Analysis of advertising in the financial industry in Q3 2020

Whether it was Ant Group and JD Digits preparing to go public last month, or ByteDance's low-key acquisition of a payment license recently, it can be seen that Internet giants are beginning to compete for dominance in the financial industry.

Online advertising is an important way to acquire customers for financial apps. Advertisers are also constantly adjusting their strategies in order to gain explosive growth points in customer sources.

So what are the new trends in advertising in the financial industry in the third quarter of 2020? How to choose a traffic platform? What innovations are there in advertising materials?

Note: This report uses the number of advertisements delivered as the basis for measuring the intensity of advertising delivery. The number of advertisements delivered is not completely equal to the actual advertising consumption and is for reference only. The data statistics period for this report is from July 1, 2020 to September 14, 2020.

I. Overview of overall investment in the financial industry

1-1 The number of advertisements in the financial industry shows a fluctuating trend

Compared with the situation in Q2 where the number of mobile advertising in the financial industry remained at sixth place, the number of advertising in the financial industry showed a clear downward trend throughout Q3. It was ranked seventh in July and August, and dropped to eighth in September. This is related to the increase in advertising intensity in other hot investment industries, such as social marriage and dating, and software application industries in the later period.

1-2 Financial advertisers prefer the Bytedance platform during Q3

Based on the tracked data statistics, the four major platforms for the financial industry during Q3 were Bytedance, Tencent Advertising, Sogou Star and Alibaba Huichuan .

The statistics of the proportion of advertisements placed by the financial industry on the four major platforms show that Bytedance Advertising has shown a steady upward trend, while Tencent Advertising has been significantly reduced . It is speculated that this is related to the fact that advertisers did not see obvious results on the Tencent advertising platform during Q3 and turned to other platforms.

Sogou Xingyao and Ali Huichuan did not fluctuate much.

1-3 The financial APP materials that are mainly launched are mainly pictures and videos

Based on the statistics of the top 3 APPs that are invested in the top five platforms in the financial industry, it can be seen that the top-ranked financial APPs will choose a multi-platform strategy .

The hot-invested financial apps on various platforms include "JD Finance", "Alipay", "Sina Stock Selection", "Great Wisdom", "Good Installment", "Weinoa", "360 Insurance", "Guotai Junan Junhong", "Master Brother Gold Rush", "Rookie Gold Rush", "Chaoyang Smart Investment", and "Futures Big Winner".

We selected representative APPs with a high number of advertisements for advertising material analysis. It was found that Dazhihui and Sina Stock Selection mainly used pictures as the main form of advertising , while Alipay and JD Finance used both videos and pictures as the main form of advertising materials .

1-4 Review of the financial industry promotion rankings during Q3

Based on financial industry advertisements with the purpose of promoting app downloads or form inquiries, the top 10 financial apps and brand promotion rankings with the most advertisements during Q3 are sorted out as follows.

1) Ranking of financial app advertising during Q3, with many stock and financial management apps on the list

Many stock and financial management applications made it to the top ten list , mainly advertised on the Bytedance Engine channel . This shows that financial advertisers attach great importance to the Bytedance Engine platform.

2) Financial management and stock apps are rising rapidly in rankings

The top 10 apps in the financial industry that have seen a significant increase in rankings during Q3 are selected below. The rankings of many financial management and stock apps have risen significantly. Combined with the ranking of the number of advertisements placed, stock apps have a strong momentum in advertising.

3) 2020 Q3 Financial Brand Promotion Ranking

In the TOP10 list of financial brand promotions, the top three are insurance brands. The intensity of insurance advertising has increased significantly , while the overall ranking of loan brands has slightly declined.

2. Analysis of popular advertising creativity

Video is a common form of material used by advertisers and is also relatively common in the financial industry. Video materials mostly feature real people, fit into daily life situations, and the performances are down-to-earth, making it easier to gain the trust of users.

Next, we will focus on analyzing the copywriting and video advertising routines in the four major sub-sectors of financial management, stocks, lending, and insurance.

2-1 Analysis of popular advertising copy

1) Financial management: Change, free learning, investing in yourself, making money and increasing income, smart people, 12 yuan financial management course

-Promise me you won’t be poor anymore! Spend 12 yuan to learn financial thinking and make yourself rich

- Change starts from now, 15 minutes a day, 12 yuan for 12 days of financial management lessons, say goodbye to the fixed salary

-Don't let a few thousand yuan salary tie you down for life, spend 12 yuan to learn financial management and make yourself richer

-It’s 2020, and you’re still earning four or five thousand yuan? It is better to learn financial management with your mobile phone, learn for 6 days for free

-You can also get financial management income if you earn 5,000 yuan a month. Now it’s 12 yuan for 12 days, and we will teach you financial management thinking!

-How can ordinary people make more money? You need to understand these points to learn financial thinking!

2) Stocks: free stock diagnosis, stock trading tips, pure communication, no installation required, stock testing

- No installation required, free to use! This stock diagnosis black technology can evaluate whether the stock is good or bad with one click

- How to trade stocks? Choose CITIC Securities and get 30 days of upgraded quotes when you open an account

-Stocks, 2020's new masterpiece, intelligent stock trading software, sign up and get a set!

