Opportunities for strategic marketing in Spain as Spanish find internet trustworthy

WARC, 25 February 2014

MADRID: A majority of Spanish internet users find it to be more credible and trustworthy than mainstream media such as television and newspapers a new report has said.

The study from IAB Spain and Madison – el Primer Estudio de Medios de Comunicación Online – polled 1,003 internet users on their online media habits and found that 76% scored the internet "high or very high" in these terms.

This was significantly ahead of mainstream media, as newspapers scored 53%, radio 52% and television just 50%. Magazines (39%) and cinema (29%) had the lowest scores.

The internet was also the medium most valued for brand awareness and brand research, consistently ranking above other media. But where traditional media scored more strongly on brand awareness than research, the internet reversed that order.

Further, some 57% of those surveyed said they paid more than a little attention to advertisements they saw online. The most receptive group were aged between 35 and 55. Those paying least attention to online advertising were those under 35 and over 55.

If an advertisement had successfully grabbed their attention, respondents were most likely to register for points or promotions (15% scored this action highly) or to look at the opinions of other users (14%). Requesting additional information (11%) and writing one's own review (6%) were less popular.

Younger users and students were most likely to look at other's opinions, while the propensity to register for points and promotions increased with age. And across the board women were most likely to undertake these actions.

When asked about sharing links, fully 81% of those surveyed forwarded an ad link at least occasionally, with women and younger (25-34) people most likely to do so.

Among the report's other findings were that social media sites were by far the most visited, with 63% of respondents doing so on a daily basis.

This compared to the 48% who went to a mass media site every day – TV and radio, newspapers and magazines and thematic portals. General portals such as Yahoo! and Terra were close behind on 45%, while forums and blogs attracted 29% and shopping sites 14%.

Within the mass media classification, newspapers were visited by almost twice as many internet users as any other type of site. Some 45% frequented them daily, while 24% called in at thematic portals. Radio sites (14%), television (11%) and magazines (9%) made up the rest.

Data sourced from IAB Spain; additional content by Warc staff

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