A new Canadian study conducted by Nielsen showed influencer marketing content tended to be more effective at engaging consumers than traditional video content, although conventional video ads were better at creating brand awareness.

The survey of more than 1,200 English-speaking Canadians (conducted in the summer of 2017) asked participants to rate their reactions to a TV commercial, static Instagram images and Instagram Boomerangs (simple animations that repeat a few frames of video backwards and forwards). The study was conducted in partnership with influencer marketing firm #Paid.

The Instagram influencer work charted higher than traditional video on the study’s main engagement metrics. With the influencer content, respondents were 24% more likely to express viewing intent and 41% more likely to demonstrate engagement intent.

Video outpaced the Instagram content on brand recall metrics, recording 93% aided recall and 53% unaided (versus the 62% aided and 22% unaided among the influencer study groups). However, on average, brand perception among the products tested with the Instagram content charted a 60% greater increase than that using traditional video content.

Perhaps due to the more interactive nature of social content, respondents said they were also more likely to comment on or “like” influencer content (24% said they were “very likely” to do so, versus 8% for standard video). Likewise, 21% of respondents said they were “very likely” to view more Instagram posts similar to those they were shown, versus 15% in the traditional video pool.

The content creators behind the studied influencer work were also seen as more likeable, relatable and credible than the creators of the video content.