Online ads earn more trust in Southeast Asia: Nielsen

The company's Global Survey of Trust in Advertising polled more than 29,000 Internet respondents in 58 countries, measuring sentiment toward 19 forms of paid, earned and owned advertising.

Since the prior edition of the study in 2007, online advertising saw the largest increase in trust levels for Southeast Asian consumers. Sixty‐eight percent of Indonesian consumers said they trust consumer‐consented email messages (up 16 points from 2007 and 11 points higher than the global average), followed by the Philippines (down one point to 66 per cent), Singapore (up nine points to 62 per cent) and Malaysia (up 11 points to 61 per cent).

Online banner ads also recorded a positive shift in trust compared with 2007 and enjoy higher trust than the global average. Trust in banner ads rose seven points to 48 per cent in Indonesia, 15 points to 47 per cent in Thailand, four points to 46 per cent in the Philippines and 20 points to 44 per cent in Malaysia.

More than half of consumers in Indonesia (57 per cent), Philippines (57), Thailand (56) and Malaysia (52) trust ads in search-engine results, a category where the global average is 48 per cent.

The majority also trust online video ads in Indonesia (52 per cent), the Philippines (51), Thailand (51) and Malaysia (50).

For comparison, word-of-mouth is trusted by a low of 79 per cent in Thailand and a high of 89 per cent in the Philippines, while trust in TV ads runs between 70 and 78 per cent.

Brand marketers should take heart in results about brand-owned website advertising. Trust in this medium runs well above the global average of 69 per cent in Southeast Asia, with the exception of Singapore. Trust in brand websites grew 11 points to 82 per cent in the Philippines, 21 points to 76 per cent in Thailand, seven points to 75 per cent in Indonesia, seven points to 72 per cent in Malaysia and three point to 75 per cent among consumers in Vietnam.