Auto Finance News

What Auto Finance News does

Auto Finance News is a U.S. B2B professional media company founded in 1996 and headquartered in New York, operated as the flagship publication of Royal Media Group. It serves decision-makers in the automotive lending and leasing industry — including executives, lenders, risk managers, capital markets teams, and dealers — through subscription-based news products, industry events, and data analytics. Its portfolio includes the Auto Finance News Premium subscription ($51/month or $578/year), the Daily Intelligence Brief newsletter reaching 45,000+ industry professionals, the Big Wheels Auto Finance Data Platform (covering 200+ lenders and approximately 8,800 institutions with origination, credit, pricing, capital markets, and vehicle value data), the Auto Finance Roadmap podcast, a webinar library, and five annual industry events (Auto Finance Summit in its 26th edition, Auto Finance Summit East, Auto Finance Capital Summit, Powersports Finance Summit, and Equipment Finance Connect). The company also operates the Auto Finance Excellence Awards.

The business generates revenue through four streams: recurring premium and data subscriptions, advertising and sponsorships across newsletters and the website, event registration and sponsorship fees, and enterprise data licensing for the Big Wheels platform. Distribution is direct-to-professional via the autofinancenews.net website and bundled subscription offerings. The company has 11-50 employees and is privately held with no disclosed institutional investment or M&A activity.

Tech-wise, Auto Finance News combines an editorial CMS-driven publishing platform with a structured data analytics layer (Big Wheels) and an emerging AI surface: an OpenAI-powered natural language query tool launched in 2026 for archive exploration. The company has no public API, no SDK, and no disclosed in-house AI models. Its proprietary features center on the curated Big Wheels dataset and dashboard tooling rather than novel technology architecture. The technology stack is conventional for trade media, with the data platform and AI tool representing the main productized technology bets.

Name

Auto Finance News

Legal name

Auto Finance News

Website

https://autofinancenews.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Auto Finance News is a U.S. B2B trade media company, founded in 1996, serving the automotive lending and leasing industry with subscription news, the Big Wheels data platform, and five annual industry events for lenders, risk teams, and dealers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Trade Media and Data Intelligence

NAICS

Sales Financing (52222), Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

New & Used Auto Purchase Loans (FSAKADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Auto Refinance (FSAKADAB), Auto & Vehicle Loan Brokerage (FSAEAEAK), Auto / Vehicle Marketplace Lending (FSAKAHAF)

Keywords

• Automotive finance news
• Auto lending data
• Industry intelligence platform
• Trade media subscriptions
• Commercial lending analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Premium Subscriptions: Auto Finance News Premium subscription providing monthly newsletter, weekly email updates, exclusive event discounts, and access to premium content. Offered as monthly ($51/month) or annual subscription ($578/year) with 7-day free trials.
2. Big Wheels Data Subscription: Data platform subscription providing deep analytics across loan origination, underwriting, capital markets, and pricing. Enterprise and individual subscription options available.
3. Advertising and Sponsorship: Advertising opportunities including email newsletters, website placements, and event sponsorships. Sponsors include vendors in the auto finance technology and financial services space.
4. Event Revenue: Registration fees and sponsorships for industry events including Auto Finance Summit, Auto Finance Summit East, Powersports Finance Summit, Equipment Finance Connect, and Auto Finance Capital Summit.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Auto Finance News is a B2B professional media company that publishes news, analysis, and market intelligence for the U.S. auto finance industry. It monetizes through premium news subscriptions (monthly/annual), the Big Wheels Auto Finance Data Platform (lender rankings, origination, credit, pricing and capital markets analytics), industry events (Auto Finance Summit, Powersports Finance Summit, Equipment Finance Connect, Auto Finance Capital Summit), webinars, podcasts, and advertising/sponsorship.