-Stock exchange platform, teach you how to trade stocks for free

-“Turnover rate” does not lie. Once this feature appears, the main force has established a position!

-Which 5G concept stocks are worth paying attention to today? Quick check for retail investors!

- "Seven Don'ts to Buy and Three Don'ts to Sell" for Stocks, Retail Investors Remember This Rule, It's Useful

3) Loan categories: local, no random borrowing, regret, credit limit, maximum loan amount

-Enterprise loan support, low interest rate, limit of 3 million yuan!

-Don't borrow money everywhere, Fenqi Le is a regular loan, the loan can be approved in as little as 1 minute, and the longest repayment period is 36 installments

-Credit Society, 360 IOU limit reflects your credit value, up to 200,000, check your limit

-Important notice! [Zhang Guoli] Recommended, today's first month 2 yuan guarantee up to 6 million

-Don’t borrow high-interest loans! If you need money urgently, look for Paipaidai

-I regret taking out a bank loan too early! You can borrow up to 200,000 yuan with a daily interest rate as low as 0.027%. Try your credit limit.

4) Insurance: Only X yuan for the first month, up to 1 million yuan, free, 1 yuan, enter your phone number, it's too late

-It's too late to buy after you get cancer! ZhongAn Insurance is 2 yuan for the first month, with a maximum coverage of 6 million yuan, and can be purchased with a mobile phone

-Recommended by Zhang Guoli, the national experience officer of ZhongAn Insurance in this area, 2 yuan for insurance of 6 million in the first month!

-Notice! Today, ZhongAn Insurance National Experience Officer Zhang Guoli recommends it! Only 2 yuan for the first month

-No conflict with social security. Today, medical insurance is almost free and covers all diseases within the scope of responsibility.

- Local input of mobile phone number to receive 1 million free traffic accident insurance

-Which health insurance is better? Choose Ping An Health Insurance

2-2 Analysis of popular video ads

1) Financial management/stocks: increase income and achieve a comeback

The video routines of financial products are mostly to encourage low-income people who are eager to change their poverty situation and suffer from lack of money to buy financial/stock products, so as to get out of poverty in one fell swoop.

In most video ads, tragic and sad BGM is used when conflicts occur , emphasizing the protagonist’s miserable situation of being penniless. When experts recommend financial products, cheerful, light-hearted and inspirational BGM is used. Through the transition between pictures and music, users can intuitively feel the benefits of using financial products and want to learn more.

Common plot routines include:

① A couple quarreled over money, and the girl ran away from home out of sadness. A passerby/friend approached and asked about the matter, and recommended financial products to solve the problem;

② People who are penniless or know nothing can successfully achieve financial freedom and bid farewell to their current poverty after downloading the smart stock trading software.

2) Loans: Urgent need for money, no threshold for borrowing money

Lending products mainly feature instant deposit, high credit limit with no threshold, and can be borrowed and used at any time. The plots basically stick to these three points. The protagonists of the videos in the past three months have mainly focused on young people who need small loans , highlighting the convenience of borrowing money.

It targets the pain points of young people who have no money to pay rent or who have no money temporarily due to late salary arrival . The product features are similar to those of payment products, and are often embedded in scenarios of using loan products to pay in daily life to demonstrate convenience and guide users to use it.

Some advertisements will also draw on the street interview format that is popular on short video platforms, bringing out the different selling points of loan products from the perspectives of different young people.

For example, the advertisement of the ZhongAn Microfinance APP changed CCTV’s “Are you happy?” interview to the more product-friendly “Are you short of money?” interview.

3) Insurance: Reverse Amway, unexpected wealth

Insurance products mainly include critical illness insurance and childcare insurance. Most products aim to introduce their characteristics of low premiums, high coverage and approval on application.

The theme is usually elevated at the end, with another reminder: “Don’t wait until you are in need and have no money to buy insurance” , to encourage users to click to apply.

The main plot patterns of insurance video ads in this quarter are:

① Complaining over the phone/on the road that insurance products are too cheap is fake. When you meet the customer service/product manager, they will sincerely assure you and bring out the selling points of the product, performing complaints, but in fact they are recommending insurance

② A husband/mother/daughter who is seriously ill and has no money to treat his relatives suddenly receives a call from customer service saying that the insurance application has been approved for reimbursement, which is a windfall.

4) Advertising videos for lending and stock products contain memes

As advertising routines become more and more serious, some advertisements will also play with memes to a certain extent, using unconventional methods to seek creative breakthroughs and attract users to continue watching, such as:

① Use a kitchen knife to cut hair as a haircut

②Use Zhu Yici ’s BGM and commentary style to introduce successful stock traders

In summary, advertisements in different financial segments all set up plots closely following the selling points of the products.

The plots of the advertising videos for financial management and stock products all revolve around investing less and getting more, thus achieving financial freedom ; lending and financial management products are most likely to feature memes , and the functions of the products are deeply embedded in life scenarios ; while insurance products retain the previous style of misery, they have also developed reverse Amway and windfall-type advertising plots.

Note: The mobile advertising materials and data mentioned above are derived from the mobile advertising intelligence tracked by App Growing, and sensitive brand information has been removed. The copyright belongs to the original author.

The above is “Analysis of Mobile Advertising in the Financial Industry in Q3 2020”.

Author: App Growing Source: App Growing