One of the more significant online marketing trends is branded content -- and the good news is that branded content is not just well received, but trusted by consumers.
New research by native advertising company Vibrant Media into the value consumers place on digital content shows that just two percent more consumers trust content from publications (35 percent) than from brands (33 percent). However, the data also found that there are more consumers who distrust content from publications (18 percent) than there are who distrust content from brands (15.5 percent).
When Vibrant Media’s researchers focused their assessment on media titles and brands with which consumers were familiar, they exposed a greater disparity in levels of distrust between brands and media titles: the number of consumers that distrust content from media titles they know (12 percent) is double the number who distrust content from brands that they know (6 percent).
Craig Gooding, Executive Chairman & Founder of Vibrant Media, said, “The very fact that consumers’ level of trust in branded content is even on par with editorial is very surprising. Moreover, the higher levels of distrust in publishers’ content than branded content shows far less cynicism about branded content than we expected. The findings have reassured us that publishers who offer branded content, or are considering doing so, are not compromising their relationship with consumers – as long as they do so responsibly.”
Vibrant Media’s researchers also found that when consumers want more information about a brand or product after seeing an ad, one in three (33 percent) said the most useful source of information was the advertiser’s own website. This was five times the number of consumers who stated that articles written by journalists about the brand or product are the most useful source of information (6 percent).
Images ranked highest in Vibrant Media’s poll of consumers’ receptivity to branded content formats – 64 percent stating that they were receptive to brands’ images and just 12 percent saying they were not receptive to images. Video content followed, with 57 percent stating they were receptive and 20 percent unreceptive to such branded content.
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