Survey says: consumers trust traditional media more than digital

July 12th, 2012

Do you trust the information you get from television more than what you see online? Many people apparently do. In fact, most consumers trust several forms of traditional media more than the Internet.

On the other hand, they trust the research they do themselves online more than information from TV, radio or newspapers.

In a large-scale survey that included over 24,000 North American local media users, Triton Digital’s Application & Services division found that consumers trust traditional media more than digital.

Specifically, television was rated the most trusted medium by respondents (45 percent) followed by newspapers (20 percent) and radio (18 percent). The Immediate Insights survey found that digital (13 percent) and social media (four percent) were the least trusted media sources.

Impacts advertising success

The survey also reports that this trust may have a direct impact on the success of advertisements in each medium.

For example, more than 64 percent of consumers acknowledged that they have made a purchase after seeing it advertised on television, radio or in a newspaper.

Conversely, consumers were more apt to trust their own internet research (61 percent) over television commercials (28 percent), radio commercials (21 percent), or newspaper ads (16 percent).

Recommendation engines scored low

Recommendation engines also scored low, with 17 percent of respondents noting that they influence buying decisions.

“While digital media continues to explode in popularity and affect traditional media usage, the underlying trust of media consumers toward digital compared to traditional media are not yet equal,” said Triton VP of Business Strategy, Jim Kerr.

“Similarly, traditional media advertising continues to prove effective and more likely to influence purchase decisions than digital ads.”

In addition to media trust and advertising influence, the survey also examined consumer interactivity with traditional media. The full results of the survey can be found at:http://tritondigital.com/Media/Default/Documents/2012-06-01-Media-Influence-Survey.pdf.