Digital advertising has become an integral part of political campaigning in recent years, and the 2023 Dutch provincial elections (15th March) were no exception. Political parties vied for the attention of potential voters across a range of digital platforms (including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat), with spending totaling €1.31 million in the 30 days leading up to the election
Here, I take a deep dive into the world of digital advertising during the Dutch provincial elections, analyzing the spending patterns of political parties and examining the various targeting methods used to reach potential voters.
Digital Campaign Spending
Overall, Dutch political parties spent a total of €1.36M on digital ads in the 30 days leading up to the provincial elections. This figure includes spending on Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), and Snapchat. This represents roughly 20.8% of the total budget that was spent by these parties during the election campaign.
It’s worth noting that there was significant variation in the amount that each party spent on digital ads. GroenLinks was the biggest spender on digital ads, with a total spend of €248K. This was followed by the PvdA at €149K, and the CDA also at €149K. The FvD was a close fourth with a total spend of €145K in the last 30 days before the election.
Digital Spending compared to Total Budget
One interesting finding from the data is the percentage of each party’s total budget that was spent on digital ads. In early March, RTL Nieuws published an article in which they researched the total campaign budgets (online & offline) of political parties. Using this information, we calculate that across all parties, the percentage of total budget spent on digital ads ranged from as little as 3% to as much as 90%. The average percentage was around 30%, indicating that digital ads played a significant role in the campaigns.
When looking at the variation in how much money was spent as a percentage of the total budget, some parties stood out. For example, the party BVNL spent a whopping 90% of its total budget on digital ads, while the VVD spent only 11%. Other parties that spent a relatively high percentage of their budget on digital ads include the PvdA (72%) - however this is based on 2019 budget numbers, CDA (60%), and Volt Nederland (55%). On the other end of the spectrum, parties such as the BBB (7%), D66 (9%) and VVD (11%) allocated relevatively little funds to digital ads and focused more on traditional campaign methods such as TV and newspaper ads and posters.
Spending by Digital Platform
When it comes to the breakdown of spending on different platforms, it’s interesting to note that Meta (Facebook and Instagram) remains a major player, accounting for roughly 61.35% of the total budget spent on digital ads. Google (including Search and YouTube) comes in second place with 38.48% of the total budget, and Snapchat lags behind with only one party, the VVD, spending €2194 on the platform.
Audience Targeting
This section focuses on targeting on Meta. One popular targeting method here was regional targeting, which accounted for 21.7% of the budget. This is not surprising given that the elections were regional in nature, and parties sought to reach voters within specific regions. This targeting was achieved through location-based targeting, which allows parties to reach voters within a specific geographic region.
Interestingly, age and gender were not heavily targeted by political parties, with the exception of the Partij voor de Dieren, which spent more than half of their budget (52.38%) on targeting women specifically.
In terms of other detailed audience targeting methods, there were also some interesting patterns. For instance, the GroenLinks party focused on interests related to renewable energy and climate, while the PvdD targeted voters interested in animal rights and veganism. The BBB party, on the other hand, targeted people interested in fishing and horseback riding, fans of André Hazes, and viewers of the popular Dutch TV show “Boer zoekt Vrouw” (Farmer Seeks Wife).
Postcode Targeting
VVD Postal Code Targeting:
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