According to Nielsen Ad Intel, the finance industry is the third-largest spender on advertising in the UK, reflecting its efforts to maintain visibility. 79% of Brits recall seeing adverts for financial products and services in the last year, highlighting the extensive reach of these campaigns. Despite this, over half of consumers remain sceptical of brands that heavily rely on advertising.
One challenge for financial services providers is the lack of emotional resonance in financial advertising, with only 23% of respondents feeling ‘understood’ by such campaigns. This highlights a disconnect between messaging and consumer emotions, particularly among older adults, who often find adverts out of touch with their needs. Ensuring advertising truly resonates with this group might need a more considered approach that reflects their diverse experiences, needs and aspirations.
Digital channels offer substantial potential for creating tailored, relatable content, particularly for younger audiences who are highly active in digital spaces such as social media. By focusing on life milestones, practical solutions and emotional storytelling, brands can differentiate themselves, educate and empower consumers, thus building trust.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Analysis of advertising spend and the channels used for above-the-line advertising campaigns.
- Consumers’ exposure to financial services advertising and channels.
- Analysis of perceptions of financial advert content and their emotional impact.
- Examination of consumer attitudes towards advertising in financial services.
- Overview of advertising initiatives, including the focus on brand building and supporting consumers with cost of living pressures.
Financial advertising suffers from scepticism and a lack of emotional connection, but opportunities remain to enhance engagement and build consumer trust.
Stefania Apostol, Senior Financial Services Analyst
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Opportunities for the financial services industry
- Enhance emotional engagement to build stronger connections
- Target messaging for diverse financial needs
- Maximise the impact of social media advertising
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Advertising expenditure on financial services remains relatively flat
- Graph 1: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services, 2019/20-2023/24
- General insurance continues to dominate adspend
- Price comparison websites are among the largest advertisers
- Graph 2: top 15 above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertisers on financial services, 2022/23-2023/24
- What consumers want and why
- Insurance adverts are the most likely to be remembered
- Graph 3: financial products or services seen advertised in the last 12 months, 2024
- Ad recall by channel reveals an age divide
- Financial services ads can improve brand perception despite challenges
- Graph 4: impact of adverts seen for a financial product or service, 2024
- Most people think financial services ads are clear and informative
- Financial adverts have low emotional impact
- Despite scepticism about heavy advertising, adverts help financial brands stand out
- Innovation and marketing
- Financial services ads explore diverse themes to meet consumer needs
- Monzo campaign highlights the positive feelings of their banking experience
- NatWest supports Team GB in advertising campaign
- Barclays continues its ‘Make Money Work For You’ campaign, educating consumers on achieving money goals
- Marshmallow challenges societal biases
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market size
- Advertising expenditure on financial services remains relatively flat…
- Graph 5: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services, 2019/20-2023/24
- …amidst a tough economic climate
- Finance among top three industries in advertising spending
- Graph 6: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure, by category, 2023/24
- Market segmentation
- General insurance adspend rises…
- Graph 7: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services, by category – percentage, 2022/23-2023/24
- …driven by car and travel insurance
- Graph 8: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on general insurance, by top 5 sub-categories, 2022/23-2023/24
- Financial services brands continue to focus on brand building
- Providers increase adspend on savings
- Graph 9: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on savings, 2019/20-2023/24
- Nationwide continued its ‘Good Way to Bank’ campaign focusing on savings
- Channels to market
- TV remains the leading channel…
- Graph 10: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services, by media type, 2019/20-2023/24
- …but digital continues to gain ground
- Graph 11: total digital* advertising expenditure on financial services, 2019/20-2023/24
- Leading advertisers
- Price comparison websites are among the largest advertisers
- Graph 12: top 15 above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertisers on financial services, 2022/23-2023/24
- Experian is the largest advertiser
- Compare the Market continues its long-standing Meerkat advertisements
- Monzo focuses on digital
- Market drivers
- Inflation eases …
- Graph 13: CPI inflation rate, 2021/24
- …but interest rates remain relatively high
- Financial wellbeing is fragile
- Graph 14: the financial wellbeing index, 2016-25
- Most people are still feeling the effects of higher prices
- Graph 15: cost of living related issues noticed in the last two months, 2025
- Media trends
- Streaming video services maintain their popularity
- Graph 16: current use of music and video subscriptions, 2018-24
- Ad-supported streaming services are witnessing increased adoption
- Free video streaming services rise as radio listening gradually declines
- Graph 17: free media activities done in the last three months, 2018-24
- Facebook remains favoured, but TikTok is gaining ground
- Graph 18: use of social media platforms in the last three months, 2019-24
- Regulatory and legislative changes
- The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act aims to enhance consumer protection
- The FCA publishes its guidance on financial promotions on social media
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Exposure to financial services advertising
