Traditional media remains trusted advertising platform
PETALING JAYA: Despite the rapid growth of social media, traditional media remains a trusted and reliable advertising platform in the current digital age.
Media analysts contacted by Starbiz said that amid the digital wave, advertisers are still bullish on traditional media as an effective advertising channel as it has elements of trust, reliability, transparency and quality content.
They concurred that although digital would be the future but with fake news and unverified contents making headways, traditional media would still be consumers main choice for reliable and credible news and as a platform for brand building.
“At the same time, online news and campaigns from publishers are also fast catching up in advertising and brand building,” an analyst noted.
One of the latest global research by Havas Media Group in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal/barron’s Group, among others, has revealed that ads that run in print and on television garner more audience trust than digital and social campaigns. “Sixty percent of respondents trust ads that run in print media compared to 58% that run on television and 49% that are published on a digital platform, it noted.”
Havas Media Group global chief strategy officer Greg James said: “It is important to note that across generations, whether you’re a millennial or a baby boomer, there is a shared understanding of what makes a news source trustworthy.
“The definition hasn’t really changed. Print is still perceived as the most reliable source for dependable, quality news content. This study highlighted the definite skepticism around social media.
“People trust content they see in print, on television, and digitally significantly more than the exact same content on social, which was surprising,” he added.
He said that in order for brands to become more meaningful, they need to appear in media that matters most to their audience.
“There is a correlation between where we show up and what impact we have; at Havas, we help our clients appear in places that are trusted, engaging, and influential,” he said.
Meanwhile, Havas Malaysia Group managing director Andrew Lee, who is also the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) president, added that: “People are now desiring unadulterated facts that they can count on in the media.
“Not spin. Not lies. Not woven stories. Just a straightforward reporting that will allow them to make their own conclusions.”
The global research drew on the attitudes and behaviors of 5,509 respondents who were regular consumers of news media across the globe, including North America, Europe, and Asia-pacific, and spanned ages, genders, and socio-political points of view.
People are also more likely to trust a brand built on transparency, integrity, and reliability, the study noted.
More than a third (36%) of respondents said a key element of their trust in a news organisation was based on a trustworthy past. Strong, well-researched news content backed up by facts and figures was also a key component in gaining an audience’s trust.
The global survey highlighted that the same quality content is less trusted on social than on other platforms. “Eighty percent of respondents trust high-quality news organisations’ content on their “owned channels,” but this drops to 57% when that same content appears on the organisation’s social platforms,” it added.