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. 

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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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