Record number of equities, ETF and multi asset advertisers in Europe

However, asset managers did not dedicate a record share of overall advertising to promoting these asset classes, according to data by Fundamental Monitor

Key points:

• A record number of asset managers were promoting equities, ETFs and multi asset in Europe during Q4 2024.
• However, despite the higher number of active advertisers, asset managers did not spend a record share of their overall advertising on the promotion of these three asset classes.
• There was little change within the allocation towards the different ad purposes, with brand campaigns continuing to account for the majority of advertising.

A record number of asset managers were promoting equities, ETFs and multi asset in Europe during Q4 2024, data by Fundamental Monitor revealed.

Equities were advertised by 31 asset managers (up from 27 in Q3), while there were 17 ETF advertisers (compared to 14 in Q3) and 15 multi-asset advertisers (up from 12 in Q3).

The number of fixed income advertisers dropped slightly from 27 to 26, while 37 asset managers promoted ESG in Q4, up from 34 a quarter earlier.

However, despite the higher number of active advertisers, asset managers did not spend a record share of their overall advertising on the promotion of these three asset classes. Equities accounted for only 4% of all advertising in Q4, down from 7% in Q3. The share of multi-asset advertising remained unchanged at 2%, while ETF advertising increased from 4% to 7% of total asset management advertising. At 31%, fixed income continued to make up almost a third of all advertising, while ESG accounted for 14% of the total, up from 8% in Q3.

There was little change within the allocation towards the different ad purposes. Brand campaigns continued to account for the majority of advertising, increasing slightly from 55% to 56%, while insights and fund promotion each dropped by a percentage point to 17% and 26%, respectively.

Data by Alphix Solutions, Fundamental Group’s marketing technology business, shows that investors were less interested in content on ETFs but read more content on ESG. Between the start of October and half December, ETF content on asset managers’ websites was consumed by between 10% and 39% less than the 365-day rolling average, with only the last two weeks of December seeing an increase in consumption (between 10% and 18%). Meanwhile, ESG content was consumed more than average, at between 0.23% and 20%, depending on the week.

Equities content consumption ranged from –9% to 11%, while fixed income content was consumed between 30% less and 9% more than average, and the consumption of multi asset content ranged between -16% and 18%, depending on the week.

Below are some examples of the type of campaigns that were in market in Europe during Q4 2024.

Fixed income – PIMCO

ETF – DWS

Multi asset – DJE Kapital