Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms

Abstract

This analysis focuses on candidate-sponsored digital advertising spending in federal races in the 2022 midterm elections. We focus the analysis on spending on Meta (which includes Facebook and Instagram) and Google (which includes YouTube and search-related ads). We identify just under $150 million in candidate spending in federal races on these two platforms. We find, perhaps surprisingly, that combined spending on Meta and Google was lower in federal races compared to 2020 as a share of media spending. We also focus our analysis on measuring the tone of digital ads on Meta and identifying the goals pursued by candidates in these digital ad buys. Our results confirm prior work that digital advertising remains more positive than television (and less issue-focused than television ads), and we find that nearly half of the candidate-sponsored spending on Meta in the 2022 general election period made appeals for donations, with significant variation across campaigns. The Meta and Google ad libraries are invaluable sources of data for measuring the digital strategies of campaigns, but the declines from 2020, particularly on Meta, suggest candidates are likely pursuing diverse digital investments across platforms, some with no transparency or capacity to track spending and content.

The Effects of Targeted Campaign Messages on Candidate Evaluations

“…Political campaigns use different strategies across communication channels and platforms (Ballard et al, 2016; Bode et al, 2016; Bode & Vraga, 2018; Borah et al, 2018; Elmelund-Præstekær, 2011; Fowler et al, 2021, 2023; Frankel & Hillygus, 2014; Hillygus & Shields, 2008; Kang et al, 2018; Kim et al, 2018; Stromer-Galley, 2019). For example, campaigns target their supporters when using e-mail while they focus on persuading swing voters when using television advertising (Epstein & Broxmeyer, 2020; Frankel & Hillygus, 2014; Gaynor & Gimpel, 2021; Kang, 2016; Lovett & Peress, 2015; Marland & Mathews, 2017; Mathur et al, 2023; Ridout et al, 2012; Williams & Trammell, 2005).…”

“…For example, campaigns are more likely to mention "wedge" issues when communicating with voters through direct mail while they tend to focus on more generic issues in their television advertising (Hillygus & Shields, 2008). Campaigns' Facebook advertising is also distinguishable from their television advertising in that the former tends to be more positive and less issue-focused (Fowler et al, 2021(Fowler et al, , 2023. Furthermore, studies demonstrate that the strategies campaigns pursue in their online display ads (Ballard et al, 2016) and Twitter (Bode et al, 2016) differ from their television advertising strategies.…”

Ask and You Shall Receive: The Effects of Negativity and Fundraising Appeals on Facebook

“…Increasingly, campaigns and interest groups have been using social media to make fundraising appeals to users (Auter and Fine 2018). In the 2022 election, more than half of the ads promoted by federal candidates on Google and Meta appealed directly to users for campaign contributions (Fowler et al 2023). Yet there is little research on the effectiveness of campaign fundraising appeals on digital media.…”

“…This body of the literature underscores the promise of negativity as a way to increase political participation (e.g., Brader 2005;Mattes and Redlawsk 2015;Weber 2013). However, the recent literature on social media shows that campaigns increasingly promote ads with positive messages (Fowler et al 2021(Fowler et al , 2023Ridout et al 2021) and are less likely to engage with issues than traditional television ads (Ballard, Hillygus, and Konitzer 2016;Fowler et al 2021).…”

“…However, field experiments show that the effects of social media messaging on voting and voter turnout are small to negligible (Aggarwal et al 2023; Bond et al 2012; Coppock, Green, and Porter 2022). Although campaigns are using social media to solicit campaign contributions (Auter and Fine 2018; Fowler et al 2023), relatively little scholarship has investigated the fundraising effects of social media ads.…”