For the third time in the past three years, we visited five major portals to see which financial companies were purchasing banners advertisements for common loan terms. We found almost identical usage compared to our Nov. 1998 study (OBR 11/98). We found 94% of the 13 common loan terms had at
least partial sponsorship from financial services companies, compared to 95% in Nov. 1998. Of the 650 total banner opportunities (13 terms x 5 portals x 10 searches), 544, or 84%, were used by financial companies (see table below), compared to 86% in 1998. The top three advertisers were: LoanWeb with 88 banners (16% share), ConsumerInfo.com with 65 banners (12% share), and GetSmart with 47 banners (9% share). 8
 

Source: Online Banking Report, 6/99

Definitions: Num = number of loan terms with financial banner ads

% = percent of the 13 total loan terms displaying financial banners

Total terms = 13 unique loan terms x 5 portals = 65

Total Slots = 65 total terms x 10 searches = 650

Source: Online Banking Report, 6/99; Only financial services advertising is listed; search terms were put in parenthesis (except Yahoo) so only Web sites containing the exact phrase are counted; each term was searched on 10 times at each portal site (130 searches per portal); access was from a Seattle POP; no attempt was made to alter the normal cookie file on OBR’s Netscape 4.0 browser; percentages indicate how many times out of 10 searches the banner appeared, if no percentage is listed then the banner appeared 100% of the time, percentages may not add to 100% if non-financial banners were present.

Note: 1.) GetSmart maintains a paid link for mortgage-related terms

Abbreviations: AmDebt = AmeriDebt www.mercuryseven.com CCC = Consolidated Credit Counseling Services www.debtfree.com Cons Info = www.ConsumerInfo.com ; Debt. Mgmt. = Debt Management Association; MM Int’l = Money Management International www.mmintl.com Mtg Net = www.MortgageNetwork.com ; Wells = Wells Fargo