Mumbai: As proof that relationships are the locus of several aspects of life, recommendations or advocacy by personal acquaintances has emerged as the most trusted form of advertising by Indian respondents, garnering 93% of the votes in the latest quarterly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey.

The survey covers at least 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries and 500 respondents in India.

Editorial content such as newspaper articles and brand websites follow with 87% and 78% of the votes, respectively.

The fact that personal recommendations, especially via online, are gaining trust is in line with global trends, says Prasanth Mohanachandran, executive director, digital services, OgilvyOne Worldwide India.

Brand advocacy, he adds, has the potential to grow online as there are only 48 million active Internet users in India of a total 88 million net users.

Personal recommendation and editorial content are seen as unbiased information about a product or service and plays a major role in consumer’s decision-making process, said Vatsala Pant, associate director, consumer research, The Nielsen Co. “The fact that brand websites—the most trusted form of advertiser-led advertising—follows on their heels in terms of trust should be quite encouraging for advertisers.”

Trust levels for brand sponsorship rose from 52% in April 2007 to 72% in April 2009, whereas that for ads before movies rose from 41% to 61%. Text ads on mobile phones, though, the least trusted form of advertising by Indian respondents surveyed, followed in terms of rising trust, up from 24% in April 2007 to 43% April 2009.