Which communication channels are the most credible?

When communication and public relations experts approach the issue of reaching the right target audience through the right medium, the credibility of that channel is going to be one of the most important areas to consider. To understand how credible different channels are, Ipsos Public Affairs released an in-depth study into how individuals perceive different communication…

When communication and public relations experts approach the issue of reaching the right target audience through the right medium, the credibility of that channel is going to be one of the most important areas to consider.

To understand how credible different channels are, Ipsos Public Affairs released an in-depth study into how individuals perceive different communication avenues.

The global survey revealed that mainstream media sources are still the most valuable for individuals, with a majority reporting that these are the most important for their business. This sector, which includes TV news, magazines and newspapers, was also the most frequently used by members of the public.

Of these, TV news was the most credible and widely used source. Across the 12 countries that were surveyed, 68 per cent reported commonly relying on this news source.

While established news sources came out at the top of this study, individuals also ranked company-generated news highly. Content written in a company’s voice came in second place, with websites and business communications among the leading areas individuals responded to. In fact, 66 per cent of respondents ranked websites as either credible or very credible.

In third place within the study was news and content generated in the voice of the consumer. Ipsos reported that social networking sources and blogs from consumers were not as popular as content generated directly by companies.

However, there was an outlier within this category – conversations. People ranked very highly those products that came with personal recommendations from friends and family, scoring them above established avenues like radio news. In fact, 78 per cent of respondents consider these conversations to be credible.

Australian respondents to the survey were also less likely to trust information from other consumers, with those in the country reporting a preference for company-generated content.

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