AdWeek reports on a new global consumer survey published by Nielsen that found the most popular forms of Internet advertising score at the bottom when it comes to consumer trust. The survey covered 26,000 respondents across 47 markets on their perceptions of different forms of advertising, both traditional and digital, and concluded that the older forms of ad messages (such as those appearing in newspapers, magazines and on TV) far outscored the most popular forms of web ads, search links and banner placements.

The results show that 63% said they trusted newspaper ads and 56% trusted TV spots and magazine placements, whereas banner ads were trusted by just 26% and search ads by 34 %. Even newer forms of digital advertising produced even worse results, such as the growing area of mobile advertising which was trusted by just 18% of respondents.

Even though digital advertising performed badly, other forms of online communication fared much better with consumer opinions posted online being trusted by 61% of respondents, and brand websites by 60%. The most trusted form of "advertising" was shown to be recommendations from other consumers, with 78% of respondents expressing confidence in these.

Other consumer-generated media was also seen to be a potentially powerful way of influencing customers, according to the survey, with 61% saying that they trusted blogs and other forms of consumer-generated media as reliable sources of information. These results provide an interesting perspective on the performance of online advertising and the potential power of blogs and other social networking sites as marketing tools.