Digital
MEDIA KIT
Simplify Your Media Planning With Morningstar
Our recent site enhancements provide for a quicker and more streamlined experience for individual investors and advisors. We are focused on delivering the most insightful, relevant, and uncompromising content we can produce, always putting investors first. Whether we’re reaching investors directly or through advisors and institutions, our goal is the same.
Morningstar Websites
Morningstar.com
Relevant Content
Morningstar.com is designed to support the investing tasks that we are distinctly positioned to serve evaluating and discovering new investments, building/upgrading a portfolio, and monitoring the markets. We supply the independent analysis and data both advisors and investors rely on.
Site Functionality
- Faster load times across the site for increased viewability and better performance. Average viewability rates on Morningstar.com are 31% better than industry averages.*
- Morningstar.com is responsive, so your message reaches across all devices—desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
- Streamlined data pages with tabs for quicker access to data points.
Custom Advertising Opportunities
Homepage: Our Morningstar.com homepage provides a powerful buyout experience. With three leaderboards, homepage video center, and half page and rectangle options, your message will be highly visible.
Special Report Weeks: Have 100% share of voice of focused content for one-week sponsorships. Focused content includes such topics as tax planning, ESG Investing, and portfolio makeovers.
Spotlight Topics: Sponsorship of two-day editorial events that offer explicit alignment with timely investing topics. Current topics include but are not limited to: ESG Investing, emerging markets, dividend investing, target-date investing, and life stage investing.
Coverpage Sponsorships: Be the exclusive sponsor of one of Morningstar’s Investment Centers. These are available quarterly and include Personal Finance, Mutual Funds, Stocks, ETFs, and Bonds.
*Source: Moat data vs industry standard for ROS Leaderboard desktop traffic YTD.
Targeting Capabilities and Online Ad Units
Core Audience
Individual investors, basic and Premium Members of Morningstar.com, and financial advisors
Investment-Specific Targeting
Locates users who are monitoring or researching specific investments.
Workflow Targeting
Identifies investment and recommendation pathways where users make purchase decisions.
- Editorial, tools, and data channels
Geo-Targeting
Directs your message to users.
- Determined by city, designated market area, or country
Behavioral Targeting
Target to users based on the type of content they have already consumed.
- Based upon frequency of visits to certain areas of the site.
Data Report Sponsorship
Investors and advisors dedicate much of their research time to our data report pages. Sponsoring your own report pages helps you reach prospects when they are much closer to making an investment decision.
For greater impact, a leaderboard, rectangle, or half page unit can be added to the program. This is a popular tactic for high-exposure branding initiatives.
These data pages also provide areas for content distribution, allowing the advertiser to share thought leadership, white papers, and fund manager commentary specifi c to each ticker.
Advisor-Focused Opportunities
Morningstar has several multifaceted, advisor-focused sponsorship opportunities. These programs offer thought leadership and content distribution to our select audience.
The advisor content on Morningstar.com provides seamless access to practice management features, in-depth investment commentary, and other advisor-focused resources critical to their daily workflow. We allow marketers to target these advisors via several different vehicles.
Advisor Targeted Opportunities:
- Advisor dedicated emails
- Quarter-end review package
- Morningstar Investment Conference opportunities
Quarter-End Review Package
At the end of every quarter, Morningstar reflects on the market over the previous three months and identifies the best opportunities for investors.
The coverage includes a series of 10–12 market outlook articles that outline our analysts’ take on various parts of the market and their picks in each sector. In addition to a Market Outlook PDF with two full page sponsor ads distributed via custom emails.
Package Components
- 100% SOV on all quarter-end-focused editorial content on Morningstar.com for five days
- Homepage presence throughout the week, with leaderboard and logo
- Forward Looking PDF with two full page sponsor ads inserted
Quarter-end review package schedule
- April TBD: 1st Quarter Review
- July TBD: 2nd Quarter Review
- October TBD: 3rd Quarter Review
- January TBD: 4th Quarter Review
*Exact dates and number of articles subject to change.
Content Distribution Modules
Make Morningstar your communication medium. Use our content distribution modules to distribute your own content on Morningstar.com
Content Distribution Module
Deliver your content to Morningstar.com users consistently. Our content distribution modules integrate the tools and materials you provide into the workflow of investors and advisors. Our readers come to Morningstar.com for our independent perspective and unique content. Let them come to expect the same quality perspectives, commentary, and thought leadership from you.
