UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF CREDIT CARD AGGREGATORS
There has been a lot of attention given lately to the credit card aggregation space. Perhaps it is partially based on the success of CreditCards.com which intended to go public earlier this year but withdrew its filing in March due to market volatility. Credit card aggregators provide information on different credit cards on their sites, and then “transfer” those consumers to the issuers’ sites to apply. In the case of CreditCards.com, consumers can select from more than 150 cards by more than 25 issuers.
But how much of an impact are these aggregators making? Below is a look at all credit card prospects during May and June ‘08. The yellow portion of the graph represents the number of prospects visiting the top credit card aggregation sites during May and June 2008 while the green portion of the graph represents prospects visiting top card issuer sites. As you can see, the credit card aggregation space still represents a small piece (approximately 9%) of the overall space.
CreditCards.com is the dominant player in the credit card aggregator space. In May, CreditCards.com represented approximately 69% of all credit card aggregator prospects. Some credit to their success may be given to the mere fortune of having such a straightforward name as the term “creditcards.com” is the only branded aggregator term to appear among the top ten search terms for aggregators.
However, another factor contributing to Creditcard.com’s top ranking is a 200% increase in marketing spend between January and April ‘08. While CreditCards.com’s search and display advertising is prevalent online, the company has also been ramping up other media spend. Between January and April ’08, it allotted more than half of total media spend to television (Source: TNS Media).
Overall, the aggregator space continues to be a viable alternative for people finding cards online, and CreditCards.com will continue to excel as it continues to ramp its multi-channel marketing spend.
