This compares with 90 per cent awareness in France and an average of 60 per cent across the rest of the Continent.

The research - commissioned by tech agency Hotwire - found people are increasingly trusting of blogs: 30 per cent of those polled considered news­papers to be their most ­trusted media, but 24 per cent favoured blogs.

This is ahead of television (17 per cent) and email marketing (14 per cent).

Fifty-two per cent of the 2,214 adults polled across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said they were more likely to purchase a product if they had read positive reviews from other consumers online.

Furthermore, 34 per cent of respondents said they had actually opted against buying a product on the back of reading unfavour­able reviews on blogs.