TRUST IN TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING STILL STRONG
Despite continued media fragmentation, the proliferation of online formats has not eroded trust in traditional (offline) paid channels. TV, newspapers and magazines remain trusted advertising formats. Seven-in-10 UAE respondents say they completely or somewhat trust ads (70%), up one percentage point from 2013. Slightly fewer trust ads in radio and ads in TV (both 67%), which increased four and three percentage points, respectively, from two years ago.
Trust in paid online and mobile ads has stayed relatively consistent since 2013. More than half of UAE respondents say they completely or somewhat trust online videos ads (57%, up eleven percentage points from 2013), ads served in search engine results (54%, up eight percentage points) and ads on social networks (59%, up eight percentage points). Fifty-five of UAE respondents trust online banner ads (up 10 percentage points) and mobile advertising (54%, up six percentage points).
ONLINE FORMATS MAKE IT EASY TO TAKE ACTION
Nielsen’s research shows that trust and action are clearly linked, but credibility is not always a prerequisite to purchase intent. Even lower-trust formats can be extremely effective in driving consumers to the point of purchase.
The same percentage of UAE respondents that trust the opinions of friends and family says they take action on these opinions at least some of the time (85% trust; 87% take action).
For many paid advertising formats, however, self-reported action actually exceeds trust. That is, more consumers say they take action if they find the ad trustworthy. This is particularly true for online and mobile formats. Self-reported action exceeds trust by more than double digits for ads served in search engine results (54% trust; 66% take action), ads on social media (59% trust; 70% take action) and text ads on mobile phones (50% trust; 64% take action).
