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PRESS RELEASE Source:                    First Trust Active Dividend Income Fund


FIRST TRUST ACTIVE DIVIDEND INCOME FUND ANNOUNCES MODIFIED INVESTMENT STRATEGY
AND ADDITION OF OPTION OVERLAY STRATEGY.

WHEATON, IL -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- June 18, 2012 --First Trust Active Dividend
Income Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: FAV) announced that its Board of Trustees has
approved certain modifications to the Fund's current investment strategy
including the utilization of an option overlay strategy ("Option Strategy")
alongside a buy and hold equity dividend value strategy. The Fund will continue
to seek the same investment objective of a high level of current income,
combined with its secondary objective of capital appreciation. Specifically, the
Fund will seek to blend the equity dividend value strategy with the Fund's
current dividend capture strategy. The equity dividend value strategy will tend
to focus on companies that have consistent or growing distribution histories and
long-term asset appreciation potential over time. The Option Strategy will be
implemented on the equity dividend value portion of the Fund with the goal of
generating income for the Fund.

The goal of the Option Strategy is to generate income from option premiums in an
attempt to enhance the distributions payable to shareholders and reduce overall
portfolio volatility. The Fund generally will write "at-the-money" or
"out-of-the-money" call options with strike prices that are equal to or higher
than the market price of the underlying security at the time the option is
written. The Option Strategy will be managed by the Alternatives Group at First
Trust Advisors L.P. ("FTA"), the investment advisor to the Fund. The Fund will
write call options on index and single stock options on up to 50% of the Fund's
portfolio value. Individual call options will only be written on stocks held by
the portfolio. The initial option overwrite is expected to be between 10% and
25% of the portfolio's equity exposure. The Option Strategy will commence on or
about August 20, 2012, approximately 60 days after the anticipated mailing of
notice to Fund shareholders. For further information, please go to the Fund's
website at www.ftportfolios.com.

FTA, the Fund's investment advisor, along with its affiliate First Trust
Portfolios L.P., are privately-held companies which provide a variety of
investment services, including asset management and financial advisory services,
with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $53
billion as of May 31, 2012 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded
funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts.

Aviance Capital Management, LLC, the Fund's investment sub-advisor, focuses on
managing multi-cap value and growth portfolios.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investment return and
market value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may
be worth more or less than their original cost.

Principal Risk Factors: Investment in this Fund involves investment and market
risk; management risk; common stock risk; option risk; sub-advisor risk; value
investing risk; dividend strategy risk; MLP risk; qualified dividend income tax
risk; equity securities risk; small and medium cap company risk; non-U.S.
securities risk; and emerging markets risk. The risks of investing in the Fund
are detailed in the prospectus, shareholder reports and other regulatory
filings.

The Fund may write (sell) covered call options on a portion of the equity
securities held in the Fund's portfolio as determined to be appropriate by the
Fund's investment advisor and investment sub-advisor, consistent with the Fund's
investment objectives. The ability to successfully implement the Fund's
investment strategy depends on the investment advisor's and the investment
sub-advisor's ability to predict pertinent market movements, which cannot be
assured. Thus, the use of options may require the Fund to sell portfolio
securities at inopportune times or for prices other than current market values,
may limit the amount of appreciation the Fund can realize on an investment, or
may cause the Fund to hold an equity security that it might otherwise sell.
There can be no assurance that a liquid market for the options will exist when
the Fund seeks to close out an option position. Additionally, to the extent that
the Fund purchases options pursuant to a hedging strategy, the Fund will be
subject to additional risks. Covered call option premiums will be treated by the
Fund as either short-term or long-term capital gain or loss, depending whether
the call option expires, is exercised or cancelled pursuant to a covering
transaction, and the timing of such transaction. Thus, the fund cannot assure
any level of any regular quarterly distributions of net investment income
(income other than net long-term capital gain) that will be treated as ordinary
income, cannot assure any level of capital gain distributions, and cannot assure
any ratio of regular quarterly distributions to capital gain distributions.

The Fund's daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per
share as well as other information can be found at www.ftportfolios.com or by
calling 1-800-988-5891.


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Contact:
Press Inquiries           Jane Doyle                630-765-8775
Analyst Inquiries         Jeff Margolin             630-915-6784
Broker Inquiries          Jeff Margolin            630-915-6784


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Source: First Trust Active Dividend Income Fun