Ad spend for cryptocurrencies increases as advertisers educate consumers

A number of top financial companies, led by JPMorgan Chase and Invesco, are investing ad dollars in educating consumers about cryptocurrencies, according to new data from advertising intelligence platform MediaRadia.

Advertising spend for digital currencies reached over $119 million in 2021, a 159% increase from 2020.

The top five digital currency advertisers for 2021 were:

1. JP Morgan Chase & Co.
2. Invesco, Ltd.
3. State Street Corporation
4. Black Rock, Inc.
5. Northern Trust Corporation

Why we care. A number of big retail and consumer brands now accept Bitcoin – among them Whole Foods, Home Depot, AT&T  and Starbucks – either for purchases or through their loyalty programs. 

As awareness grows, digital currencies will become an expectation for many consumers, and digital marketers will have to decide how to incorporate these payment methods into their company’s digital experience.

Digital and traditional channels. Over $52 million was spent this year on advertising through digital placements, a 181% increase year-over-year.

This means that while financial brands are making their mark on tech audiences, a lot of spend is also going into educating consumers who aren’t speedy adopters of technology. For instance, TV placements were up 172% YoY, reaching nearly $40 million. And even print spending was up – it reached $27.4 million this year, up 110% YoY.

Educating a broader base. Coinbase, a platform for buying and selling crypto currencies, became a publicly traded company in 2021, as did retail investing service Robinhood. So, investors aren’t just looking at where they can trade Bitcoin or Ethereum, they’re also looking at investing in the broader ecosystem.

Two general strategies emerged this year to promote education. On the digital front, State Street tripled their digital investment from the previous year and tested the waters on Facebook and podcasts.

BlackRock, Inc., on the other hand, went old school with their media blitz. They increased their investment in newspaper ads 520% over the previous year, and 575% in magazines.

For skeptics, sometimes it helps to see an abstract concept like cryptocurrencies explained in a publication you can hold in your hands.

About The Author

Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.