Sponsored Content Has A Trust Problem

Sponsored Content Has a Trust Problem

Do you have trust issues with sponsored content? Chartbeat recently conducted a survey that revealed how users respond to a sponsored story. While 48 percent of respondents believe that “sponsored content” means that an advertiser paid for the article to be created and had influence on the article’s content, more than half 52 percent thought it meant something different.

(Chart via Chartbeat)

A few more shocking finds from the survey:

• Two-thirds of readers have felt deceived upon realizing that an article or video was sponsored by a brand.
• 54 percent of readers don’t trust sponsored content.
• 59 percent of readers believe a news site loses credibility if it runs articles sponsored by a brand.
• As education level increases, so does mistrust of sponsored content.
• And yet, respondents rated branded content as more trustworthy than Fox News, and nearly equally trustworthy as MSNBC, indicating that content has a mistrust problem overall.

Have you ever felt deceived upon realizing that an article or video was sponsored by a brand?

(Chart via Contently)

Conclusion? Sponsored content is blooming, but the article featured on Contently proves that brands and publishers still have a long way to go to earn readers’ engagement, attention and trust.