Eight out of Ten People Showed Trust in Advertising: ASCI-ISA

A study assigned by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), which was operated by Nielsen, showed a high level of trust in advertising. ASCI-ISA has figured out,  in this recent study, that eight out of 10 people trusted advertising messages through media.

Based on the ASCI's statement "TV was the most common medium for consumption of advertising, followed by digital, print and radio. Viewership of TV ads is driven by non-metro markets. Interestingly, viewership of ads on digital is the same in rural as it is in metros."

According to Prasun Basu, Global Head, Strategic Alliances and New Verticals Nielsen, this act indicates the growing significance and essentiality of this medium within the country.

"ASCI spotted early that the growing consumption of digital content and advertising pointed to a permanent change in consumer behavior and marketing. Accordingly, it set up robust monitoring mechanisms for digital platforms alongside its monitoring of print and TV advertising. It now scans more than 3,000 digital platforms for misleading messages," the statement said.

Besides, the report disclosed that advertising seen on traditional media continues to enjoy high trust amongst consumers.

"Advertising in newspapers emerged as the most trusted, closely followed by that on TV and Radio. Text/SMS ads were the least trusted at 52 per cent," the statement cited.

In terms of shifts, consumers put greater trust in advertisements consumed on TV, print, radio, social media, outdoor and search engines as compared to what they did in a similar survey conducted by Nielsen in 2015, but there is a fall in the percentage of consumers trusting text messages over this period.

Among sectors, audiences displayed a very high level of trust for advertisements of educational institutions at 82 per cent.

As it is stated, "This is possibly because culturally, Indians have a strong belief in education as a means to secure their future. Ironically, ASCI finds that a significant portion of misleading ads come from the education sector. ASCI therefore has a high focus on education sector advertising."