Options:
- Data reports
- Articles
- As part of a center sponsorship
- As part of a fund report sponsorship
- Research centers—button and text links
- Homepage Headline Units
- Fund & ETF Reports
- Targeted Fund & ETF Reports
Morningstar.com Homepage Buyout
Our redesigned homepage features current news and our latest analysis delivered with our upgraded and faster loading ad units. This page introduces a number of content-rich features, including current market status and recommended reading topics, and it is segmented by topic and investment type as users scroll down.
Take over Morningstar.com’s homepage for an entire day. Morningstar’s Today page buyout is a great opportunity for branding and product launches or for pairing your message with market events.
Placements:
- Pushdown Intro Ad Treatment
- Homepage leaderboard
- Above-fold rectangle (or 300x600)
- Video-adjacent rectangle
- Mid-page leaderboard
- Footer leaderboard
Morningstar Content Sponsorships
Content sponsorships align your brand or product with Morningstar’s editorial events and investment centers.
Center Sponsorship
Firms can be the exclusive sponsor of an entire investment center on Morningstar.com. It’s a great way to gain exposure in the most popular areas, while advertising investment-related product offerings or advice. This opportunity includes a content distribution module and 100% SOV in each investment center.
Available centers:
Exchange-Traded Funds, Fixed Income, Personal Finance, Stocks, Mutual Funds, and Retirement
Special Report Weeks and Spotlight Topics
Our site editors produce content that addresses timely topics such as retirement, tax planning, and college savings. This is an opportunity to align your brand directly with a particular topic or audience. Receive exclusive, 100% SOV sponsorship of an editorial event featured on Morningstar.com’s homepage, articles, and video pages.
Sustainability/ESG package
Sustainability/ESG package: Offers the ability to target our users as they actively search for funds and ETFs with high Morningstar Sustainability Ratings (targeted reports with 4 & 5 Globe ratings, our highest). Also includes presence across ESG article content, and our ESG screener. There is truly no better to way to be in front of users as they actively seek investments that are socially responsible.
See our 2024 editorial calendar for more information.
Morningstar.com 2024 Editorial Calendar
Editorial topics are subject to change.*
January 4–10
Quarter End Insights: Q4 Review
Morningstar equity and fund analysts provide their takes on the last quarter of 2023. Includes popular “undervalued stocks” article, along with stock market and sector outlooks, wrap-ups for U.S. equity, international, and bond funds, and video recaps of the year in funds and ETFs. Also includes quarter-end data for indexes and fund categories, in addition to a forward looking Q1 outlook PDF written by Morningstar’s top analysts.
April 4–10
Quarter End Insights: Q1 Review
Morningstar equity and fund analysts provide their takes on the first quarter of 2024. Includes popular “undervalued stocks” article, along with stock market and sector outlooks, and wrap-ups for U.S. equity, international, and bond funds. Also includes quarter-end data for indexes and fund categories, in addition to a forward looking Q2 outlook PDF written by Morningstar’s top analysts.
June 26–28
Special Report 2024 MIC
Morningstar analysts and editors will convene with top fund managers in Morningstar’s flagship annual event for advisors. Morningstar.com coverage includes panel excerpts, articles covering the most intriguing ideas from the conference, and video interviews with top managers and industry experts.
July 6–12
Quarter End Insights: Q2 Review
Morningstar equity and fund analysts provide their takes on the second quarter of 2024. Includes popular “undervalued stocks” article, along with stock market and sector outlooks, and wrap-ups for U.S. equity, international, and bond funds. Also includes quarter-end data for indexes and fund categories, in addition to a forward looking Q3 outlook PDF written by Morningstar’s top analysts.
October 3–9
Quarter End Insights: Q3 Review
Morningstar equity and fund analysts provide their takes on the first quarter of 2024. Includes popular “undervalued stocks” article, along with stock market and sector outlooks, and wrap-ups for U.S. equity, international, and bond funds. Also includes quarter-end data for indexes and fund categories, in addition to a forward looking Q4 outlook PDF written by Morningstar’s top analysts.
