ETFs account for over half of North American advertising

Insights overtake fund promotion as the most popular ad purpose, Fundamental Monitor data shows

Key points:

• Asset managers allocated 57% of their advertising in North America to ETFs during Q4
• Insights overtook fund promotion as the most popular ad purpose for the first time since the beginning of 2020
• At 21 advertisers, North America saw the highest number of different advertisers promoting ESG since the start of 2020

Advertisers in North America have allocated 57% of their total advertising to ETFs during Q4 of 2021, the highest percentage since the start of 2020, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

Like in Q3, fixed income accounted for 3% of all advertising, but equities fell slightly from 33% to 27%. ESG advertising remains relatively insignificant in North America, especially compared to Europe and Asia Pacific, at only 5% of total volume.

For the first time since the beginning of 2020, fund promotion is no longer the most popular ad purpose for advertisers in the North American market.

At 39%, insights were a much bigger share of total advertising volumes than in Q3, when insights made up only 13% of all advertising. Brand campaigns accounted for 26% in Q4 compared to 36% a quarter prior, while fund promotion dropped from 48% to 33%.   

Despite the small share of ESG in North American advertising, the same number of advertisers (21) were promoting ESG and ETFs in Q4. This is the highest number of ESG advertisers in North America since the start of 2020 and up from 14 advertisers in Q3.

There were more advertisers active in equities and fixed income as well, up from 12 each in Q3 to 15 and 18 respectively in Q4. Meanwhile, the number of advertisers in ETFs rose from 18 to 21 and three advertisers were promoting multi asset during Q4 compared to two advertisers in Q3.

Below are some examples of the campaigns that were in market in North America during Q4 of 2021:

State Street Global Advisors – Insights

Franklin Templeton – Fund promotion

PIMCO – Brand

State Street Global Advisors – ETFs