Lok Sabha elections 2024: Political parties hike Google ad spending by 6x vis-a-vis 2019

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, which will kickstart from April 19, political parties are actively trying to woo the voters in all possible ways. As per recent data, political parties have raised their spendings on Google ads from March 1 this year, which is almost six times what it was 2019. 

As per data from Google, a total of Rs 52 crore was spent on political advertisements on digital platforms from March 1 to April 9 this year. The data was extracted under Google's political ads transparency initiative. The value is almost six times the political ad spending recorded in the same period in 2019 of Rs 8.8 crore ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that year, a report in Hindu Business Line said.. 

Google defines ‘election ads’ as those that feature or are run by a political party, a political candidate, or a current member of the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. 

Last month, Google data showed that the three-month expenditure on political ads had touched Rs 100 crore so far in March, which was almost nine times the expenditure in March 2023 at Rs 11 crore. 

During the said period (March 1 to April 9), BJP emerged as the top advertiser, spending around Rs 8.8 crore for 73,000+ ads. The largest portion of the party’s digital ad spending was during the week of March 25-31. 

The next in line was Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with Rs 7.9 crore expenditure. Over 70% of this expenditure was done in the first 8 days of April, where the party, through its agency Populous Entertainment Network, spent almost Rs 80 lakh each on April 2 and 3. 

The Congress is in third place with Rs 6.8 crore of total expenditure in the given period. Most Congress ads were targeted in the regions of Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, as per Google’s data. 

In comparison, BJP’s ads in this period targeted Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. But between April 1 and April 9, 27 per cent of BJP's digital ad spends were targeted towards Tamil Nadu (Rs 14 lakhs).

In terms of the format, 84 per cent of BJP’s ads from March 1- April 9 are video ads across various regional languages carrying the BJP's central theme - ‘Phir ek baar Modi Sarkar’. 

The government-owned Central Bureau of Communication was the top spender, but stopped advertising in line with EC’s announcement of poll dates. Indian PAC Consulting Private Ltd and the YSR Congress party were other top spenders at Rs 3.9 crore and Rs 2 crore. IPAC advertised for Trinamool Congress and YSR Congress.