Fund promotion again most popular in North America

Data by Fundamental Monitor shows fund promotion to be the top ad purpose, followed by insights during Q1

Key points:

• Following a sharp increase in the promotion of thought leadership in Q4 2021, Q1 2022 saw fund promotion return as the most popular advertising purpose in North America
• Equities were more often promoted than fixed income but still at a lower percentage of all advertising than at any time since Q1 2020
• There were slightly more asset managers advertising ETFs in Q1, but the number of advertisers promoting all the other key strategies dropped since Q4

Following a sharp increase in the promotion of thought leadership in Q4 2021 to 39% of all advertising activity, Q1 2022 saw fund promotion once again becoming the most popular advertising purpose in North America, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

In Q1 2022, 44% of all asset management advertising campaigns focused on fund promotion, up from 33% in Q4 2021. The promotion of thought leadership reached a high of 39% in Q4, but dropped to 29% in Q1. Brand campaigns made up 25% of all advertising.

When it comes to the advertising of different key strategies and asset classes, equities were more often promoted than fixed income but still at a lower percentage of all advertising than at any time since Q1 2020. Even ETFs’ percentage of overall advertising has gone down, although they still make up almost half of all advertising. ESG advertising continues to be only a sliver of overall advertising, dropping from 5% of total advertising in Q4 to just 2% in Q1 2022.

There were slightly more asset managers advertising ETFs in Q1 (22 compared to 21 in Q4 2021), but the number of advertisers promoting all the other key strategies dropped since Q4. The number of ESG advertisers dropped from 21 to 16, while Q1 saw no advertising for multi asset at all.

Below are some examples of the type of campaigns that were in market in North America during Q1 2022:

Invesco – Fund promotion

State Street Global Advisors – Insights

Grayscale – ETFs