January 3–9
Quarter End Insights: Q4 Review
Morningstar equity and fund analysts provide their takes on the last quarter of 2024. Includes popular “undervalued stocks” article, along with stock market and sector outlooks, wrap-ups for U.S. equity, international, and bond funds, and video recaps of the year in funds and ETFs. Also includes year-end data for indexes and fund categories.
*Topics and dates subject to change.
Spotlight Topics
Spotlight Topics are special two-day editorial events that are available for sponsorship. All topics are subject to change.
Guide to Stock Investing
Tax & IRA Guide
Life Stage
Special Report: MICUS
Guide to Annuities
Guide to Fixed Income Investing
Saving for College 529 Guide
Dividends Investing Guide
Emerging Markets Investing Guide
Guide to ETF Investing
Guide to Fund Investing
Guide to Target-Date Investing
HSAs: Guide to Open Enrollment
International Investing
Investing Like Warren Buffett
Portfolio Basics
Guide to Uncovering Portfolio Risk
Portfolio Tune-up
Guide to Saving for Retirement
Are You Ready to Retire?
Morningstar's Retirement Guide
In-Retirement Playbook
The Investor's Guide to Charitable Giving
Global Websites
Showcase your products and message across multiple countries or regions. Our international sites can help you launch global branding strategies or let investment professionals know what products you offer in their country. Our advertising placements are high impact and consistent across countries. Reach out to our global ad sales team to learn more.
- Professional/advisor targeting
- Category and investment-specific targeting
- Special report weeks
- Center sponsorships
- Content distribution opportunities
- E-newsletters and dedicated emails
31 websites worldwide in:
- Africa
- Asia
- Australia/New Zealand
- Europe
- Latin America
- North America
Dedicated Emails
Send your message or offer to over 230,000 subscribers and advisors who are looking for investment ideas and advice. Communicate with those who have opted in to receive offers and information carefully screened by Morningstar.
Dedicated Emails
Dedicated HTML emails are sent from Morningstar on behalf of an exclusive advertiser and feature 100% client-provided content.
Program Components
Email Lists
- Investor Dedicated Emails: 200,000
- Advisor Dedicated Emails: 60,000
Email list sizes are subject to change. Investor email list could also include advisors who have not declared themselves as such.
Scheduling
- Delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
- Assets needed seven days prior to deployment
Tracking
- Deliver, open, and click reporting provided
Advisor and Investor Focused E-Newsletters
For 2021 we have completely redesigned our e-newsletter templates for a cleaner, updated design that will drive engagement via timely, relevant content and enhanced ad units. Sponsorship of our e-newsletters presents your brand to those who keep up with the latest investment trends. Pair your message with any of our eight newsletters that range from market summaries to Morningstar analyst picks and ratings.
Morning Digest (List size: 160,000)
Highlights of new analyst reports and articles from Morningstar.com.
Stock Analyst Notes (List size: 43,000)
Delivered every morning, our take on the latest news affecting the market’s biggest stocks.
Fund Spy (List size: 215,000)
An inside look at the fund industry and our favorite funds through the eyes of acknowledged fund experts.
Stock Strategist (List size: 230,000)
Insights on market and industry trends alongside stock tips from Morningstar’s stock analysts (Includes the ETF Edition sent the second and third Wednesday of each month).
ETF Strategist (List size: 230,000)
Insights on market and industry trends alongside ETF tips from Morningstar’s ETF analysts.
SmartInvestor (List size: 320,000)
Our weekly e-newsletter filled with ideas on investing better and smarter.
Improving Your Finances (List size: 230,000)
Portfolio planning tips in this e-newsletter alternate between the Morningstar.com columns “The Short Answer” and “Improving Your Finances.”
Advisor Digest (List size: 57,000)
Biweekly take on the market and perspectives from industry experts.
Email list sizes are subject to change.
Omnichannel
Podcasts and Mobile
Investing Insights and The Long View Podcast Sponsorships
Audio message with sponsor’s name and tagline announced at beginning and midpoint of each Morningstar-produced podcast. Also includes display ads on Morningstar landing pages.
- Available quarterly
- Podcasts average 45 minutes long and are produced weekly
- Sponsor’s audio message will be read by Morningstar and can include company name and tagline
- 100% SOV
Apple News
Engage with users off-site, with our newly created Apple News feed. Rectangle units are available on a CPM basis.