A survey conducted by MarketingSherpa reveals that consumers view traditional advertising as more trustworthy than digital advertising.

Now this does not mean that digital advertising is viewed as untrustworthy. This chart shows that search engine marketing (e.g., Google AdWords, Bing Ads) is viewed as relatively reputable, along with pre-roll ads. The least trustworthy ads are the online pop-ups, eschewed by most brands and the advertising industry.

The reason for consumer’s attitudes toward traditional over digital ads could be due to the fact that traditional media has been with us since the ancient Egyptians carved public notices in steel.  In the context of time, calling digital a newcomer is a major overstatement. Perhaps digital just needs to be around a little longer to earn the respect bestowed to traditional ads.

As digital technology progresses and becomes even more ubiquitous, it’ll be interesting to see how the trust factor changes. Metrics like consumers’ views of trustworthiness make for interesting discussions, but one thing is true, advertisers will use whichever touchpoints perform best against their objectives and within their budget parameters.