Research agency Nielsen unearthed a conundrum when studying attitudes to advertising on different media: some people admit to responding to ad formats they don’t trust.

This is especially true for online and mobile channels, Nielsen discovered.

On a global level, there is a double-digit gap between self-reported action and trust for search results (47% trust; 58% sometimes take action), ads on social networks (46% trust; 56% somtimes take action) and mobile SMS (36% trust; 46% sometimes take action).

Perhaps the ease of responding to a digital ad explains the difference, ponders Nielsen executive, Randall Beard.

“You like it, you buy it,” says Beard, president of Nielsen’s Expanded Verticals unit.

“Online and mobile formats make it exceptionally easy for consumers to live in the moment, and take quick action on the advertisement.”

The findings emerged from Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey, a poll of 30,000 online respondents in 60 countries.

For our slideshow, we have highlighted some responses from Asia, comparing attitudes to ad-supported media at an APAC level, as well as to TV and online video ads by market.