Facebook’s welcoming of political advertising has helped it corner about 60% of the digital market for the 2020 elections, or nearly $800 million, according to a new marketing analysis.
The report from eMarketer added that Google captured 18.2% of ads during the 2020 election period.
“Facebook is the dominant digital platform for political ads, capturing a 59.4% share during the 2019-20 election cycle. That equates to $796.8 million,” said eMarketer.
Google’s take so far is $243.7 million.
Facebook has faced a firestorm of criticism for its political ad policies. Protesters have even camped out at the home of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Some other notable digital platforms, including Twitter, have barred ads, and that has probably helped the bottom lines of Google and Facebook. The report said that most of Google’s ad income came on YouTube.
“Facebook offers reach, targeting capabilities, and ease of use that appeal to political advertisers,” eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom said. “Candidates can more quickly and easily send ads to potential supporters compared with TV or radio. In a competitive election, timeliness, efficiency, and relevancy are incredibly important,” he added.
eMarketer said that the Facebook/Google domination of political ads is similar to other ads. “Google and Facebook already control 60.8% of the total U.S. digital ad market. And when it comes to the duopoly’s share of digital political ad revenues, it has an even tighter grip, with a combined 77.6% this election cycle,” it said.
