Just 22% Of Consumers Trust 'Native' Ads, Study Finds

Engagement with "native" advertising -- more commonly called sponsored content -- varies by age, according to a new study from Outbrain.

While 28% of respondents report having clicked on native ads in the last six months, only 22% trust what they read.

That's still better than Facebook, which has a 17% trust level. 

That lack of trust isn't caused by failure to understand the content: 57% grasp the content in native ads, vs. 52% for Facebook.

Not that mistrust is limited to native ads.

“The majority of ad environments breed distrust among consumers,” points out Arnon Sobol, vice president, global business strategy-data solutions at Outbrain.

So what is native advertising? Learn.g2 defines it as "a type of paid advertising that provides valuable information to a user on a third-party website without disrupting the natural flow of the surrounding content." Sounds like it can be easily integrated into an email newsletter. 

That is all well and good. But only 40% of consumers always find interesting and engaging content and value in recommendations.

Males are more likely to claim that they understand native material (64% say they do).

By generations, 53% of boomers say they understand why they're being shown the ads, compared with 62% of millennials and 59% of people in Generation X.

Boomers are also less likely to say that they learn about new products and/or brands through these ads, and only 22% find them relevant to their interests, versus 44% of millennials. And a mere 18% of boomers say they use them to make purchase decisions, versus 30% of millennials.

Sobol concludes that “brands must work harder to ensure they are serving relevant content and that their message is reaching the right audience.”

 

1 comment about "Just 22% Of Consumers Trust 'Native' Ads, Study Finds".
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  1. Ronald Kurtz from American Affluence Research Center, August 9, 2019 at 11:28 a.m.

    Looks like big differences between boomers and millennials. Wonder if this might be the result of boomers having more experience and self confidence in making their purchase decisions. 

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