- Insurance adverts are the most visible
- Graph 19: financial products or services seen advertised in the last 12 months, 2024
- Insurance adverts have gained visibility
- Graph 20: insurance products seen advertised in the last 12 months, 2023-24
- Young Brits are more likely to recall seeing adverts
- Graph 21: any financial products or services seen advertised in the last 12 months – NET, by age groups, 2024
- Financial services ads are broadly successful at reaching their target audiences
- Graph 22: pensions, mortgages and cryptocurrency adverts seen in the last 12 months, by age groups, 2024
- Financial services adverts have extensive reach
- Graph 23: repertoire analysis of financial products and services seen advertised in the last 12 months, 2024
- Advertising channel exposure
- TV continues to dominate
- Graph 24: advertising channel exposure, 2024
- Older adults show higher recall of financial services adverts on traditional channels
- Graph 25: advertising channel exposure – TV and newspapers/magazines, by age groups, 2024
- Social media and online adverts are skewed towards young people
- Graph 26: advertising channel exposure – social media and online, by age groups, 2024
- Impact of advertising
- Financial services ads can improve opinions but often reinforce existing views
- Graph 27: impact of adverts seen for a financial product or service, 2024
- Young people are more likely to say financial ads improved their opinion
- Graph 28: impact of adverts seen for a financial product or service – ‘It improved my opinion’, by age groups, 2024
- Cryptocurrency adverts are increasing trust
- Perceptions of financial advert content
- Most people think financial services ads are clear and informative
- Graph 29: perceptions of financial advert content, 2024
- Young people are more likely to think adverts are trustworthy
- Graph 30: perception of financial services advertising content as trustworthy, by age groups, 2024
- Financial adverts fail to resonate with vulnerable consumers
- Graph 31: perception of financial services advertising content as relevant, by financial situation, 2024
- Memorable adverts are succeeding in prompting customer engagement
- Social media boosts perception of adverts as educational
- Graph 32: financial adverts perceived as educational, by selected advertising channels, 2024
- Emotional impact of financial adverts
- Financial adverts have low emotional impact
- Graph 33: emotional impact of financial adverts, 2024
- A lack of emotional hooks can limit engagement
- Younger people are more likely to feel positive emotions towards financial adverts…
- Graph 34: selected emotional responses to financial adverts, by age groups, 2024
- …while older ones feel bored
- Graph 35: selected emotional response to financial adverts, by age groups, 2024
- Attitudes towards advertising in financial services
- Heavy advertising faces scepticism
- Graph 36: attitudes towards advertising in financial services, 2024
- Younger people are more likely to think ads boost brand differentiation
- Graph 37: agreement with the statement ‘I think adverts help financial services brands stand out’, by age groups, 2024
- Trust in advertising accuracy continues to divide consumers
- Parents aged 16-34 with higher incomes are most influenced by adverts…
- …presenting an opportunity to highlight family-focused financial solutions
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ADVERTISING AND MARKETING TRENDS
- Financial services providers focus on brand
- Financial services providers remain focused on brand building
- Nationwide’s ‘A Good Way to Bank’ campaign showcases its Fairer Share Payment
- Starling Bank introduces its new brand platform
- Chase aims to inspire customers to realise the potential of their money
- Monzo campaign highlights the positive feelings of their banking experience
- The AA continues its “It’s OK, I’m with the AA” campaign
- Aviva launches new iteration of its ‘Make it Click’ campaign
- Products and services
- Santander advertises its Edge current account
- Capital One unveils ‘No Nasty Surprises’ campaign
- NatWest promotes its travel account and credit card
- Petplan captures the emotional journey of pet ownership
- Lloyds unveils campaign for updated app and brand identity
- Confused.com looks to alleviate the stress of choosing insurance
- Go.Compare brings the emotional benefits of price comparison to focus
- The Olympic Games
- The Olympic Games offer providers a chance to engage a broad audience
- NatWest supports Team GB in advertising campaign
- Allianz debuts its 2024 campaign highlighting Olympic partnership
- Visa introduces ‘Level Up Your Game’ campaign for Paris 2024
- eToro’s AI-powered campaign airs during Paris 2024 Olympics
- Financial wellbeing
- Financial services providers focus on financial wellbeing
- Barclays continues its ‘Make Money Work For You’ campaign, educating consumers on achieving money goals
- HSBC launches financial capability campaign supporting parents and children’s education
- ClearScore unveils new campaign to support consumers through challenging times
- Skipton promotes financial wellbeing through advice and open conversations
- PensionBee continues its mission to make people ‘pension-confident’
- Financial services providers challenge traditional norms
- Marshmallow challenges societal biases
- Bupa challenges traditional portrayals of health
- DeadHappy’s approach to advertising
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APPENDIX
- Supplementary data
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services
- Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services – categories
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on general insurance – sub-categories
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on savings
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services – media type, value
- Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on financial services – media type, percentage share
- Top 15 above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertisers on financial services
- Report scope and definitions
- Products covered in this report
- Abbreviations and terms
- Methodology
- Consumer research methodology
- CHAID analysis – methodology data
- Nielsen Ad Intel Coverage
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