Print ads in newspapers and magazines are the most trusted advertising channel when consumers are making a purchase decision. According to a report in PR Newswire, MarketingSherpa asked 2,400 U.S. consumers in general which type of advertising channels do they trust more when they want to make a purchase decision.

More than four out of five Americans (82 per cent) trust print ads (newspaper, magazines), while 80 per cent trust TV ads. Online pop-ups were only trusted by a quarter of Americans.

Of the 13 channels surveyed, the top five channels were all traditional channels, and the bottom eight channels were all digital channels. Search engine ads (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.) were the most trusted digital channel (61 per cent).

The MarketingSherpa article “Marketing Chart: Which advertising channels consumers trust most and least when making purchases” includes the full data along with an analysis.

“This consumer attitude presents a challenge for digital marketers,” said senior director of Editorial Content, MarketingSherpa, Daniel Burstein. “Some of the elements of digital marketing that make the channel so popular – it’s trackability, targeting and low cost thanks to greater inventory – are also its Achilles’ heel compared to traditional advertising.

While the vaunted New York Times features ‘All the News That’s Fit to Print,’ digital content pretty much just stops at ‘All.’ There’s very high value online content – even most print publications publish online as well – but that real value is drowning in a sea of mediocrity or worse, and as a whole, it damages consumers’ trust.”

“So digital marketers must be careful with their media buying. But they must also ensure their digital advertising has a credible value proposition and follows a customer-first marketing approach that attracts – instead of alienating – consumers.”