Over half of people believe they’ve been tricked into believing fake news.

Newsworks research reveals that 79% of UK consumers are concerned about fake news. Further, only a quarter surveyed feel confident in their own ability to spot fake news and 54% believe that they have been tricked into believing news that later turned out to be fake.

To combat these concerns, news brands are regularly used as a fact checking source across all demographics, with 74% of those who expressed an opinion saying they would turn to newspaper websites or apps to verify stories they read on social media. Interestingly, among 16-34s, this is even higher, 78% regularly turn to established news brands to verify the truth of the content they see elsewhere.

The feeling of trust the majority of the UK public feel towards news brands is deep rooted and influential. When shown genuine news headlines on news brand sites compared to genuine news headlines on non-news brands sites, people were almost 50% more likely to believe the headlines on the news brand sites. 

The perceived quality of brands is 1.6x higher when consumers see them advertised in a news brand versus a non-news brand. This suggests that advertising in a news brand helps to reduce the negative forces that act as a drag on brand trust. Consumers are 30% less likely to question the competence of the brand when it advertises in a news brand and are 20% less likely to perceive buying or using a brand as a risk when it advertises in a news brand.