Nielsen Report on Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages – September 2013

KEY HIGHLIGHTS from the Nielsen Report on Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages, September 2013 reveal:-

 

BELIEVABILITY IS KEY IN ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS

 

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY REMAIN MOST CREDIBLE

 

TRUST INCREASES ACROSS NEARLY ALL MEDIA;

TRUST IN NEWSPAPER ADS DECLINES

OWNED MEDIA MOVES TO SECOND MOST TRUSTED MEDIA GLOBALLY

 

ONLINE AND MOBILE ADS INCREASE IN CREDIBILITY

 

REGIONS REPORTING HIGHEST LEVELS OF TRUST ALSO MOST WILLING TO TAKE ACTION ON ADVERTISEMENTS

 

HUMOROUS ADS RESONATE AMONG AUDIENCES AROUND THE WORLD

 

As marketers spend billions of dollars a year on advertising, effectiveness cannot be measured by impressions alone. Resonance

 

is the holy grail of a successful campaign. In a market saturated with clutter, marketers need to reach audiences with advertising messages

 

using the formats that make the most impact, and new findings from Nielsen reveal that trust in online advertising is increasing. While

 

earned advertising in the form of word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family continued to be the most influential source among

 

84 percent of global respondents to a Nielsen online survey, owned advertising on branded websites was the second most trusted format in

 

2013, a rise from fourth-place ranking in 2007. 

The Nielsen Global Survey of Trust in Advertising polled more than 29,000 Internet respondents in 58 countries to measure consumer

 

sentiment on 19 forms of paid, earned and owned advertising formats. Word-of-mouth recommendations increased 6 percentage points

 

from 78 percent in 2007, and owned advertising on branded websites increased 9 percentage points to 69 percent in 2013. Sixty-eight percent

 

of survey respondents indicated that they trust consumer opinions posted online, which ranked third in 2013, up 7 percentage points from

 

2007.

“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.”

 

 

TRUST IN TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING STILL STRONG

Ads on television, in newspapers and in magazines continue to be among the most trusted forms of paid advertising. Trust in

 

television ads increased from 56 percent in 2007 to 62 percent in 2013. Six-in-10 respondents trusted ads in magazines, a rise

 

of 4 percentage points from 2007. Newspaper ads were the only format to decline—61 percent of respondents found newspaper

 

ads credible, down from 63 percent in 2007. Although global ad spend grew only a marginal 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013,

 

traditional paid media continues to own the majority share of spend, with TV in the top spot owning 59 percent, according to

 

Nielsen’s most recent Global AdView Pulse Report.

Ads on radio (57%) and before movies (56%) both gained consumer trust as well, reporting increases of 3 and 18 percentage

 

points, respectively, since 2007. Brand sponsorships (61%) increased 12 percentage points from 2007. Trust in billboards and

 

outdoor advertising (57%), TV program product placements (55%) and editorial content such as newspaper articles (67%), an earned

 

form of traditional advertising, were not included in Nielsen’s 2007 survey.

 

“While TV remains the front-running format for the delivery of marketing messages based on ad spend, consumers globally are

 

also looking to online media to get information about brands,” noted Beard. “On the flipside, earned advertising channels have

 

empowered consumers to advocate for their favorite brands, something that shouldn’t go unnoticed by brand advertisers.”

 

 

TRUST IN ONLINE AND MOBILE GROWING

 

While recommendations from friends and family, as well as consumer opinions posted online, remain among the most trusted forms of

 

messaging, online and mobile advertising formats reported some of the biggest increases in trust since Nielsen’s 2007 survey.

 

In addition to an increase in trust in messages on branded websites, more than half (56%) of respondents said they trust consumerconsented email

messages, an increase of 7 percentage points since 2007. For other online advertising, almost half (48%) trusted ads in search engine results,

online video ads and ads on social networks.

 

More than four in 10 (42%) trusted online banner ads, up from 26 percent in 2007—a form that is steadily seeing increased ad dollars

 

spent, with 26 percent growth in the first quarter of 2013. Forty-five percent of respondents in Nielsen’s 2013 survey believed display ads on

 

mobile phones were credible, and 37 percent trusted text ads on mobile phones, up from 18 percent in 2007.

 

“Increases in the trust of online and mobile advertising demonstrate the growing importance of these formats,” said Beard. “With Internet

 

ad spending reporting double-digit growth, advertisers are exhibiting growing confidence in these formats—or at least a willingness to make

 

the investment. While companies may be unable to directly control the messages in earned media, such as consumer opinions posted online,

 

they have the ability to create a positive presence for their brands on these channels.”

 

 

FOR THE FULL REPORT VISIT:
http://hk.nielsen.com/site/documents/NielsenGlobalTrustinAdvertisingReportSeptember2013.pdf