Trust in Sponsored Content Runs Low

July 11, 2014

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Loyalty & Purchase Habits | Creative & Formats | Digital | Magazines | Newspapers | Sponsorships

Contently-Trust-in-Sponsored-Content-July2014Some 54% of internet users aged 18-65 say they generally don’t trust sponsored content, with most of the remainder only trusting such content if they trust the publication it runs on (19%) or they already trust the brand (23%). That’s according to survey results from Contently, which also found that two-thirds of respondents have at some point felt deceived upon realizing that an article or video they read was sponsored by a brand.

The results bring to mind a study released in late 2012 by MediaBrix, which revealed that a majority of online adults find advertising that appears as content (“native ads”) to be misleading. The results are interesting in light of a Polar analysis of data within its native advertising platform suggesting that the more closely aligned a native unit is with the publisher’s content (on a style basis), the better it will perform.

Separately, a survey conducted by Hexagram and Spada found that 8 in 10 publishers and 2 in 3 brands that have used native advertising reported having received no backlash at all to their use of the campaigns. That’s despite almost 6 in 10 respondents to the Contently survey claiming that they think a news site loses credibility if it runs articles sponsored by a brand.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of respondents to the Contently survey said they would not be as likely to click on an article sponsored by a brand as they would to click on editorial content. And, intriguingly, a majority 57% said they would prefer that their favorite news sites ran banner ads instead of sponsored articles (assuming the sponsor would have some influence over the content).

Finally, in a relative ranking of perceived quality, respondents ranked articles in print newspapers and print magazines as having the highest quality, followed in descending order by: articles on a news website; advertorials in a printed magazine; sponsored articles on a news website; articles on a brand’s website, and blog posts by mommy bloggers.

About the Data: The data is based on a survey of 542 US internet users aged 18-65. Some 53% are male, and close to 6 in 10 are aged 18-44.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This