Core Digital Media

What Core Digital Media does

Core Digital Media (CDM) is a US-based, privately held digital performance-marketing and consumer financial referral company that connects individuals to financial products including mortgages, insurance, and credit cards. Founded in 1999 as Lowermybills.com, the company operates a portfolio of consumer-facing financial brands — most notably LowerMyBills.com (founded 1999, acquired by CDM in 2005) and Quicken Loans (brand acquired in 2021) — and reports having empowered more than 50 million people with information and financial solutions. CDM's stated scale milestones include helping 750,000+ people save on mortgages, achieving 105,000 closed loans and $23B in origination volume in 2020, and connecting 8 million unique consumers to a financial solution in 2021.

The platform is built on a cloud-native AWS infrastructure completed in 2020, using a microservices architecture with Java, Spring, Hibernate, React, and NodeJS, a Snowflake enterprise data warehouse exceeding 1TB, and Kafka/MongoDB streaming layers. CDM runs a real-time predictive model (launched 2018) that powers consumer financial product matching, with data inputs enriched by third-party datasets from BlackKnight and Experian. Marketing is fully in-house across paid display, social, search, content, organic, and influencer channels, supported by A/B testing infrastructure.

CDM generates revenue primarily through affiliate referral fees on financial product matches (mortgages being the largest vertical) and digital advertising across owned properties. Since 2017, CDM has operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), with consumer referral flows between Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Auto, and CDM brands. The company is headquartered in Playa Vista, California, and employs 101-250 people.

Name

Core Digital Media

Legal name

Core Digital Media

Website

https://coredigitalmedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Core Digital Media is a US digital performance-marketing and lead-generation company that connects consumers to mortgage, insurance, and credit-card products through owned brands LowerMyBills.com and Quicken Loans, operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Financial Lead Generation

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (541830), Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

Loan Brokers (6163)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio) (BPAFABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mortgage Comparison, Marketplace & Rate-Shopping Platforms (FSALABAJ), Alternative Data & Credit Scoring (Cashflow, Telco, Utility, Open Banking) (FSAGAHAC)

Keywords

• Lead generation services
• Performance marketing
• Consumer financial comparison
• Mortgage referral platform
• Affiliate marketing

Headquarters

HQ city

Playa Vista

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Lead Generation / Affiliate Referrals: CDM connects consumers to financial solutions (mortgages, insurance, credit cards) and earns referral fees or transaction fees when consumers are matched with appropriate financial products. The company has helped 750K+ people save on mortgages and connects millions of consumers to financial solutions annually.
2. Performance Marketing / Advertising: Revenue generated from digital advertising across multiple channels including display, social, search, and content. CDM is described as a top digital performance advertiser for over 2 decades.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Core Digital Media operates consumer-facing digital platforms that connect individuals with financial products such as mortgages, insurance, and credit cards. Through its flagship brands Quicken Loans and LowerMyBills, the company runs performance marketing campaigns, comparison-shopping tools, and educational content to help consumers make financial decisions and earn referral fees when matched with financial service providers.

Product overview

Core Digital Media operates as a portfolio of consumer financial brands that empower people to make confident financial decisions. The company offers a unified platform comprising two primary sub-brands: Quicken Loans (mortgage lending) and LowerMyBills (comparison-shopping for financial products). Both brands work together to connect consumers with optimal financial solutions through educational content and comparison-shopping tools that address individual needs throughout their financial journey.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Quicken Loans A mortgage lending brand owned and operated by Core Digital Media that helps consumers obtain home loans and connects them to mortgage solutions through the broader CDM platform.
• LowerMyBills A comparison-shopping platform that helps consumers save money on recurring expenses including mortgages, insurance premiums, and credit card fees.

Quantifiable outcome

• 750K+ people helped save on mortgages
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Angel City FCcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021CDM partnered with Angel City FC, a women's soccer team, through a multiyear partnership due to shared values including promoting equity, empowering women, giving back to the community, and helping marginalized communities. The partnership includes team member engagement opportunities, game attendance, half-time sponsorship, and events with club executives and players. 10% of the partnership goes towards The Clubhouse Network, which offers safe out-of-school learning and mentoring programs for at-risk youth.
• The Clubhouse NetworkminorOthersNon-profit organization receiving 10% of CDM's Angel City FC partnership. Provides safe out-of-school learning and mentoring programs for multicultural at-risk youth. CDM team members also mentor kids involved with this program.
• Rocket CompaniesflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDM is a proud member of the Rocket Companies family (NYSE: RKT) and works in close partnership with sister companies Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, and Rocket Auto. These companies are all market leaders obsessed with helping clients achieve homeownership and financial freedom. CDM gained ownership of the Quicken Loans brand in 2021.
• ExperiancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDM's data platform leverages comprehensive datasets from Experian. The relationship dates back to 2007 when Experian Interactive Media was formed through merger of Experian and LowerMyBills.
• BlackKnightcoreTechnology or IntegrationCDM's data platform incorporates comprehensive datasets from BlackKnight for enhanced consumer analytics and financial decision-making support.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationCDM's platform runs on a highly scalable, modern, cloud-based AWS infrastructure. Successfully completed technology cloud migration in 2020.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• LendingTree: Operates a leading online loan comparison marketplace connecting consumers with mortgage, insurance, and credit card providers, generating revenue from lead-generation referral fees — directly comparable to CDM's LowerMyBills and Quicken Loans lead-gen model.
• Bankrate (Red Ventures): Consumer-facing financial comparison and content platform monetized through lead-generation and advertising, similar to LowerMyBills' bill-comparison and CDM's performance-marketing approach.
• NerdWallet: Personal finance comparison and content platform generating revenue from financial product referrals (credit cards, mortgages, insurance) — closely aligned with CDM's lead-generation and educational content model.
• QuinStreet: Performance-marketing company operating vertical-specific comparison platforms in financial services, home services, and education — a near-direct competitor in financial lead generation and performance media.
• MediaAlpha: Programmatic customer-acquisition platform for insurance and financial services verticals operating on a per-lead transaction model — comparable to CDM's performance-based lead monetization.

Broad incumbents

• Credit Karma: Large-scale consumer financial platform that matches users to credit card, loan, and insurance products via recommendation engine — overlapping with CDM's comparison-and-referral model in the same verticals, at much larger scale.

Emerging players

• SelectQuote: Direct-to-consumer lead-generation platform for insurance and financial products, using a similar online lead-acquisition and conversion model in adjacent financial verticals.
• SmartFinancial: Insurance comparison platform that aggregates multiple carriers and monetizes via lead referral — directly comparable lead-gen model to CDM's LowerMyBills in the insurance vertical.

Regional players

• BankBazaar: India-based financial product comparison and lead-generation platform for credit cards, loans, and insurance — analogous business model to CDM/LowerMyBills, but operating in a different geography.
• MoneySupermarket: UK-based financial comparison marketplace generating revenue from financial product referrals — same business model as CDM's comparison platforms, but serving UK consumers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CoreDigitalJobs
• Facebookfacebook.com/616129705079146
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/core-digital-media
• Instagraminstagram.com/coredigitalmedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Core Digital Media