How Political Parties Invest in Google Ads: Analysis of Spending Ahead of the 2023 Parliamentary Elections

• Also check out Spending analysis after the 2023 parliamentary elections

2023 Polish Parliamentary Elections: Analysis of Party Spending on Google Ads

On October 15, 2023, the residents of Poland will have another opportunity to choose their representatives to the Sejm and Senate. In the era of digitalization and the growing importance of social media, election campaigns have largely shifted online. Google, as one of the most important promotional tools, plays a key role in shaping the image of parties and their candidates. In the digital era we live in, election campaigns are increasingly rooted in virtual space. Google has become one of the key promotional tools for political parties. Thanks to data from the Google Ads Transparency Center, we can understand the advertising strategies adopted by individual committees and the funds they invest in their online presence. In this article, I will present an analysis of the Google advertising spend of the six main committees from January 1 to September 18, 2023. I will examine the advertising strategies chosen by individual parties and the reasons behind them.

Election Committee Spending on Google Ads

Over 81% of political advertising on Google comes from a single party (among the 6 largest election committees)

Percentage breakdown of election committee spending on Google ads in the 2023 parliamentary elections

• KW Prawo i Sprawiedliwość is by far leading in Google ad spend with an amount of 2,534,500 PLN. This is a significantly larger investment compared to other committees, indicating an intense online campaign run by this party.
• KKW Koalicja Obywatelska is the second-largest investor with 551,250 PLN. Although their spending is much lower than PiS, they are still investing significantly more online than the remaining committees.
• Parties such as KW Nowa Lewica, KW Konfederacja, KW Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy, and KKW Trzecia Droga have much more modest Google advertising budgets, which may indicate a different approach to reaching potential voters or a focus on other forms of advertising.

Total amounts spent by election committees on Google ads in the 2023 parliamentary elections

Ad Format Strategy:

All committees, with the exception of KKW Trzecia Droga, make heavy use of video ads, suggesting that videos are a key tool for conveying campaign messages in this election. The biggest user of this format is KW Konfederacja, with 84% of their investment going toward video ads. KKW Trzecia Droga is the only committee that relied exclusively on image ads. This may indicate a strategy focused on banners and graphics, which are cheaper to produce than video materials. Text ads account for a small share across all parties' strategies. The largest percentage for this format belongs to KKW Koalicja Obywatelska at 0.76%, but it remains a marginal percentage of their total advertising spend.

Preferred ad formats of election committees.

Number of Ads vs. Investment:

KW Nowa Lewica presents an interesting case. Despite a low advertising budget (17,000 PLN), they created as many as 864 ads. This suggests their strategy relies on creating a large volume of diverse, yet perhaps short or less expensive to produce, ads. On the other hand, KW Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, despite a massive investment, created 544 ads. This may point to an investment in more costly and extensive advertising campaigns for each individual ad. In summary, different committees choose different advertising strategies depending on their budget, goals, and audience. Google ad spend provides some insight into how parties attempt to reach potential voters, but to get a more complete picture of their strategies, it is also worth looking at other aspects of the election campaigns.

Number of Google ads by individual election committees - 2023 parliamentary elections

Analysis of the Top Google Election Ads of the Two Main Committees

In the digital era, election campaigns are shifting from traditional media to the online space. Tools such as Google offer election committees unique opportunities to reach a broad audience in a more personalized way. Let us take a closer look at the advertising strategies of the two main committees in the recent elections: Koalicja Obywatelska and Prawo i Sprawi

Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska)

Analyzing the data on the top ads of Civic Coalition, we notice:

• Campaign intensity: Most ads were broadcast in the first half of September, which indicates a focus on intensifying the campaign just before the elections.
• Ad spend: The variety of spend is significant. The cheapest ad with a result of over 5 million impressions cost between 20,000 PLN and 22,500 PLN, while the most expensive one was between 100,000 PLN and 125,000 PLN. A tendency to invest in ads with a higher budget within a short time frame is noticeable.
• Ad format: Most of KO's top ads were in video format, which shows this committee's preference for visual forms of messaging.
• Among the ads with a reach of over 5 million, there was also a graphic banner informing about the financing of another party's election campaign.