Product overview

Auto Finance News offers a media and data intelligence platform for the auto finance industry, comprising three core product lines: (1) Auto Finance News Premium, a subscription news and analysis service delivering breaking industry news via daily and weekly newsletters; (2) Big Wheels Auto Finance Data, a unified data platform providing market intelligence on auto loan originations, credit conditions, pricing trends, vehicle values, capital markets, and competitive benchmarking across 200+ lenders and ~8,800 institutions; and (3) The Roadmap Podcast, covering best practices and trending topics in automotive lending and leasing. The company also organizes industry events including Auto Finance Summit, Auto Finance Summit East, Auto Finance Capital Summit, Powersports Finance Summit, and Equipment Finance Connect. An AI News Tool [Beta] enables natural language querying of Auto Finance News content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Big Wheels Auto Finance Data: A unified data platform providing auto loan originations, credit conditions, pricing trends, vehicle values, capital markets data, and competitive intelligence for lenders, risk teams, pricing leaders, and executives in the U.S. auto finance market.
• Big Wheels Data
• The Auto Finance Roadmap Podcast

Products and services

• Auto Finance News Premium Monthly Monthly subscription providing timely industry news, market analysis, weekly email updates, and event discounts for auto finance professionals.
• Auto Finance News Premium Annual Annual subscription providing premium access to breaking news, exclusive industry reports, market analysis, weekly email updates, and event discounts for auto finance professionals.
• Big Wheels Auto Finance Data Platform Unified data and analytics platform providing auto finance market intelligence including outstandings rankings, origination trends, risk and underwriting metrics, pricing and vehicle values, capital markets data, and competitive benchmarking for lenders, risk teams, pricing leaders, and executives.
• AI News Tool [Beta] Beta AI-powered tool that lets users query Auto Finance News content using natural language and receive AI-generated responses, powered by OpenAI.
• The Auto Finance Roadmap Podcast Podcast covering best practices and trending topics in automotive lending and leasing, featuring industry expert interviews and discussions.
• Webinar Library On-demand library of industry webinars covering funding strategies, aftermarket products, auto finance technology, risk-based pricing, and pricing operations for auto finance professionals.
• Auto Finance Summit Flagship annual industry conference for the auto finance industry, providing networking, content sessions, and industry awards for executives, lenders, and service providers.
• Powersports Finance Summit Annual industry conference dedicated to powersports, recreational vehicle, marine, and outdoor equipment finance, with networking and content sessions for finance professionals.
• Equipment Finance Connect Industry event covering equipment finance for finance professionals, with networking and content programming.
• Auto Finance Capital Summit Industry conference focused on capital markets, securitization, and funding excellence for auto finance professionals, with registration fees and sponsorships.

Quantifiable outcome

• 45,000+ industry professionals subscribed to daily intelligence briefings
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Royal MediacoreOthersRoyal Media is the parent company and publisher of Auto Finance News. Royal Media operates multiple B2B financial publishing brands and produces industry events. Auto Finance News is described as the flagship publication published by Royal Media since 1996.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Bank Director: B2B media brand focused on bank board, executive, and strategy issues including consumer lending — adjacent audience and similar subscription-plus-event business model to AFN.
• American Banker: Established B2B financial services media brand serving banking executives with news, data, and events — a broader incumbent whose lender and capital markets coverage overlaps with AFN's enterprise audience.
• Moody's Auto Finance Analytics: Global ratings and analytics firm with deep auto loan performance, ABS, and capital markets data products that overlap with the Big Wheels Data Platform's credit and securitization analytics.
• ABA Banking Journal: American Bankers Association's flagship B2B publication covering commercial and consumer lending, with comparable subscription, event, and content-distribution models targeting senior lender executives.
• S&P Global Mobility: Major automotive data and analytics provider covering vehicle sales, credit, and finance — the larger-scale incumbent whose automotive credit datasets (e.g., AutoCreditPlus) compete with Big Wheels at the enterprise tier.

Direct peers

• SubPrime Auto Finance News: Specialty B2B publication focused on subprime and non-prime auto lending, sharing AFN's lender and dealer readership and covering overlapping regulatory and risk topics.
• Powersports Business: Vertical B2B media for the powersports industry (motorcycles, ATVs, marine), paralleling AFN's Powersports Finance Summit vertical and overlapping on dealer financing and retail credit trends.
• Auto Remarketing: Long-running B2B trade publication covering used-vehicle and subprime auto finance, remarketing, and dealer financing — directly overlapping AFN's core audience of lenders, dealers, and risk teams.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/autofinancenews
• Facebookfacebook.com/AutoFinanceNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/autofinancenews
• Instagraminstagram.com/autofinancenews

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Auto Finance News