Recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally, according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey.
The Nielsen survey, of over 25,000 internet consumers from 50 countries, shows that nine in every ten internet consumers worldwide (90%) trust recommendations from people they know, while seven in every ten (70%) trust consumer opinions posted online.
The most trusted form of advertiser-led advertising – brand websites – are trusted by as many people (70%) as consumer opinions posted online.
Jonathan Carson, president of online, international, for the Nielsen Company, said: “The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years – we are now tracking over 100 million CGM sources – means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly.”
He added: “However, we see that all forms of advertiser-led advertising, except ads in newspapers, have also experienced increases in levels of trust and it’s possible that the CGM revolution has forced advertisers to use a more realistic form of messaging that is grounded in the experience of consumers rather than the lofty ideals of the advertisers.”
Britain ranks 24th out of the 50 countries represented in the survey for trusting consumer opinions online, with 68% trusting them.
Elsewhere, 52% of British internet consumers trust brand sponsorships, placing it 34th out of 50, while it ranks 38th amongst the countries surveyed for trusting brand websites, at 58% of internet consumers.
Although brand websites score highly amongst internet consumers, the survey shows that other forms of digital advertising are trusted less than ads appearing in traditional media such as TV billboards, radio, magazines and newspapers – despite the latter being the only form of advertising to experience a drop in levels of trust since the 2007 survey.
Text ads on mobile phones (24%), online banner ads (33%), online video ads (37%) and ads in search engine results (41%) are the forms of advertising least likely to elicit a degree of trust.
ZenithOptimedia recently forecast that online adspend will grow 10.1% globally in 2009. By 2011 it is expected to account for 15.1% of all ad expenditure, up from 10.5% in 2008, with most of this growth coming from paid search (see ZenithOptimedia revises down global ad forecast).
Last month, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe revealed that the European online advertising market was worth €12.9 billion in 2008 (see European online advertising worth €12.9bn in 2008).