KKW Koalicja Obywatelska ads over 5 million impressions on Google:

Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)

When we take a closer look at PiS ads, we notice:

• Longer broadcast period: Unlike Civic Coalition, PiS ads were broadcast for longer periods, reaching up to 25 days.
• Ad spend with a result of over 5 million impressions: The spend spectrum is wide, from 8,000 PLN up to as much as 450,000 PLN. Interestingly, there is a significant difference in spend with a similar number of impressions, which may indicate differences in targeting strategy or CPC (cost per click) across different campaigns.
• Dominant video form: Similar to KO, PiS also prefers the video format, which shows that both parties recognize the value of visual messaging in an election campaign.

KW Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ads over 10 million impressions on Google:

Key takeaways:

• Both election committees use an intensive advertising campaign right before the elections, which shows how important it is to capture voters' attention at a crucial moment.
• Although both committees have ads with a similar number of impressions, PiS seems to invest more in its campaigns, which may indicate a larger budget or a different cost-per-click strategy.
• Both KO and PiS focus on video ads, pointing to an advertising industry trend emphasizing the value of visual content in engaging voters.
• In the case of PiS, a variation in spend is noticeable even with a similar number of impressions, which may indicate different targeting strategies and costs per click.

Negative campaigning in political advertising

In addition to advertising campaigns run by official election committees, political parties also actively participate in the advertising environment and are also available in the Google Ads Transparency Center. Here we observe that they often use these spaces to conduct negative campaigns aimed at opponents. Analyzing data regarding the two main parties from the Google Ads Transparency Center tool, we notice:

• Law and Justice spent 61,000 PLN on 31 ads. Although the number of ads is significant, the average spend on each of them is relatively moderate.
• Platforma Obywatelska RP, on the other hand, invested 189,500 PLN, but in only 5 ads. This means a significantly larger budget for each single ad, which may suggest more focused and intensive advertising activities targeted against competitors.

Methodology and data source:

Below I present the methodology and data source used in the article. It is easier to understand what information was included in the analysis and what the selection criteria were for individual committees:

Where does the data come from?

The data I analyze in this article comes from the Google Ads Transparency Center. This is a platform that monitors advertiser spending within Google search campaigns, providing information on investments in various ad formats and the overall number of ads broadcast.

What time periods are included?

The adopted time frame is the period from January 1 to September 18, 2023. This gives a picture of the parties' investment in Google advertising several weeks before the important parliamentary election date, which will take place on October 15, 2023.

Which committees were included?

Data regarding six main election committees in Poland was analyzed:

• KOMITET WYBORCZY PRAWO I SPRAWIEDLIWOŚĆ
• KOALICYJNY KOMITET WYBORCZY KOALICJA OBYWATELSKA PO .N IPL ZIELONI
• KOMITET WYBORCZY NOWA LEWICA
• KOMITET WYBORCZY KONFEDERACJA WOLNOŚĆ I NIEPODLEGŁOŚĆ
• KOMITET WYBORCZY BEZPARTYJNI SAMORZĄDOWCY
• KOALICYJNY KOMITET WYBORCZY TRZECIA DROGA POLSKA 2050 SZYMONA HOŁOWNI - POLSKIE STRONNICTWO LUDOWE

The selection of these committees was driven by data availability and their importance on the political scene.

Territorial scope of the data:

The data includes exclusively ads targeted at Poland. Ads targeted at audiences in other countries were not included in the analysis, as they constitute a relatively small part of the total volume and do not significantly affect the overall picture of the parties' investment in Google advertising.

What ad formats are included?

The analysis includes three main ad formats available on Google: video ads, image ads, and text ads. Each of these formats plays a specific role in an advertising strategy and involves different costs associated with production and broadcasting.