Chief Executive Officer, Trustpilot Group
Trustpilot CEO Adrian Blair on CNBC.....
Trustpilot CEO Adrian Blair is interviewed on CNBC by Karen Tso and Steve Sedgwick on Squawk Box, about Trustpilot's H1 ...
About Adrian Blair
Adrian Blair, Chief Executive Officer of Trustpilot, appeared in a June 2025 interview with Pam Piligian, Chief Marketing Officer of Navy Federal Credit Union, to discuss how the credit union uses Trustpilot to manage its brand reputation. During the conversation, Blair asked Piligian about the importance of trust in financial services and how Navy Federal displays Trustpilot reviews and scores across its platform. Piligian stated that Trustpilot provides a third-party endorsement of the credit union's service and that the feedback appears in large language models and search results. She described three pillars of trust—competence, character, and care—and said the credit union uses positive reviews to recognize team members.
Transcript (25 segments)
H
Host0:00
20 million want a quick look at the shares up 8.3%. The review platform posted an 18% increase in half-year revenue, whilst adjusted EBITDA almost doubled. Delighted to welcome to the show Adrian Blair, who is the CEO of Trustpilot. Adrian, very nice to see you, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Do you want to talk our viewers just through a little bit of the model and a little bit about why your shares are up 8% today?
A
Adrian Blair0:23
Of course, yeah. So we're a very successful B2B SaaS business. I said when I came in as CEO almost exactly a year ago, I aimed to do three things. The first was drive strategic clarity, the second was great execution, and the third was improving profitability. It's really encouraging to see today that we've delivered on all three of those. The team had done a cracking job.
H
Host0:47
Strategic clarity for... I mean, you're primarily a business review site as well, you have a freemium business model as well. Just tell us a little bit about what strategic clarity looks like.
A
Adrian Blair0:58
Yeah, just a couple of things. So first, we're really clear what we're doing for businesses. We're helping them to build trust with their customers, we're helping them to grow, and we're helping them to improve and actually become better companies. We're doing that for companies of all sizes, right from huge financial services businesses like we just won NS&I as a customer in the UK, or Verizon, a big telco in the US, right down to SMEs. But we're also helping millions of consumers, 6 to 7 million monthly active users in the first half, to actually make better choices in their lives.
H
Host1:33
Just on that, why does NS&I need Trustpilot? We've all... we should trust the government, shouldn't we? We should trust the... when you're buying, I don't know, a green gilt product or Premium Bond? I'm sorry, I think... we trust the government, I don't know, but we should trust the bond market.
A
Adrian Blair1:50
I think there's nothing new in the principle that businesses should listen to their customers, right? And that's what Trustpilot does. It gives businesses a great platform to see what folks are saying, to actually engage with it, not just sit there and leave it all in the dark, and then actually use what they learn to become better at what they do. So it's something every business should be doing, frankly.
H
Host2:11
I got to say, there's a lot of footwork for customers trying to compare and contrast businesses and products. If you're just out there doing it by yourself on the high street, it's changed a lot since we've gone online with a lot more e-commerce taking place. I mean, the ability to compare and contrast is significant, but it feels like the next wave will be AI that's going to be stunning in terms of how we search for products on a daily basis. How does that impact your business?
A
Adrian Blair2:34
I think it's going to be fantastic for us. Look, we've got 300 million reviews that are all written by humans. That's essential content that no other business actually has. We think in the age of AI, we're going to be able to do an awful lot more with that information. We're going to be able to get more insights from it and help our customers do more with it as well. So we're really excited about the prospect.
H
Host2:57
So you're saying the computer writes some of the text and frees up the humans to do more? They're written by humans, but that won't change?
A
Adrian Blair3:04
Absolutely not. We completely believe in real experiences that people have with businesses, and then they write about those experiences, and it all goes on to Trustpilot.
H
Host3:14
Does that leave you too slow in a game of AI because other rivals will use AI technology for instance comparing features, specifications, that sort of thing? So not using the technology, doesn't that leave you a little bit slow-footed?
