Over ₹40 crore spent on poll ads in November; Congress outspends BJP
The top twenty political advertisers spent ₹5.98 crore on 7,901 ads on Meta's platforms, while 15,405 ads worth ₹36.31 crore were published through Google Ads.
The top twenty political advertisers spent ₹5.98 crore on 7,901 ads on Meta’s platforms in the month of November, while 15,405 political ads worth ₹36.31 crore were published through Google Ads in the same duration. On comparing the top twenty political advertisers for November on Google and Meta, HT found that Congress outspent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Direct and indirect advertisements on Meta platforms in favour of the BJP by the party itself, its state units, and those advertising on its behalf accounted for 43.2%, or ₹2.58 cr of this pie while Congress contributed ₹2.24 crore for 37.48% of the pie.
On Google Ads, on the other hand, ₹14.3 crore was spent by Congress, ₹12.1 crore was spent by Bharat Rashtra Samithi while ₹4.16 crore was spent by BJP.
Most of the online ad money on Meta — which includes Facebook and Instagram — was spent in Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the month of November. Spends for Mizoram, the other state that went to elections in November, however ranked 17th on the list.
Almost 80% of the ad spend on Google, that is, ₹28.9 cr was spent on video ads while 20.4% was spent on image ads. Maximum amount, ₹2.27 cr was spent on November 27, three days before the poll in Telangana. The eves of the four polling days --- November 6, November 16, November 22 and November 29 did not see any spikes in ad spends on Google.
The ministry of information and broadcasting’s Central Bureau of Communication also ran ads worth ₹1.15 crore on Google Ads in the month on November.
Google’s Ad Library has data since February 20, 2019. Since then, 73,246 ads worth ₹206.2 crore have been placed. The BJP accounts for almost 24% of this ad spend at ₹49.4 crore while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) accounts for ₹21.3 crore, or 10.38%. Congress has spent ₹14.6 crore on Google ads since 2019.
Meta’s Ad Library was launched in May 2018 and retains data for seven years. Twitter, now called X, had launched a similar transparency centre in June 2018 but shut it down in January 2021, partly because it had stopped serving any political ads on the platform from November 2019. The microblogging platform was compelled to relaunch its ads transparency centre for the European Union to comply with the Digital Services Act earlier this year.
Congress uses campaign agencies while BJP relies on memes
Ads placed by the parties’ pages or their state units’ pages reveal skewed figures in the top twenty advertisers. Congress and its state units spent ₹2.05 crore on 1,263 ads while BJP spent ₹1.53 crore on 3,122 ads Meta platforms.
But indirect ads reveal a different state of affairs.
Of the top 20 political advertisers on Meta platforms, three are Facebook pages directly run by Congress or its state units which placed 1,263 ads for ₹2.05 crore.
However, only one Congress supporting page — Kharge Fan Club — appeared in the top 20 advertisers, spending ₹18.49 lakh on 205 ads.
On the other hand, five pages that are directly run by the BJP --- BJP Chhattisgarh, BJP Rajasthan, BJP Telanagana, BJP Madhya Pradesh, and Nahi Sahega Rajasthan --- placed 3,122 ads for ₹1.53 crore.
In addition, five pro-BJP pages and one anti-Opposition page ran 2,830 ads supporting BJP at a cost of ₹1.16 crore.
One of these pages is called Akash Vijaywargiya Team which is run by the team of a former BJP MLA from Indore whose father, Kailash Vijayvargiya, is a national general secretary of the party and recently won the assembly elections from Indore-1.
Other BJP supporting pages which advertised for BJP are Ulta Chashma, MP ke mann mein Modi (referring to a campaign slogan used in Madhya Pradesh), Chhattisgarhiya Chaupal, corruptionnath (referring to Congress’s Kamal Nath), and Crafto. Crafto’s ads have purportedly been paid by the Kutumb App which is a social media networking app available in Indian languages.
A political campaign management firm, DesignBoxed, and a production house, Gibbous Films, ran Google ads worth ₹2.09 crore and ₹78.9 lakh for Congress in Rajashthan.
Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC ran ads worth ₹17.5 lakh for Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy via Google Ads.
According to Meta’s advertising policies, to advertise about social issues, elections or politics in India, advertisers have to undergo the authorisation process where they have to prove their identity to Meta using a government issued ID such as the Indian passport, driving licence, PAN card, or a voter ID. Each such ad must include a “Paid for by” disclaimer and these ads enter Meta’s Ad Library for seven years.
News publishers who are not members of, or appear in, recognised industry groups and lists in India, or those who haven’t been validated by expert sources, are also subjected to this policy as per Meta.
Google treats any ads featuring or run by a political party, political candidate or a current member of the Lok Sabha or the Vidhan Sabha as political ads. Advertisers must complete India Election Ads verification before they are allowed to run an election ad.
Neither company requires advertisers to identify the political party whom they are advertising or promoting in their ads.
“These sums spent by political parties on digital advertising, while staggering in and of themselves, most certainly underestimate the true figures,” said Amogh Dhar Sharma, a lecturer in developmental studies at the University of Oxford who has been studying political communication in India.
“Political parties are circulating content on social networking sites in more surreptitious ways and funding it through off-the-book transactions. For example, many small-town and regional language ‘influencers’ on platforms like Instagram are frequently contacted by politicians to spread funny memes or satirical videos lampooning the opposition parties through their personal accounts. These influencers can rake in anywhere from tens of thousands of rupees to a few lakhs for their work during the elections season. Many of us view this content on our social media feeds on a daily basis without realising the political patronage that fuels it. It might seem like harmless humour, but this shapes public debate in subtle ways,” he said.
