SmartETFs Advertising & Marketing Technology ETF (MRAD)

The SmartETFs Advertising & Marketing Technology ETF was an actively managed fund from Guinness Atkinson Asset Management. It invested worldwide in companies that build software, data and platforms for digital advertising and marketing, such as ad exchanges, demand-side platforms, measurement firms and marketing software providers. It typically held a few dozen stocks, mixing U.S. and international companies, and its managers looked for firms that would gain as advertising budgets shifted from traditional media to digital and data-driven channels.

The fund launched at the end of 2020 on NYSE Arca under the symbol MRAD, part of the adviser's SmartETFs family of thematic funds. It came to market just as advertising technology stocks were peaking after a pandemic rally, and many of its holdings fell sharply in 2022 as interest rates rose and privacy changes hurt ad targeting. Its holdings lost much of their value.

The fund never gathered meaningful assets and held well under one million dollars near the end. In 2024 the trust's board decided to close it. The last day of trading was October 30, 2024, after which the fund stopped accepting orders, sold its holdings and was liquidated on or before November 6, 2024, with cash paid to remaining shareholders. The fund's expense ratio was 0.68 percent.

The fund was small within the broader thematic ETF market, where many niche products launched in 2020 and 2021 closed within a few years. Shareholders who sold before the last trading day received the market price, while those who held their units through the closing received their share of the liquidation proceeds. Similar exposure remains available through communication services sector funds and through individual advertising technology stocks.