Advertising Trust Survey

It’s no secret that most of us put more stock in the recommendations we get from friends and family than in traditional advertising. The latest data from Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey shows just how dramatic that shift is:

1. 92% of consumers trust earned media (word-of-mouth, friend or family recommendations, etc.) above all other advertising. That’s an increase of 18% since 2007.

2. Less than 50% trust paid ads in traditional media. That’s a decline of more than 20% since 2009.

3. Search ads get the highest “relevance rating” from Nielsen’s global panel of respondents (42%), followed by video ads (36%), ads on social networks (36%) and then banner ads (33%). According to Nielsen’s global head for advertiser solutions Randall Beard, this shows that “there is still much potential for marketers looking to reach the right audience through advertiser-driven messages.”

4. One of their conclusions, found on page 8, is that there is “room for improvement by marketers to make a more personal connection with consumers.”

Full Report: global-trust-in-advertising-2012

For this survey, Nielsen interviewed 28,000 online consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.