D66 spent over €1.8 million on election campaign; VVD distant second with €1.1 million

So far, the D66 has spent by far the most on advertising in the campaign for the parliamentary election on Wednesday. The social-liberal party’s campaign ads have exceeded €1.8 million so far, according to figures from the research agency Nielsen. That’s 67 percent more than the VVD, in second place with €1.1 million, the Volkskrant reports.

Nielsen’s calculations are based on the rate cards of television stations and websites and don’t include discounts or individual price agreements. So while the actual amount paid by the political parties may be lower, the figures do provide insight into the relative spending between the different parties.

The D66 and VVD are the only two parties to push over a million euros into their campaign ads. GroenLinks-PvdA is third on the list with €928,00, followed at a far distance by the CDA (€294,000), PvdD (€279,000), and SGP (€197,000). The PVV is not included in the figures.

50Plus and ChristenUnie also spent over the 100,000 mark at €131,000 and €108,000 respectively. Volt (€83,000), JA21 (€44,000), SP (€34,000), and FvD (€33,000) are at the bottom of the list.

Compared ot the previous two parliamentary elections, parties have spent slightly more this year. The ad spending will likely increase further. These figures cover the period up to and including Sunday, October 19. During the previous parliamentary elections, parties spent over 80 percent of their advertising budgets on ads in the last week and a half before election day.