YouTube pockets $16.5m as major parties splash on campaign ads
Labor expects YouTube ad costs to surge 133% in the final week as major parties ramp up spending on the Google-owned platform.
YouTube has already pulled in more than $16.5 million in political advertising during this federal election campaign, with both Labor and the Coalition roughly doubling their 2022 spend on video across Google’s platforms.
The video-sharing site has become a major target for political parties and lobby groups this election cycle, as the major parties work to close the gap on the $5.11 million poured into the platform by Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots Party over the past month.
Between 28 March and 29 April, the Australian Labor Party spent $4.4 million targeting users of YouTube. The Australian Council of Trade Unions spent a further $657,000 on the platform, mostly on attack ads targeting Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Both Labor and the Coalition are expected to significantly ramp up their social media spending in the lead-up to polling day on Saturday. In a campaign email on Friday, Labor’s national secretary, Paul Erickson, set a $500,000 fundraising target for the final eight days of the campaign.
