Millennial Media has released the latest report in its Mobile Intel series, looking at mobile advertising in the finance industry. The report reveals that Finance was the number one global vertical on the Millenial Media platform in 2011, growing by over 300 per cent over 2010.

Of the many sub-categories within the Finance sector, insurance was the largest, with a 42 per cent share of the total spend. Banking was second, with financial services and credit cards third and fourth respectively.

Mobile banking was the finance sub-category accessed most frequently by consumers. 35 per cent accessed banking content once a week, and 22 per cent accessed it almost every day. Lead generation/registration was by far the most popular campaign goal for finance advertisers, making up 70 per cent of all campaigns. Finance advertisers allowed consumers to place a call or enrol/join/subscribe at a higher rate than the mobile average – actions which directly supported lead gen-focused campaigns.

On the device side of things, 80 per cent of mobile finance users own a smartphone, an increase of 55 per cent year-on-year. 37 per cent of mobile finance users own a non-phone connected device, such as a Tablet, e-reader or MP3 player.
Mobile finance users tend to be young and wealthy. The number of mobile finance users between 18 – 34 is almost double the overall mobile average, and mobile finance users over-index in the $75,000+ and $100,000+ income brackets. 48 per cent of mobile finance users identify themselves as risk-takers, compared to 35 per cent of the total mobile audience.

Finally, almost 50 per cent of mobile finance users claim they will stick with a brand they like. Mobile finance users are also 95 per cent more likely to be influenced by a celebrity endorsement than the overall mobile audience.

You can access the full report here.