AND BRANDS IN POST-TRUTH ERA
· 83% of Indian news consumers are concerned about fake news
· Nearly three quarters find it hard to distinguish real from fake news
Courtesy – BBC World News and BBC.com report ‘Value of News’.
In an ever-changing and connected world, news stories are affecting audiences’ lives like never before. BBC World News and BBC.com published a study* of APAC news consumers on the value of trusted news sources in the fake news era.
With regional events having a greater impact globally, audiences turn to news sources in order to gain clarity and insight on global stories.
The BBC study revealed new insights into the value of trust for brands advertising on media outlets. Traditional news publishers are the most trusted type of digital platform and the trust level for brands associated with these outlets is more than 40% higher than digital native news websites. In India, 69% say they would trust an advertiser more and almost three quarters (73%) say their brand consideration would increase if it is advertised on a trusted news channel or website. In addition, they are more inclined to read sponsored content on these sites (78% agree). Conversely, more than seven out of ten people (71%) say that being associated with an untrusted media outlet would negatively affect their perception of a brand.
The new BBC study, titled ‘The Value of News – and the Importance of Trust’, revealed that 85% of Indian news consumers say that international news is more important now than ever before – the highest across the countries surveyed. However, 83% are concerned about fake news and 72% find it hard to distinguish between real and fake news. 83% of respondents say they are more inclined to refer to well-known and established news brands because of fake news.
TV is still the most popular platform for Indians who want to stay up-to-date with international news, with 93% saying they use it, followed by social media (80%), newspapers (62%), news apps (54%), websites (45%) and news aggregators (44%). The study shows that news consumers both in India and across the wider APAC region consider BBC World News to be the most trusted international news channel.
According to The Global Web Index, consumers’ use of digital news/social feeds complements, rather than cannibalises, news consumption on pay TV. Across APAC, online news consumers are four times as likely to watch international news** channels as those who don’t consume news online and 94% of Indian mobile phone users share international news stories on messaging platforms – again the most of any country surveyed.
Jim Egan, CEO for BBC Global News Ltd, said: “These results reveal the full extent to which India is feeling the effects of the fake news phenomenon. Trust is becoming increasingly important as people seek out information they can rely on and the BBC’s traditional values of accuracy and impartiality have never been more relevant to both audiences and brands who can benefit from being aligned with them.”
Brandturks 