Trust in advertising has risen from 36% to 39% over the past 12 months, primarily driven by young people, according to new research from the Advertising Association (AA).
Trust in ads has grown across all age groups, with a notable 16-point increase among 18- to 34-year-olds since 2022. In contrast, trust among those aged 55 and older has risen by just three points, highlighting that 18- to 34-year-olds are nearly three times more likely to trust advertising than those above 55.
UK advertising think tank Credos attributes this trust gap to a “generational digital divide”. Younger audiences increasingly trust online advertising, while trust among older generations remains low.
Over half (51%) of 18 to 34s trust online ads, compared to 34% of those aged 35 to 54 and just 14% of over-55s. Only 7% of those aged over 55 trust social media and even less (6%) trust influencer advertising. By comparison, the research finds 47% of 18 to 34s trust social media, while 45% trust influencer marketing.
Across the board, trust in all media channels increased, with TV and cinema remaining at the top of the list, according to Credos. For those aged 35 to 54 (49%) and over-55s (31%), TV is the most trusted medium. Cinema tops the list for 18 to 34s (56%), signalling investment in brand advertising remains essential to help build consumer trust.
Source: Advertising Association
The Advertising Association has released the Credos Trust Tracker data for 2024, showing that trust in advertising rose from 36% to 39% over the past 12 months. This is up from 30% in 2022, an increase largely driven by the young. Whilst trust has increased for all age groups, trust amongst 18-34 year-olds has increased by 16 percentage points since 2022, compared to just three percentage points for over 55s. Nevertheless, the latest data underlines a positive trend for all advertisers investing in campaigns to build awareness, promote innovation, support competition, drive economic growth and generate jobs.
The UK’s advertising think tank, Credos, reveals that, for the second year running, trust in all advertising media channels also increased. TV and cinema remain the most trusted channels (trusted by 43% of people) followed closely by radio, news and magazine media, and out of home. Trust in online advertising channels remains lower but continues to rise, particularly amongst the young.
In fact, differing attitudes to media between older and younger age groups is driving a significant contrast in the population when it comes to trust in advertising. People aged 18-34 are almost three times more likely to trust advertising than over 55s. This is driven by a ‘generational digital divide’, whereby younger people’s trust in online advertising has been growing rapidly year-on-year, whilst older people’s trust in online ads has remained low. Further analysis of this trend is available in this Credos article: “Get off my screen!” Explaining the generational trust divide.
Dan Wilks, Director of Credos said:
“There are a number of factors that drove the overall increase in trust in 2024, including a strong festive ad season and more enjoyable advertising, with humour definitely making a comeback post-pandemic. Our qualitative research has also shown an improved ad experience in some channels, with BVOD and influencers in particular being highlighted. Also having significant impact over this period is the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ad campaign, which ran for the third time in 2024. We know that increased public awareness of our co and self-regulatory system has a positive effect on people’s trust in advertising.”
The ASA’s multi-channel national ad awareness campaign’s latest burst ran for eight weeks from early September 2024. The campaign research in October 2024 showed that 36% of UK adults recalled seeing or hearing the ASA ads and those who saw or heard the ads are more than twice as likely to trust the industry than those who did not. These positive attitudes continue to be significantly stronger among those who say they had seen or heard ads for the ASA, with 43% who had seen or heard them saying they ‘tend to trust most ads’ versus 24% who had not seen the ads.
Guy Parker, CEO, Advertising Standards Authority said:
“It’s really good to see continued rises in trust in advertising, underpinned by our own UK-wide ad campaign. At the ASA, we love responsible advertising, we want it to be trusted, and we want it to be deserving of that trust. If we all keep working towards that goal, including with an even bigger and better burst of ASA ads later in 2025, we’ll see even greater benefits to people, to brands, to media and, of course, to the economy.”
Stephen Woodford, CEO, Advertising Association said:
“We are really pleased with these latest tracker results showing increases in trust in advertising across a number of our key metrics. The ASA campaign is clearly a key lever we can pull and we are again incredibly grateful to the brands who lend us their famous assets and straplines, to Leith and EssenceMediacom who are so generous with their creative and media expertise, and to the media owners who donate. We want to do more and plan to build on this in 2025.”
