For consumers, slick ads are not the best persuader; word-of-mouth marketing is considered most valuable among all the ad platforms, according to a recent Nielsen Internet survey.

Seventy-eight percent of consumers said they trust other consumers' recommendations over all other advertising/marketing means. Ads in newspapers came next at 63 percent. Consumers' opinions from online blogs were in the third at 61 percent. Brand Web sites came closely behind at 60 percent.

Of the 13 ad platforms Nielsen surveyed, new digital platforms took the last three spots. Search engine ads only had a 34 percent trusting score, online banner ads were at 26 percent, and text ads on mobile phones were ranked on the bottom, Media Post reported.

Traditional media, on the contrary, did much better. TV and magazine were in the middle of the pack, each at 56 percent, radio at 54 percent and brand sponsorships was at 49 percent.

This global study was conducted twice a year. It surveyed 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East.

Generally speaking, European consumers were most distrustful of all advertising among all the nations, with Danes (28 percent), Italians (32 percent), Lithuanians (34 percent) and Germans (35 percent) the lowest in the world. On the other side, Philippines (67 percent), Brazil (67 percent), Mexico (66 percent), South Africa (64 percent) and Taiwan (63 percent) are the most trusting.

This, to some extent, follows the trend how consumers feel about word-of-mouth marketing among countries - with higher levels of trust existing in Asia-Pacific areas: Hong Kong (93 percent), Taiwan (91 percent) and Indonesia (89 percent). Those least likely to trust buzz come from European nations, such as Denmark (62 percent) and Italy (64 percent).