Not So Social Anymore
Political campaigns are apparently putting fewer ads on Facebook during this 2022 election cycle than in the recent past. Facebook has pulled in a lot of political ad dollars in recent years, but media buyers—the people who decide how to spend a campaign’s ad dollars—are no longer sold on the platform due to challenges in targeting voters caused by new policies at Facebook’s parent company Meta, as well as a change in Apple’s privacy settings.
Lots of words in that sentence I never thought I’d type.
An official at a political digital agency supporting Democrat candidates and causes says in 2016 and 2018, his company placed 70-80 percent of its ads with Meta, including Facebook and Instagram. Now, that’s down significantly, to only 15-20 percent.
Not only are media buyers steering away from Facebook, they’re losing an estimated $10 billion in revenue because of Apple’s privacy changes…which make it harder to measure an audience and to glean data from them.
Any money not being spent with Facebook will instead be directed at other media forms. So far, YouTube seems to be the biggest beneficiary, since it allows buyers an better way to choose channels and therefore audiences.
The analysts interviewed for a recent news story on the topic say that while Facebook is still effective for political fundraising, it’s not as effective in persuading voters.
