Financial apps in SEA spent $244m on user acquisition in 2020, report says

Marketers of financial apps in Southeast Asia spent over US$244 million on user acquisition in 2020, contributing to about 8% of the total global marketing spend, according to a report by marketing analytics provider AppsFlyer.

Marketing spend in Southeast Asia largely relies on trends in fintech app demand, with about 65% of budgets dedicated to gaining users through non-organic installs (NOI), the report noted.

Ad spending by fintech players in Southeast Asia was the fifth-largest globally, after North America, Latin America, Japan and Korea, and Western Europe.

Photo credit: AppsFlyer

However, the report also found that Asia (which includes Japan and Korea), Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, saw US$672 million in ad spends from financial apps to acquire new users. The combined amount is the second-highest spending for ads during the year, only lower than the US.

In addition, financial apps were also installed 70% more in developing countries compared to developed markets. The report attributed this gap to the huge population of either unbanked or underbanked people in Southeast Asia.

Countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines ranked among the top 15 in terms of downloading financial apps, with all four countries showing higher demand in the first quarter of 2021 compared to Q1 2020.

The Asia-Pacific region tracked 2.7 billion app installs between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021, out of a total 4.7 billion installations globally. There has also been a 20% increase in the installation of finance apps between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, with India leading the pack globally.

“2020 was a game changer, impacting how businesses and consumers interact and operate,” said Ronen Mense, managing director and president of APAC at AppsFlyer. “As more users shifted to their mobile devices, financial institutions followed suit, enabling consumers to function through their devices.”

See also: 20 largest exits in SEA

The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed users in the region to use more money-lending apps, accounting for a 58.3% share of NOI in Southeast Asia.

While lending apps are popular in India and Indonesia, financial activity and loans came to a halt amid lockdowns, leading to the massive drop in app installs in Q2 2020. Despite the impressive growth since then, the number of installs in this category dropped 40% year on year.