Commentary

Branded Content And Publication Editorial Trusted Almost Equally By Consumers

by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, August 22, 2014

According to new research from Vibrant Media into the value consumers place on digital content, just 2% more consumers trust content from publications (35%) than from brands (33%). However, the data also found that there are more consumers who distrust content from publications (18%) than there are who distrust content from brands (15.5%).

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%) is double the number who distrust content from brands that they know (6%).

When looking for more information about a brand after seeing an ad, one-third of respondents said the most useful source of information was the advertiser’s own website, with this emerging as the top choice ahead of others such as videos (19%), images (18%), advertorials (8%) and articles written by journalists about the brand (6%), according to a Marketing Charts report.

Consumer Receptiveness To Brand Content Formats (Respondents Aged 13-64 Owning Internet Connected Computer, Mobile Phone Or Tablet)
*Content*	*% Very or Receptive*	*% Unreceptive*
Images	64%	12%
Videos	57	20
Articles	46	18
Ads	44	24
Audio clips	42	28
Social media updates	42	31
Source: Vibrant Media, August 2014

Consumers aged 13-34 years old proved to be more trusting of all content producers, compared to those aged 35-64. The study also found that 50% of respondents feel that it is important they be informed that an advertiser has paid for content. The research results offer reassurance to publishers considering introducing branded content along with their editorial, says the report.

Craig Gooding, Executive Chairman & Founder of Vibrant Media, said, “… the fact that consumers’ level of trust in branded content is… on par with editorial… is very surprising… the higher levels of distrust in publishers’ content than branded… shows far less cynicism… than expected… the findings… reassure… publishers… offering (responsible) branded content… are not compromising their relationship with consumers…”

http://www.vibrantmedia.com/press/press.asp?section=press_releases&id=274

digital, digital content, research, trust-based marketing

5 comments about "Branded Content And Publication Editorial Trusted Almost Equally By Consumers".

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Howie Goldfarb from Blue Star Strategic Marketing, August 22, 2014 at 6:58 a.m.
Your title should read ...ONLY 35% of consumers trust content from brands and publishers. because that is what the takeaway here is. I know Vibrant is biased because that is their business but Media Post has to be Switzerland.
Reply

Jonathan Hutter from Northern Light Health, August 22, 2014 at 7:44 a.m.

Significant use...of ellipses...erodes trust in veracity.

Jim Pothier from Hero Digital Network, August 22, 2014 at 8:13 a.m.

I think the better takeaway is that sly branded content is turning the whole thing into a convoluted mess of distrust across the board. Hey look, they now hate our content as much as our ads - we did it!

Juli Schatz from Image Grille, August 22, 2014 at 9:58 a.m.

Note the paragraph below from a recent MediaPost email. This has to be a record for ellipses used in a single paragraph, much less an entire document! No professional journalist would ever do something like this. The original press release from Vibrant is NOT worded like this, and MediaPost has not only done a disservice to that company by editing Goodings' comments as it did, it has also diminished its creditability as a media resource.

"Craig Gooding, Executive Chairman & Founder of Vibrant Media, said, “… the fact that consumers’ level of trust in branded content is… on par with editorial… is very surprising… the higher levels of distrust in publishers’ content than branded… shows far less cynicism… than expected… the findings… reassure… publishers… offering (responsible) branded content… are not compromising their relationship with consumers…” "

Jim Brouwer from Krell Lab, LLC, August 22, 2014 at 11:49 a.m.

This report (and reporting) flies in the face of RB's 07/29/14 article “Sponsored Content has a Trust Problem” which was based on Contently research. My first impression in reading this article was that there was pressure to publish the opposite view. We see this all the time — coffee is bad for you / coffee is good for you (enter your own example here).

Worth noting from the Contently research, most users have no clue as to the terminology marketers and advertisers use to describe “sponsored” or “branded” content.

Perhaps the scariest takeaway from all of this is how gullible too many readers/viewers really are. More should take heed of The Royal Society's motto ‘ Nullius in verba’ (roughly translated meaning ‘take nobody's word for it,’ or ‘on the word of no one’). Just a thought.