Research: Consumers know brand content when they see it

This is the fourth installment in a series exploring attitudes to brand-funded content, brand journalism and brand publishing, based on a survey of 1,007 digital content consumers conducted by Toolkits and National Research Group. 43% of digital content consumers say they find it “easy” to tell when content is funded by a brand, while only 19% say they find it difficult. Younger consumers generally say they find recognizing brand-funded content easier; 47% of Gen Z and Millennials say they find it easy to identify branded content, compared to 33% of Boomers. As brands increasingly produce and publish their own content in an attempt to reach and engage with audiences, some observers have pointed to “blurring lines” betwe