News brands’ own media channels are essential for the trust of the users. That is the finding of the worldwide “Trust in News” study by Havas Media. Researchers interviewed 5,509 news followers around the globe, finding the “halo effect” of trusted news media reflects strongly on the commercial messages of advertisers.

News channels add value to advertisers

Respondents said they experience editorial content differently on various media platforms. For example, 80% of respondents rated articles on news brands’ own platforms as reliable. However, if the same content is presented on social platforms, it is only trusted by 57% of readers.

Understanding the halo effect

Due to the halo effect, trust in the media brands positively influences the trust in the displayed advertising. In the study, this effect is calculated for each media channel:

• Trust in printed news media has an effect on 83% of the trust in advertisements.
• With TV news, the halo effect is 76%.
• With digital news platforms, 73%.

Intuition plays a role in content evaluation

By taking the response time into account, the study makes it clear that social media messages are less trusted and that decision is made in a split second. This skepticism is much stronger in social channels than in editorial media. This became evident from the comparison of global news brands (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Economist, Reuters, CNN, BBC) and social platforms (Facebook and LinkedIn).

The findings from the Havas study are in line with other studies. The study The Halo Effect by Integral Ad Science indicates that advertisements within high-quality editorial content scored 74% better than advertisements in a different context. Research by the German Quality Alliance also confirms that quality journalism enhances the advertising impact considerably.

About the Havas “Trust in News” study

Havas commissioned the study to determine the influence of trust in a medium on a message or advertisement. The online survey was conducted by Kadence International among 5,509 news consumers in the United States, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific. The study includes 79 news brands, each with its own specific media channels. To measure the intuition of the respondents, implicit association tests (IAT) were applied in the study.

Based on the findings presented, Havas has now developed its own planning tools that take context, relevance, quality and attention into account for each media strategy.

Sources: Magazine Media.be, Editorial Media

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