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16 October 2007
Bangkok
Despite an ever-expanding array of advertising platforms and sources, consumers around the world still place their highest levels of trust in other consumers, according to a recent global Nielsen Internet survey.
Conducted twice-a-year among 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East, Nielsen most recently surveyed consumers on their attitudes toward thirteen types of advertising – from conventional newspaper and television ads to branded web sites and consumer-generated content. In Thailand, 500 internet users aged 15 and above were interviewed.
“Advertisers around the world are able to reach consumers across an increasingly diverse range of media platforms,” said Chantira Luesakul, managing director of ACNielsen, Thailand. “Even so, the recommendation of someone else remains the most trusted sources of information when consumers decide which products and services to buy. And even though new media technologies are playing a role in ‘globalizing’ society, many purchasing decisions are still based on firmly held national and cultural attitudes. Furthermore, given that nothing travels faster than bad news - with estimates that reports of bad experiences outnumber good service reports by as many as 5:1 - the importance of responsive, high quality customer service is yet again highlighted.”
The Nielsen survey found half of Thai consumers (51%) said they believe in advertising. The most trusting overall of all forms of advertising are Filipinos and Brazilians (67%) while trust among Danes (28%), Italians (32%), Lithuanians (34%) and Germans (35%) were the lowest in the world.
Top Five/Bottom Five – Trust in Advertising
Philippines 67%
Brazil 67%
Mexico 66%
South Africa 64%
Taiwan 63%
Latvia 38%
Germany 35%
Lithuania 34%
Italy 32%
Denmark 28%
Categorizing trust by form of advertising in Thailand, consumer recommendations (Word of mouth) ranked first with 81 percent of respondents saying that they trust what they hear from other consumers the most, followed by traditional media like TV (66%), Newspapers (62%) and Magazines (59%) respectively. Online banner ads (32%) and mobile phone Ads (29%) are the least trustworthy. (Table 1) “This is music to the ears of advertisers who continue to allocate the bulk of their ad dollars to the traditional media in Thailand” Ms Luesakul added.
While new platforms like the Internet are beginning to catch up with older media in terms of ad revenues, traditional advertising channels around the world continue to retain the public’s trust. Ads in newspapers rank second worldwide among all media categories, at 63 percent overall, while television, magazines and radio each ranked above 50 percent. Such advertising scored best in Latin America and most poorly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) regions.
Although consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78 percent of the study’s respondents globally, Nielsen research found significant national and regional differences regarding this and other mediums. Word of mouth, for example, generates considerable levels of trust across much of Asia Pacific. Seven of the top ten markets that rely most on “recommendations from consumers” are in this region, including Hong Kong (93%), Taiwan (91%) Indonesia (89%), India (87%), South Korea (87%), Philippines (86%) and New Zealand (83%). At the other end of the global spectrum, Europeans, generally, are least likely to trust what they hear from other consumers, particularly in Denmark (62%) and Italy (64%).
The reliability of consumer opinions posted online – which rated third, at 61 percent overall – also varies throughout the world, scoring highest in North America and Asia, at 66 and 62 percent respectively. Among individual markets, web-based opinions such as Blogs are most trusted in South Korea (81%) and Taiwan (76%) and India (73%), while scoring lowest, at 35 percent, in Finland. In Thailand, consumers (51%) consider web-based opinions as sources of trustworthy information
The Survey
The Nielsen Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey is the largest half-yearly survey of its kind, aimed at gauging current confidence levels, spending habits/intentions and current major concerns of consumers across the globe. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumer’s confidence in the job market, status of their personal finance and their readiness to spend. The latest survey, conducted in the last two weeks of April, polled about 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East.
AThe Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
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