads on mobile devices	45%	——	——
Online banner ads	42%	26%	16%
Text ads on mobile phones	37%	18%	19%