18/02/2021
Watching the trade press struggle for commercial support over the last few years I have often wondered whether asset managers are missing a trick.
There were times in the past where the likes of Investment Week were full to bursting with cover wraps, wraps with flaps and stick on this and that. Weekly issues were often more than 100 pages in size and there were at least six different titles to pick from in the intermediary space before you consider the monthlies such as Money Management. Stand out was hard to accomplish. However, now they are sparse and publishers may be prepared to negotiate favourable deals.
The increase in digital advertising and more recently content placement online has certainly been a trend and one that the current pandemic has without a doubt sped up. Marketeers at asset managers have now got a plethora of metrics at their disposal to measure the success or indeed failure of pretty much everything they do.
The question I ask myself is has the audience moved and maybe more importantly do they want to only consume content online? Or are the titles they enjoy reading in print form being taken away from them due to a lack of commercial viability for the publishers themselves? If you have read Money Marketing for the last 20 years are you suddenly going to stop?
At Research in Finance fortunately we have the answers to those questions, sadly they have come too late for some. For instance, Financial Adviser, one of the stalwarts of the UK intermediary press closed its print edition at the end of 2020. Yet, our quarterly UK Advisory Study (UKAS) conducted in the fourth quarter of 2020 showed that almost half of investment advisers were still reading it in print. Publishers have gone to great lengths to ensure those that wish to receive their print title can redirect the issues to their home addresses.
The most recent wave of UKAS, now in its 8th year and 27th wave delves into the world of media usage by DFMs and Investment Advisers in one of its topical sections. It brings clarity to the question marks around place advertising and PR content for that matter in the trade press. It also shows that the lesser considered digital editions of the magazines should be seen as a viable means of reaching the audience. We are also able to shed some light on the best combination of media to reach the largest number of DFMs and Investment Advisers through our unique TURF analysis. We also explored what the event landscape might look like when we do emerge from our virtual world.
If you would like to know more about RiF and how to access our research, please contact Richard Ley or Toby Finden-Crofts.
Richard has over 16 years experience within the financial services market. Having begun his career working in international media across the financial sections of some of the worlds leading newspapers.
