Michael Bloomberg spent nearly four times as much as President Trump on digital ads over the past month, even though he has only been in the presidential race for three weeks, according to Facebook and Google political ad data.
The self-funding billionaire Bloomberg’s total ad spending on all platforms is already closing in on that of the Trump campaign’s Make America Great Again Committee, still the top overall spender but rapidly losing ground to Bloomberg’s deep pockets. Until Bloomberg entered the race on Nov. 24, the Trump reelection campaign regularly outspent the total combined amount of every Democratic candidate in the race.
Bloomberg’s digital spending has focused heavily on primary states with high numbers of delegates, leading Trump in California, Texas, and Florida, and in most swing states. Trump leads in New York and in Ohio.
On Google, Bloomberg’s “Tweeting is not leading,” which implores voters to “stop worrying about what he tweets and bring dignity back to the White House,” and Warren’s “The Middle Class is Under Attack” topped the list of costliest ads..
The 32 ads most engaged with on Google were Trump-related or conservative, including ads by the Make America Great Again Committee, Newsmax Media, Salem Media, and the NRCC.
Trump-related Google ads that asked for viewer participation with prompts such as, “DO YOU TRUST THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA? Take The Survey,” or, “Trump vs. Biden 2020. Cast your vote in this urgent national poll,” saw the highest rates of engagement. Requests such as, “Do You Support Donald Trump?” “President Trump Wants to Hear You,” and, “Take the Official Donald Trump Approval Poll Now!” were also popular. Ads formatted to increase engagement in this way benefit the campaign over time by encouraging users to register with the campaign, allowing them to track interest and nurturing the relationship for future fundraising calls.
Ranked by engagement, the top campaign ad from a Democratic candidate was for Bernie Sanders at No. 62, followed by Bloomberg at No. 68.
Bloomberg is also spending heavily in more traditional venues, with a slate of broadcast television ads that target voters in swing and high-delegate states, according to data compiled by Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group and published by FiveThirtyEight. Trump, by contrast, has spent minimally on television advertising, focusing principally on Nevada, South Carolina, and Iowa for a total cost of $4.7 million. A select few anti-Biden ads aired a total 1,305 times in early October. Bloomberg has spent $65 million between his campaign launch and Dec. 15, during which his “Did Good” campaign ad aired 20,089 times.
Political ad spending in the United States is forecast to reach $10 billion or more in 2020, according to WPP’s GroupM.
