Bangkok--1 Sep--Nielsen
Recommendations by personal acquaintances are the most trusted forms of advertising in Thailand and globally, according to a recent Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, with editorial content such as newspaper articles and brand websites ranking second and third respectively.
Conducted twice-a-year among 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and Middle East, Nielsen most recently surveyed consumers on their attitudes towards sixteen types of advertising. In Thailand, 500 internet users aged 15 and above were interviewed.
In Thailand, Personal Recommendations and Editorial Content play major roles in the consumer decision-making process. 85 percent of online consumers place their highest level of trust in other consumers, up from 81 percent in the previous survey in 2007, whilst 72 percent say that they trust Editorial Content such as newspaper articles and 70 percent rely on information from a Brand’s Website.
The Trust in Advertising element of the survey was first conducted in April 2007 and the two years since then reveals that Brand Websites have seen the greatest increase in levels of trust -- from 55 percent of Internet consumers in April 2007 to 70 percent in April 2009 -- an absolute increase of 15 percentage points.
In line with global trends, Consumer Opinion Posted Online is also gaining the trust of Thai Internet users. Nielsen found 60 percent of Thai consumers said they trusted Consumer Opinion Posted Online, up from 51 percent from the previous survey in April 2007. However, traditional forms of advertising are still ahead, such as Ads on TV, Ads in Newspapers (65 & 61percent respectively).
“In Thailand, we see Recommendations from Other Consumers and Consumer Opinions Posted Online have experienced increases in levels of trust, implying that Thai consumers tend to rely on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t,” said Aaron Cross, Managing Director, The Nielsen Company Thailand
He added “This is backed up by past Nielsen studies which showed that the majority of people posting comments online went to the advertiser website or emailed feedback to the company before they posted. The website, and monitoring feedback through it, is a golden opportunity for advertisers to shape the tone and content of consumer opinion before it reaches the digital masses.”
Text ads on mobile phones (24 percent), online banner ads (33 percent), online video ads (40 percent) are the forms of advertising least likely to elicit a degree of trust in Thailand.
Brand websites, globally the most trusted form of advertiser-led advertising, hold the greatest sway in China (82 percent). Following China are Pakistan (81 percent) and Vietnam (80 percent). However, brand websites tend to be trusted least amongst Swedish (40 percent) and Israeli (45 percent) Internet consumers.
“The significant increase of levels of trust of Brand Websites and Consumer Opinions Posted Online can be partly attributed to the increasing internet population in Thailand.
said Duncan Falzon, Executive Director, Media, The Nielsen Company Thailand. “According to the latest findings of our Nielsen Media Index study in June 2009, 69 percent of Thai consumers claim that the Internet is their first source when they want to search for information, up from 61 percent in June 2008.”
“Despite the huge increase in the size of the world’s Internet population and the sheer amount of time being spent online, the industry has yet to attract advertising revenue consummate with the current levels of online media consumption,” commented Falzon