Consumers Trust Traditional Media Ads Most

Newspaper advertising is the most-trusted form of paid media advertising in North America. 63 percent of the North American respondents in a global Nielsen survey among 29,000 consumers stated that they trust newspaper ads, according to statista.com.

Newspapers just edge out magazine and TV ads, which are trusted by 62 and 61 percent of the polled consumers. The most trusted form of paid online advertising is search engine advertising, which is considered trustworthy by just 44 percent of the respondents.

The results clearly indicate that consumers still have trust issues with online ads, although it needs to be noted that the perception of digital advertising has greatly improved over the past few years. Both search engine ads and online banner ads saw double-digit increases in consumer trust since 2007, indicating that consumers are gradually getting used to these new forms of advertising.