75% people in India still have trust in traditional forms of advertising but trust in consumer opinions posted online is almost on par at 74%. Personal recommendations and editorial content remain the most trusted (90%~). Globally the picture has already changed with consumer opinions posted online much ahead of traditional ads in terms of consumer trust and presumably India will soon go the same way.

Although brand websites score highly amongst Internet consumers, the survey shows that other forms of digital advertising are trusted less than ads appearing in traditional media such as TV, billboards, radio, magazines, and newspapers.

Text ads on mobile phones (43%), online banner ads (46%), online video ads (50%) and ads in search engine results (50%) are the forms of advertising least likely to elicit a degree of trust.

% of respondents that trusted ‘completely’ or ‘somewhat’ in the following forms of advertising: April 2009

Source: Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey April 2009 / Base: Indian Respondents

In this context, it becomes very important to track consumer opinions online, especially in the case of experiential brands like hotels and airlines, which are not only high search categories but also categories in which the purchase decision making and even the “buying” itself has largely moved online.