Facebook Loses Its Luster for Some Political Advertisers

For more than a decade many political campaigns were fought, and won, on Facebook. But during the 2022 midterm election cycle political media buyers are lessening their investment on the platform. This is partly due to increased difficulty in targeting relevant voters with ads—both from new company policies and challenges Meta's ad tech has faced as a result of Apple’s privacy changes—four media buyers told Adweek. "The makeup is being washed off this product," said John Padua, vp of media buying at Trilogy Interactive, a political digital agency that supports Democratic candidates, PACs, progressive causes and legislation. Padua estimates between 15% and 20% of his larger fundraising performance-based clients' budgets are directed toward Meta, compared to between 70% and 80% in the 2016 and 2018 elections. Smaller clients are taking up a larger percentage of spend closer to 40-50%. Facebook is not the only platform to switch up targeting policies or be impacted by Apple's privacy changes. At the same time, the growth of connected TV is commanding more political media dollars. Political Ad Buyers, First-Party Data and Other Perks of the Axios Purchase As much as 44% of all digital political and issue ad media spend will go toward CTV compared to a tiny percentage in 2020, according to data from AdImpact via Axios. Advertisers are expected to spend $1.5 billion on CTV ads this year, while behemoths Facebook and Google will only command $1.3 billion, per AdImpact. Sources for this article noted that, at times, CTV is preferred since it's seen as more powerful for persuasion, a key tactic for political ad campaigns. Political advertising is small potatoes for Meta. During the 2020 election cycle, the company earned $796.8 million from political ads, per eMarketer. For the relatively small sum it generates (total revenue was $85.9 billion in 2020) political advertising has also exposed the company to significant brand risks, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal and allegations of foreign interference in the 2020 election showed. But its first-ever year-over-year revenue decline last quarter means there’s less room to slip up. A Meta spokesperson told Adweek it did not have an update on its revenue beyond what was provided in the recent earnings call. Meta tools are less powerful Part of the weakened effectiveness of Meta’s tools are by design. The company announced late last year it was deprecating detailed targeting for all advertisers after feedback from "civil rights experts, policymakers and stakeholders." The newly prohibited categories included political affiliation, race and religion, which are more relevant to political advertisers. That limited targeting on Meta has decreased match rates when entering a voter list into the platform, said Nicole Fondots, digital strategist at public affairs-focused Zoldak Victory. Meta and their political blackout at the end of the 2020 electoral cycle soiled a lot of relationships.—John Padua, vp of media buying, Trilogy Interactive "We ran a city council campaign and we were working with fewer than 1,000 people," Fondots said. "Having those match rates makes the biggest difference." She added that for persuasion campaigns, budgets have shifted toward programmatic. Putting a voter list into Meta results in a 35% match rate compared to 99% using demand-side platform Simpli.fi. Also souring political advertisers to the platform were a series of bugs and blockades against political ads during the 2020 election cycle that disrupted media plans days before the election. "Facebook has added so many more stringent guidelines to political buying and, to be honest, Meta and their political blackout at the end of the 2020 electoral cycle soiled a lot of relationships," Padua said, noting that bi-weekly calls with its Facebook reps had diminished to sporadic emails. Facebook has dedicated teams that support its government, political, advocacy partners and shares regular product and policy updates on a GPA microsite, according to the Meta spokesperson. Meta is far from the only media company to waffle on political ad policies, said Matthew Hedberg, vp and general manager of professional services at data and ID resolution company Semcasting, which oversees the company’s political industry business. Hulu recently flipped its decision to prohibit political issue ads following pushback last month. Apple takes a bite A more specific problem with Meta is its reduced accuracy in targeting and attribution as a result of Apple’s privacy changes, Hedberg said. Meta said earlier this year that Apple’s changes would cost the company $10 billion in revenue. The platform is working with the industry and investing in artificial intelligence to improve targeting and measurement. "The changes from IDFA make measurement a much more difficult proposition. It’s difficult for clients trying to build lists," Hedberg said. "They have a distinct lack of insight which has caused many advertisers to pull back." Among Semcasting's political clients, there has only been a 2.4% increase in Facebook ad campaign deployments from 2021 to 2022. Hedberg expected more of an increase, since 2022 is a much bigger election year. Semcasting has seen a 29% increase in political clients. Padua also noted performance has decreased on the platform, underscoring that CPMs have been higher for weaker results. The allure of other media While it also has limited targeting for political ads, Google's YouTube remains a preferred platform for some buyers. "For us, [YouTube] does a better job of being able to choose channels and where we run our ads," Padua said. "We don’t have to worry about that same echo chamber effect as we do on Facebook." Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest don’t run political ads. All sources for this article noted that, while Meta is still a great reach platform and powerful for fundraising, it is losing its luster as a persuasion channel, which is where the growth in CTV comes in. Political marketers for years have been struck by the power of TV to captivate hearts and minds. As a result, politicos are returning to their old stomping grounds, said Zach Wineberg, founder and CEO of political consulting firm Ally Strategies. "You’d talk to 10 political agencies and they would tell you 'we would much rather run persuasion on premium content than on Facebook,'" Wineberg said. "There was a lot of acknowledgment that there was an overvaluing of targeting and an undervaluing of content,” he added. “We’ve known for decades you can persuade people with sight, sound and motion on television." As Meta Stumbles, Major Advertisers Are Finding Other Platforms Do the Job Just as Well

Platforms

Facebook Loses Its Luster for Some Political Advertisers

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, political media buyers are pulling back from the social network

Catherine Perloff

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Catherine Perloff