Irish Internet users are over three times as likely to trust Irish content sites compared to social networks and almost twice as likely to trust content over portal sites according to a study by the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Ireland. Results also showed that respondents are almost twice as likely to believe that advertising on Irish content sites is better at influencing positive brand opinion.
The study examined 1,500 Irish Internet users’ attitudes to online content and their level of engagement across Irish content sites (e.g. Irish newspaper, TV, radio and magazine sites), social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and portals (e.g. MSN, Yahoo!).
Results found that the more engaged a user is with a particular site, the more effective advertising on that site is likely to be.
The key engagement findings from the research report included:
- 61% of Irish Internet users believe that Irish content sites are trustworthy (18% for social networks/35% for portals)
- 57% of Irish Internet users believe Irish content sites are an essential source of information (28% for social networks/37% for portals)
- 49% of participants thought that Irish content sites are opinion leaders (27% for social networks/27% for portals)
The key advertising results from the survey included:
- 81% of Irish internet users agree that advertising is well matched to the content on Irish content sites (63% for social networks/69% for portals)
- 30% of research participants said that they have searched for a brand prompted by advertising on Irish content sites (23% for social networks/26% for portals)
- 25% of the survey respondents have bought a brand prompted by advertising on Irish content and news sites (14% for social networks/20% for portals)
- 22% of Irish Internet users report that they have purchased a product/service after seeing content about it on Irish content and news sites (15% for social networks/15% for portals)
Commenting on the results, Julian Douglas, chairman of AOP Ireland, said, “Trying to understand the relationship between consumers and online advertising is complicated as although they may visit certain sites frequently and spend considerable time on them, they may not actually notice the advertising. The environment and context drives advertising engagement, and the study illustrates that responsiveness is strongest on Irish content sites compared to social media and portals.”
Gerard O’Neill of Amárach Research, who carried out the research for AOP added, “The research findings are fascinating given the huge focus on social media today. Irish consumers are differentiating between the types of sites that they use, and it is clear that Irish content sites play a unique and powerful role in meeting their online needs.”
AOP Ireland is an industry body representing Irish digital publishing companies that create original, branded, local, quality content. Current members include entertainment.ie, irishtimes.com, tv3.ie, independent.ie and rte.ie.
