BJP becomes first Indian party to cross Rs 100 crore ad spend on Google

Mangalore Today News Network / India Today

New Delhi, April 26, 2024: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become the first political party in India to have crossed Rs 100 crore in political advertisements on search titan Google and its video platform YouTube.

The amount spent on promoting BJP’s digital campaigns (more than Rs 101 crore) is equal to the spending by Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and political advisory firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) since May 2018 when Google started publishing the Google Ads Transparency report.

BJP’s share in Google ads published between May 31, 2018, and April 25, 2024, is about 26 per cent of the total spending i.e. Rs 390 crore on ads categorised as "political" by the search giant, according to an India Today analysis. Notably, Google’s definition of political ads seems broad as it includes ads placed by news organisations, government publicity departments, and even commercial ads featuring actor-politicians.

More than 161,000 of the total 217,992 content pieces (73% share) described as "political advertisement" by Google were published by the BJP during this period. The majority of the party’s ads targeted residents of Karnataka with Rs 10.8 crore spending, followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 10.3 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 8.5 crore), and Delhi (Rs 7.6 crore).

Overall, Tamil Nadu was the top target of political ads on Google, followed by Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh.

OPPOSITION SHOW

With Rs 45 crore, Congress stands second in terms of political spending on Google Ads and Google Display & Video 360, according to the transparency centre data. The grand old party published 5,992 online advertisements during this period, just 3.7 per cent of the BJP’s ads. Its ad campaigns were primarily focused on Karnataka & Telangana (over Rs 9.6 crore spending each) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 6.3 crore).

Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, DMK, is the third-biggest political advertiser on Google platforms, having spent Rs 42 crore since May 2018, including Rs 16.6 crore spent by political advisory firm Populus Empowerment Network on its behalf since February this year. Outside Tamil Nadu, DMK spent Rs 14 lakh and Rs 13 on digital ads in Karnataka and Kerala respectively.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) ad expenditure on Google is limited to the Assembly elections in November 2023, when it shelled out more than Rs 12 crore but lost to Congress in the race to power.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishore founded the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) and spent Rs 6.4 crore on Google ads for the YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 4.8 for Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the data indicates.

CONGRESS TRUMPS BJP IN GOOGLE ADS IN SECOND PHASE

During the second phase of campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, political parties spent at least Rs 14.7 crore on promoting their manifesto, policies, and achievements on Google alone.

With Rs 5.7 crore, Congress topped the ad expenditure on Google between April 18 and April 24, closely followed by the BJP at Rs 5.3 crore.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress was the third-largest political advertiser on Google, spending Rs 1.76 crore, including Rs 6 lakh paid by IPAC on its behalf.