Multi asset sees record share of overall advertising in Europe

Europe also had the lowest number of ESG advertisers since Q1 2020, data by Fundamental Monitor revealed

Key findings:

• Multi asset accounted for 13% of all asset management advertising in Europe during Q1 2025, the highest figure seen since the start of 2020.
• At 29%, fixed income continues to see the biggest advertising budget allocations, although slightly reduced from 31% in Q4.
• Fewer asset managers were actively promoting key strategies in Q1, with 20 equities advertisers (down from 31 in Q4) and 18 fixed income advertisers (down from 26).

Multi asset accounted for 13% of all asset management advertising in Europe during Q1 2025, the highest figure seen since the start of 2020, according to data by Fundamental Monitor.

At 29%, fixed income continues to see the biggest advertising budget allocations, although slightly reduced from 31% in Q4. Equities advertising trails behind significantly, at only 5%, while 7% of all asset management advertising was dedicated to ETF promotion.

Although asset managers dedicated a record share of overall advertising to the promotion of multi asset, this was achieved by only five asset managers, mainly due to a major campaign by DJE Kapital. During Q4 2024, 15 asset managers actively promoted multi asset, but it accounted for only 2% of overall advertising.

Fewer asset managers were actively promoting key strategies in Q1, with 20 equities advertisers (down from 31 in Q4) and 18 fixed income advertisers (down from 26). Only 21 ESG advertisers were in market during Q1, the lowest seen since Q1 2020 when 18 asset managers were promoting their ESG capabilities.

Brand campaigns accounted for 52% of all advertising, followed by fund promotion at 37% and insights promotion at 10%. While fund promotion increased compared to Q4, brand campaigns and insights promotion both saw a drop.

Data from Alphix Solutions shows that European investors consumed less fixed income content on asset managers’ websites in Q1 compared to the 365-day rolling average. ETF content was consumed more during January (up by between 10% and 28%, depending on the week), but down for the rest of the quarter (by between 8% and 36%). Equities content consumption was a very mixed bag, with a high of +15% in mid-March and a low of -9% during the final week of the quarter.

Despite multi asset seeing a record share of overall advertising, investors were reading less on the topic, with content consumption down by between 1% and 23% during the whole quarter, except for one week in March when it was up 11%.

Below are some examples of the type of campaigns that were in market in Europe during Q1 2025:

Brand campaign – PIMCO

Fund promotion – Legal & General Investment Management

Multi asset – DJE Kapital

Fixed income – PGIM