Digital Ads—Blog Ads (Pre-Primary and Primary, Jan. 2019-)

Increasingly people are viewing political ads not on TV but on their devices. There are many online advertising options including basic text ads, static display/banner ads, video ads, ads on Facebook and so forth.  Digital ads can be targeted with considerable specificity.  A challenge for campaigns and other groups is how to allocate resources among these options, which in part depends on the objectives for a specific communication, whether it be persuading voters, driving traffic to the websites, building email lists, fundraising, publicizing an event, or mobilizing voters.  

Blog Ads [Display/Banner]    |    Paid Video [Digital Ads]    |    Facebook

This section highlights the display/image ads that can be found on political blogs and news sites.  These ads come in different sizes and shapes (leaderboard, big square, half page, rectangle).  Usually they are static, but sometimes they may be animated.  In itself a display ad is not likely to have much persuasive impact; usually it will link to the campaign's website (for example "learn more" or "donate").  Some of the campaigns prefer video ads (not shown in this section) or Facebook ads to the static image ads.  Thus far the Warren and Buttigieg campaigns seem to be running a lot of these display ads, while the Steyer campaign has run very few and no such Biden ads have been noted.  A campaign may have preferred sites on which to advertise.  For example, Iowa Starting Line is a favorite for a number of campaigns, and the Warren campaign has been a consistent advertiser on Daily Kos.  In terms of the ad art, a campaign can run the same ad over an extended period of time at the risk of it becoming stale, or it can produce a stream of new designs.  Google Transparency Report gives a good sense of the different types of ads and how much the campaigns are spending on them, but these figures include both video and display ads.  Also, I am not clear about whether Mediavine ads or ads run on a site like Iowa Starting Line are included in the Google figures. 

With assistance from Mike Dec, 4president.org Attention readers: If you see an ad we're missing please let us know. action08  @ gmail


Bennet  |  Bloomberg  |  Buttigieg  |  Castro  |  de Blasio  |  Delaney  |  Gabbard  |  Harris  |  Hickenlooper  |  Klobuchar  | 
O'Rourke 
Ryan  |  Sanders  |  Steyer  |  Swalwell  |  Steyer  |  Warren  |  Williamson  |  Yang  |
 Trump  ||  Schultz  ||  Political Parties  ||  Interest Groups

Bennet for America
Mike Bloomberg 2020





Pete for America Julián for the Future




de Blasio 2020 Friends of John Delaney




Tulsi 2020 Kamala Harris for the People




Hickenlooper 2020




Beto for America Tim Ryan for America




Bernie 2020 Tom Steyer 2020




Swalwell for America Warren for President




Marianne Williamson for President Friends of Andrew Yang


Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.




Political Parties
Interest Groups

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Google Ad Spending
Google Transparency Report showed that 21 campaigns (Trump and 20 Democrats) have spent at least $100,000 for advertising on Google:

from May 31, 2018 to
Oct. 26, 2019
Dec. 27, 2019
Trump Make America Great Again Committee
$7,942,700
$10,110,100
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
$3,504,200
$4,454,100



Mike Bloomberg 2020

$13,051,400
Tom Steyer 2020
$3,090,300
$76,600
$4,665,600
$138,000
Pete for America, Inc. $2,439,600
$181,800
$4,511,200
$167,500
Warren for President, Inc.
$2,659,500
$3,571,100
Bernie 2020 $1,366,500 $2,978,600
Kamala Harris for the People
$1,566,700
$1,704,800



Biden for President , (2)
$1,096,200
$1,378,900
$222,600
Tulsi Now , (2) $1,008,400 $891,200
$695,200
Amy for America $490,100 $836,700
Cory 2020 $611,300 $808,600
Beto for America
$703,300
$681,900
Friends of Andrew Yang $272,000 $649,600
Gillibrand 2020
$512,200
$512,200
Bennet for America
$284,400
$309,099
Marianne Williamson for President
$224,800
$224,900
Julian for the Future $187,100 $212,900
Friends of John Delaney
$194,700
$206,100
Bullock for President
$142,700
$162,500
Tim Ryan for America
$107,600
$109,300
Hickenlooper 2020 $109,700 $108,100
Inslee for America $345,600 $95,500

Notes: 
Oct. 26, 2019 is 100 days until the Iowa caucuses.

 
Several of the campaign have two lines, unclear why.  Buttigieg has a third line for exploratory.
 

Top spending presidential campaigns
as of Oct. 26: Trump ($3.50m + $7.94m), Steyer ($3.85m), Warren ($2.66m), Buttigieg ($2.62), Harris ($1.57m), Sanders ($1.37m), Biden ($1.10m), Gabbard ($1.01m).

as of Dec. 27: Trump ($4.45m + $10.11m), Bloomberg ($13.05m), Steyer ($4.80m), Buttigieg ($4.68m), Warren ($3.57m), Sanders ($2.98m), Harris ($1.70m), Biden ($1.60m), Gabbard ($1.58m).