Credit Card Trends and Opportunities: Econometric and UK Consumer Trends

Contents Market EnvironmentAdvertising MarketConsumer Trends

40% of consumers describe their financial situation as tight or worse

Which, if any, of the following are we planning to do in the next 6 months? Carefully budget all household spending. Source: nVision Research Base: 1,500 online respondents aged 16+, GB Consequently people have changed their behaviours accordingly

Consumer Trends

Credit card lending as a % of total gross consumer credit Source: Bank of England/nVision Base: UK With less lending consumers have turned to credit cards as an alternative to traditional consumer credit

Credit Card Dependency ‘Many consumers in the UK are anxious about their personal financial circumstances, suggesting a willingness to avoid big-ticket purchases. Insurance provider Aviva and The Wriglesworth Consultancy drew on data from 2,000 families, and found 40% of households failed to save money on a monthly basis. The average debt on a credit card, loan or overdraft now stands at £5,360 ($8,585; €6,357), and a third of residences have no savings to cover emergencies. Elsewhere, the median family income was reported to be £1,937, spending around 10% on food, 8% on debt repayments, 6% on fuel and lighting, and 5% on motoring.’ (WARC)WARC A further 39% of respondents were under such budgetary pressure that they could not consider taking on any additional financial commitments. Looking ahead six months, 57% stated the rising costs of necessities constituted a primary concern, a figure hitting 54% when projecting forward five years….

Advertising Climate

Media Spend Financial advertisers tend to spend the most on advertising on TV and Direct mail advertising followed by the Press On average the industry spent around 6% on Internet advertising (not including search) Source: NNR adDynanix :

Online Advertising 58% of credit card owners say the internet is the first place they look when they seek information Engaged – 1 in 5 say they often notice advertisements on the internet 60% of regular MSN/ WL users own at least one credit card TGI GB Q Base: 18+ Own at least one credit card

MSN/ WL users: Attitudes & Habits TGI GB Q Base: Regular users of MSN/ WL 66% already own a credit card – 31% own two or more cards 22% say they tend to spend money without thinking about it (index 130) Just 3% disagree with the statement “I don’t like the idea of being in debt” Barclaycard & Lloyds TSB are the most popular credit cards used in the last 12 months 29% regularly use their credit card as method of payment when making internet purchases

Impressions and Audience by Publisher - AdMetrix While Microsoft does not have the most impressions for this sector, it does have the most Unique Visitors

Advertiser performance comScore AdMetrix Jan 2011 Business/ Finance – Banking category For the same volume of impressions, Microsoft reaches significantly more UU’s

Bing Search Traffic KPIs Overall Credit Card Traffic Terms received only slightly more traffic in 2010 than 2009 However 2011 has seen strong growth so far with a 32% year on year increase in traffic for January- March 1.Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool 2.Hitwise

Bing Finance Searchers are… Source: NNR JULY 2010 – JANUARY 2011

Credit Card KW Demographics and Daily Trends: 1.Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool

Microsoft Media Network Trends

Network Demographics 66% of the impressions occur between 18 and 44, while a similar proportion of clicks occur in the higher age brackets, Impressions and conversions peak in the for females while the peak is more male biased 53% of conversion occur between the age bracket Conversions for Finance usually entail a quote or an application Source: Microsoft Media Network : July 2010 – March 2011

Network: Day of the Week There is a slight decline in impressions through out the week however consumers are more likely to click during first half of the work week and on Sunday Conversions have two peaks on Tuesday as well as at the end of the week on Friday Source: Microsoft Media Network : July 2010 – March 2011

Network: Time of Day There is a build of Impressions and Actions during the early afternoon and a slight elevation in the early evening There is one main peak that occurs post-lunch before the end of the work day Source: Microsoft Media Network : July 2010 – March 2011

Finance Opportunities Consumer Credit Positioning Because of so many variables in the market place, positioning of your product is key Demographic/Mosaic The users and searchers for this type of product index well in demographic sectors and can be targeting with our Mosaic offering Search and Display – Better Together Use both offerings to help boost your ROI moreover, use our display offering to help boost your brand campaign. Particularly when we have seen good increases in traffic in the start of 2011