Parliamentary elections: Parties advertise less online compared to previous campaigns

Political parties have so far spent less money on internet advertising than in the campaign for the 2021 parliamentary elections. So far, they have spent around 413,000 euros on advertising on Facebook and Instagram, researchers from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) report. This is significantly less than the 596,000 euros that the parties spent at the same point in the election campaign more than two years ago. One of the possible causes is that the parties' campaign coffers are less well-filled, says UvA researcher Tom Dobber.

Producing videos, distributing flyers, renting halls: The parties have to dig deep into their pockets during the election campaign. And this is even though the last parliamentary elections were only held recently. In the meantime, the Dutch have also gone to the polls for local, provincial, and water board elections. In 2021, the election campaign teams were hardly able to take to the streets due to the coronavirus, so they had more money available for advertisements.

In addition, the Cabinet suddenly collapsed in the summer. The campaign teams had little time to prepare and therefore had to make their plans ad hoc, says Dobber from the UvA. He believes that it also plays a role that the news is paying a lot of attention to the war between Israel and Hamas. This could be one reason why the parties are waiting until the election campaign has developed further, the researcher says. "If you're too early, it's actually wasted ads because people are less open to it," he explains.

The study shows that the parties have spent more money on internet advertising with Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, and Meta, known for Facebook and Instagram, in recent weeks. In the period from October 6 to November 4, GroenLinks-PvdA spent the most (193,000 euros), followed by D66 (105,000) and Volt (83,000). In total, the parties spent 568,000 euros on internet advertising. This total figure from Meta and Alphabet cannot be compared with 2021, as the researchers only have the correct data from Meta for this year.

According to Dobber, an internet advertisement can provide a "kick-off" in cases of doubt between two parties. Sometimes the parties also fish in the same pond. Both the left-wing combination and D66 target voters who are interested in activism. DENK takes a completely different approach and specifically targets Turkish Dutch people, for example by running ads for fans of series from that country.

The question is how long political parties can run ads on Facebook and Instagram that are tailored to a specific audience. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) recently ruled that Meta must stop such ads. The technology company has subsequently updated its terms and conditions and stated that it complies with data protection regulations. The European data protection authorities are currently investigating whether this is the case.