A
Adrian Blair3:26
Absolutely not. Look, I think the results speak for themselves. We've seen a 28% increase year on year in the number of people actually using Trustpilot. And why are they doing that? They're doing that because they trust what's there. Because you want to know what another person thought. You don't want to know what an AI bot thought of a company.
H
Host3:43
How do you stop those AI bots and those fake reviews? I know it's as old as Trustpilot where there are fake reviews, and you have vigilance about trying to get rid of those. I know various news organizations have tested how robust the real review situation is compared with fakes as well. I mean, it's a constant battle. I mean, just to follow up on Karen's point about AI, I presume that's a very valid tool to keep it real. You mentioned 300 million real reviewers. I mean, as a percentage of that, there are fake reviews and there are bots who are writing reviews on... well?
A
Adrian Blair4:22
So look, we think AI is an ally here, helping us to do a better job of spotting patterns. But we also see allies in the world of regulators. So the FTC in the US, Lina Khan just put out a final review on the use of reviews by businesses. They cited Trustpilot 27 times in their work. And the principles that they outlined, you know, common sense things like employees of a business shouldn't write reviews for that business, businesses shouldn't buy reviews of other people, they should leave unfiltered reviews up there for all to read.
H
Host4:53
Can and have bought reviews off you or have used your marketing services to take the positive reviews and put them on their own websites, haven't they? Well, look, people showcase Trustpilot feedback on their websites with our products. But that's the bone of contention, isn't it, Adrian, that they are able to pay you? And again, look, you've got a business model, I appreciate you got to make money, but they're able to pay you for filtered reviews to put on their website, aren't they?
A
Adrian Blair5:18
So what you'll see with our customers is when they showcase reviews on their websites, they're showcasing the real reviews from Trustpilot, including the negative ones. But they showcase their Trustpilot rating, and of course if that's a positive rating, that's a great thing for the business, and that's why so many businesses are doing that.
H
Host5:33
I just want to get into the consumer a little bit, because I'm looking at a UBS report and we always think about the US market, we think about the consumer and just how strong they are. And UBS is saying in their report, well, US has been a focus of discussion for growth, they think Europe is underappreciated as an opportunity. Do you agree? Do you think Europe holds a big opportunity for your company?
A
Adrian Blair5:52
Absolutely. Yeah, so look, we delivered great growth in the US in the first half, it was actually our fastest growing region, up 23% year on year. But equally, we delivered great growth in Europe. Our two focus markets in Europe are Germany and Italy. We're delivering great growth in each of them. The great thing about what we do, we're in the business of trust, is it is absolutely universal. There's no country in the world where trust doesn't matter, even in a slower environment.
H
Host6:18
Final question, because this is really interesting. You've got consumers spending a little bit less. Do they spend less time looking at reviews as a result?
A
Adrian Blair6:24
I mean, look, they need to be careful about the choices they make, and they're using our product more and more to make smart choices.
H
Host6:33
Who owns Checkatrade? Is that just one of the big rivals? I don't know who does. You'll need to ask them. I'll have a look.
A
Adrian Blair6:42
Me too, absolutely. Well, especially you in London, you can't get a decent plumber for less than 250 quid a day, can you?
H
Host6:50
Yeah, but also when you're going to hotels, you know, you check all the reviews.
A
Adrian Blair6:54
Absolutely. And I hope you'll start writing reviews as well, because you know that what we're seeing, people increasingly actually contribute.
H
Host7:00
My wife's good at that. I don't write reviews. She's on TripAdvisor doing, usually if it's particularly good or particularly bad. Nothing we were talking about restaurant the other day, weren't we, that you go to very often. That's just wrong price for cage, Adrian. That's another story. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. Pleasure. Adrian Blair, who is CEO of Trustpilot. Coming up on the show, the UK economy stagnates for a second month in a row. We'll have the details next.