North America sees a record share of ETF advertising

The number of asset managers promoting ETFs was also at a record high during Q4 2024

What are the key trends in ETF advertising in North America?

North America has achieved a record proportion of ETF advertising during Q4 2024. Asset managers allocated 58% of their total advertising in North America to ETFs during this period. This marks the highest percentage since early 2020, according to Fundamental Monitor data.

How have other types of asset management advertising changed?

Equities advertising represented 9% of all asset management advertising in North America, increasing from 7% in Q3. The promotion of fixed income represented 8% of the total share, an increase from 5% a quarter previously.

What are the trends in the number of asset managers promoting different products?

There were 48 asset managers actively promoting ETFs during Q4, a record count and significantly higher than the 31 seen in Q3 2024, which was the previous record. Equities saw 23 advertisers, up from 14 in Q3. The number of fixed income advertisers remained the same at 28, while the number of managers promoting multi-asset decreased to three (from four in Q3) and ESG advertisers increased to five (up from three in Q3).

What were some changes in advertising purpose for North American asset management?

Regarding advertising purpose, asset managers returned to fund promotion, dedicating 64% of their North American advertising efforts to this. As a result, brand campaigns and insights promotion decreased to 22% and 11%, respectively.

How interested are North American investors in ETF content?

Despite the significant ETF advertising in the North American market, data from Alphix Solutions, Fundamental Group's marketing technology firm, indicates that investor interest in this topic was below average during this quarter. From October to mid-December, the consumption of ETF content on asset managers' websites was 17% to 41% lower than the 365-day rolling average, depending on the week, with only the last two weeks of December showing a modest increase in content consumption (by only 4-6%).

What are the trends in other content consumption types?

Equities and fixed income content consumption showed greater variability. The consumption of equities content ranged from -7% to 14% throughout the quarter, whereas fixed income content was consumed more than average during the first three weeks (by between 4-6%) and fell below average during the rest of Q4 (by between -2% and -35%). Multi-asset content consumption increased throughout the quarter by between 3% and 25%, while ESG content consumption remained above average during most of Q4, with only occasional weeks where consumption was 3-4% below average.

Examples of campaigns in North America during Q4 2024

ETF – Grayscale

Equities – T. Rowe Price

Fund promotion – State Street Global Advisors