ESG advertising in APAC recovers slightly but still in single digits

Asset managers dedicated 7% of their overall APAC advertising to ESG promotion, data by Fundamental Monitor reveals

Key points:

• Asset managers allocated 7% of their overall APAC advertising to the promotion of responsible investing in Q4 2024, up from 5% in Q3.
• A total of 98 asset managers were advertising in the APAC region in Q4, with 13 of them including some ESG messaging.
• ESG advertising continued to mainly consist of the promotion of thought leadership, which accounted for 73% of all ESG advertising, down from 78% in Q3.

Asset managers allocated 7% of their overall APAC advertising to the promotion of responsible investing in Q4 2024, up from 5% in Q3, according to data by Fundamental Monitor.

A total of 98 asset managers were advertising in the APAC region in Q4, with 13 of them including some ESG messaging. Three managers were only promoting ESG: BNP Paribas Asset Management, Alphinity and Brookfield Investment Management.

Singapore saw the biggest diversity in ESG advertising, with nine different managers advertising their ESG capabilities. Six ESG advertisers were active in Australia and Hong Kong, and one in Taiwan, while there was no ESG advertising activity in India, Korea and Japan.

ESG advertising continued to mainly consist of the promotion of thought leadership, which accounted for 73% of all ESG advertising, down from 78% in Q3. ESG fund promotion made up 26% of the total (up from 16%), while brand campaigns were almost non-existent at only 1% (down from 5%).

Data from Alphix Solutions, Fundamental Group’s marketing technology business, shows that APAC investors were less interested in ESG content during the first half of Q4, but read more ESG content during the second half of the quarter.

From the beginning of October until mid-November, ESG content consumption on asset managers’ websites was between 8% and 20% lower than the 365-day rolling average. From mid-November onwards, however, APAC investors consumed more ESG content than average, by between 2% and 34%.

However, there are differences between countries when it comes to ESG consent consumption. In Australia, ESG content consumption was mostly up throughout the quarter, at between 4% and 80% above average. Singaporean investors also consumed more ETF content during Q4, with asset managers seeing between 5% and 70% more traffic towards their ESG content compared to the 365-day rolling average, except for one week where consumption was down by 3%.

The other countries were a mixed bag, with Hong Kong seeing consumption a low of -40% and a high of +27% during the quarter. Similarly, Taiwan’s ESG content consumption ranged from a decrease of 23% and an increase of 53% throughout Q4. Among the markets with no ESG messaging, Japan’s investors mostly consumed less ESG content compared to the rest of 2024, while India started off with a decrease in content consumption which turned into an increase during the last month of the quarter, and Korea’s ESG content consumption varied between a decrease of 27% and an increase of 84%,

Below are some examples of the type of ESG campaigns that were in market in the APAC region during Q4 2024:

Natixis Investment Managers

AXA Investment Managers

Alphinity Investment Management