Is the Liberal Party losing the online advertising campaign?

An RMIT FactLab analysis of political spending on YouTube and Facebook through the election campaign reveals ALP ads are being viewed and shared more widely than Liberal Party ones.

The analysis also shows:

A high number of views for videos posted by Labor, proving them to be an effective engagement tool on Facebook.

Labor has increased the frequency of posting ads as the campaign has progressed, targeting audiences by gender, occupation and region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has garnered higher overall Facebook page views than Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese but shares of the PM’s posts are well below those of his Labor rival.

RMIT Factlab analysed the amounts spent by political parties on text, image and video advertising (from the date the election was called until May 1) using Google’s transparency page.

The ALP strategy has resulted in a surge in engagement with Mr Albanese’s Facebook page, which has overtaken the PM’s page in the crucial “shares” metric.

A video that ran for 15 days, targeting YouTube viewers in the Northern Territory, parts of Queensland and NSW, attracted more than 1 million views at a cost of around $150,000.

FactLab research shows Labor has run 131 ads on YouTube, of which 44 have each been viewed more than 100,000 times. Labor has restricted this spending to video content only, with no online? text or image ads bought.

The party launched its YouTube campaign in late March, stealing a march on the Liberals by two weeks, starting with a spend of nearly $27,000 in the first week and spending on average? more than $300,000 a week by May 1.

The Liberal Party’s weekly spend on advertising in text, image and video formats across Google surged from $15,000 per week at the start of the campaign to $136,000 per week by May 1.

The party has served up 36 text ads, with 11 viewed more than 10,000 times. Of these, only three have topped 100,000 views – two are explainers about how to vote Liberal.

Scott Morrison’s “Why I love Australia” advert, released as the election started, has had more than 1 million views on Youtube.

The Liberals have posted only eight videos since the campaign began, starting with a video run over four days – Scott Morrison: Why I love Australia – which came immediately after the election was announced.

Only three Liberal party ads have been viewed more than 100,000 times, with one removed after it was found to have violated YouTube’s terms of service.

According to the industry publication AdNews, YouTube as a social media channel has one of the largest population reaches in Australia with more than 15 million monthly unique visitors –more than 59 per cent of the population.

Roy Morgan research shows that TV reaches 19.6 million Australians (March, 2018) and Facebook 17 million.

A heatmap of Australia highlighting parts of the east coast and Tasmania.

The Google transparency data reveals that Liberal Party advertising in all formats – text, video or imagery – was targeted very specifically (note areas shaded in purple)..

Mr Morrison’s YouTube channel has only posted four videos during the campaign, with his

“Why I love Australia” video tallying 808 views over the period.

Mr Albanese has posted 25 videos to his YouTube channel since the election was called.

The campaign’s launch video, featuring Russell Crowe, is his most-viewed video, with more than 1800 views.

Labor has carried the same branding and style for its videos from at least two months prior to the election being called.

Labor has also played a nuanced game with geographical targeting. For instance, this video by Rebecca Fanning on manufacturing and trades ran only for one day and only in the NT and parts of northern Queensland. Another ad on the “making more things here” theme ran only in the Central Coast region and also for just a day.

However, the major parties’ spending on YouTube advertising is dwarfed by that of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party (UAP) which by May 1 was spending almost $800,000 a week on advertising via Google. The UAP has run a single text ad for the duration of the campaign, a call to action to join the party, which has been viewed more than 100,000 times.

The UAP has been much more prolific with its videos, posting 76 video adverts since the election was called. Of these, 28 have been viewed more than 1 million times, underpinned by UAP’s targeting of every demographic and all geographic locations.

The surge in social media activity appears to be having an impact on the followings of the leaders of the two major parties. An investigation of their Facebook pages, a key platform for targeting older voters on social media, shows Mr Morrison has a formidable Facebook advantage – more than 800,000 followers compared to Mr Albanese’s 128,000.

A line chart; Scott Morrison's line is above Anthony Albanese's.

However, Mr Albanese is clawing back territory in interactions and, crucially, in total shares, gradually lifting his influence and presence online. Total shares for the period from Mr Albanese’s Facebook page were at 27,700 compared to Mr Morrison’s 21,400.

A line chart; the line for Anthony Albanese is above that for Scott Morrison except at one point.

Mr Albanese has driven this surge in shares by providing social media users with what they crave: content, and lots of it.

A line chart; the Scott Morrison line starts at the top and ends on the bottom.

Return to Mosaic Project

13 May 2022

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Is the Liberal Party losing the online advertising campaign?