Unlocking the Advertising Potential of Finance Media Networks

As consumers spend increasing time on personal finance management, banking, investment, lending, and payment apps—some logging in daily—finance brands sit on a goldmine of untapped advertising potential. As a result, finance is emerging as a new frontier in media, with Finance Media Networks (FMNs) using advanced technology to unlock onsite and offsite advertising opportunities.

Banking on the Power of Rich Financial Data

Users don’t passively scroll through finance apps; they open them with clear intent, whether to check balances, make trades, or manage budgets, representing a more deliberate engagement. According to CleverTap’s Fintech Benchmark Report, fintech app users launch their apps on average around 11 times per month, spending roughly 6.66 minutes per session (up from 6.3 minutes in 2023), according to Adjust/AppLovin.

Financial institutions hold rich customer data—from transactions and credit scores to demographics and spending patterns. While privacy regulations govern its use, this data enables personalized products, partner offers, and increasingly, ad opportunities. Unlike retail media networks focused on browsing and purchase behavior, financial data exposes different types of insights, such as income, debt, and life stages.

Lifecycle and Moment Marketing

Lifecycle targeting is commonplace in financial services, where financial products and marketing strategies can be tailored to individuals based on their life stage. This involves recognizing the financial needs, goals, and behaviors of customers as they move through their different phases of life, from buying a new car or house to starting families and retirement. Imagine a young couple saving for a home. A bank offers them a competitive mortgage rate and relevant partner offers, like discounted movers or furniture deals, right within the app.

Then there are the regular groceries, hobbies, travel, and other things we spend our money on. All of these moments—big and small—represent opportunities for brands to engage those audiences, which provides financial institutions with new revenue opportunities. US ad spend on FMNs is projected to reach $1.50 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 107% from 2024, according the eMarketer.

Unlocking Ad Opportunities in Finance and Beyond

The best commerce media networks rely on a flywheel of elements, including a sticky product or service offering, a loyal customer base, and onsite and offsite media offerings. Financial institutions have various products to help customers meet their financial objectives. Using data, they can personalize offers within their portfolio and those of partners across travel, retail, restaurants, and more, creating additional value and loyalty. The third part of the flywheel – media – is where financial institutions must be creative.

Offers and discounts within banking apps are a great example of data used creatively to personalize engagements and provide a native option for integrating ads. These interactions benefit from being user-initiated while also closing the loop when the user activates the offer via the related payment card. Other unique touchpoints where ads could be integrated include physical branches and ATMs, with off-site options representing a significant opportunity too. For instance, increasing CTV and video consumption creates an incredible opportunity for FMN-streamer partnerships to create relevant and impactful ad experiences outside the financial institution’s properties.

How Supply-Side Tech Can Help

FMNs need to understand their audiences and how they can extend them across other media. Using supply-side tech, finance brands can segment and package their valuable first-party data into audiences to efficiently sell onsite and offsite premium ad inventory. An SSP can then leverage that deep audience understanding to balance direct-sold ads and programmatically sold ads to ensure they maximize yield and use automation to optimize the price and placement of each ad unit.

Access to the right demand is also crucial, particularly when attracting non-endemic advertisers outside the financial sectors, such as retail, travel, and others. SSPs provide a range of connections to DSPs and programmatic buyers, increasing the likelihood of selling available ad inventory at optimal prices by opening the supply to more advertisers.

FMNs must also maintain strict control over which advertisers can display ads on their network, particularly in a regulated industry like finance. Supply-side tech provides transparency and control in the bidding process, managing who can buy ad inventory, and ensuring that ads are relevant and appropriate for the target audience.

Customer-Centric Finance Hubs

As financial institutions evolve their business models, their continued focus is on delivering the tools and connections customers need to reach their financial goals. By leveraging first-party data, they can build more engaging products, foster loyalty, and create new opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences. With supply-side technology, finance media networks (FMNs) can further optimize ad revenue, improving inventory management, targeting, and programmatic access, while maintaining transparency, brand safety, and trust.

Want to read more? Check out how Magnite is supporting the growth of Western Union’s Media Network business with technology to buy media as an advertiser and monetize its owned media.