FWIW: A sneak peek at Biden-era digital ads

We take a look at the first political digital advertising in 2021, and how Trump's second impeachment is playing online.

Feb 12, 2021

After four years of struggle and winning a Democratic trifecta in the federal government, progressive activists are now back in power and are ready to wield it. With so much to do and so little time, what issues are taking precedence? What will the #Resistance push for now? In this week’s FWIW, we’ll break down which legislative issues progressive groups are beginning to push for online from Biden + Congress, and how Trump Impeachment 2.0 is playing out.

But first…

FWIW Reads 🔥

The Democrats’ big tent on Snapchat 👻

After a brief hiatus, Snapchat’s political ad transparency database is up and running again with 2021 political advertising data, and that means we have our first real (albeit small) view of online political ads in the post-Trump era.

Since President Biden’s inauguration, the majority of ads on Snapchat have come from a constellation of progressive issue advocacy organizations pushing to prioritize their specific policy issues, from democracy reform to reproductive rights.

Groups’ spending on Snapchat thus far this year is very small, but provides a peak into what issues organizations are likely lobbying for, producing storytelling around, and pushing to their consistuencies across social platforms and other spaces online. They also provide a colorful snapshot of the big tent and competing priorities of the Democratic Party’s diverse coalition in Biden’s first 100 days:

Here’s what we’re seeing so far:

End Citizens United is thanking Democratic House members for supporting Democracy reform via the For the People Act (H.R.1), and RepresentUS is running an ad to end the student debt crisis.
The Center for Community Change is pushing for immigration reform, featuring Vice President Harris in a video ad.
Everytown for Gun Safety is asking the administration to prioritize gun violence prevention measures + building their list.
March for Our Lives has run a petition campaign calling for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-QAnon)’s ouster from Congress.
NARAL is running over a dozen ads asking the administration to focus on reproductive-rights protections.
The ACLU has pushed for prioritizing drug policy reform in the new Congress.
Human Rights Campaign has highlighted Secretary Mayor Pete’s historic confirmation as the first openly gay Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary.

Nearly all these groups are attempting to harness the hopes and dreams - and phone numbers and email addresses - of young voters on Snapchat to build momentum on their issues.

While Snapchat never stopped allowing ads on their platform, political and advocacy advertising is still banned on Facebook, Instagram, and Google platforms. These bans continue to present significant challenges and implications for organizations looking to harness the energy of the Biden administration’s first 100 days to build their list and momentum around their issues.

The Impeachment Bubbles 🏛

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably among the 11 million or so Americans who watched this week’s impeachment trial live either on cable news, C-SPAN, or Twitter. While the House Impeachment managers laid out a powerful case on the floor, many Americans consumed passing news and video about the trial through their Facebook feeds, if at all. What are they seeing? And how does that compare to content from Trump’s first impeachment trial?

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably among the 11 million or so Americans who watched this week’s impeachment trial live either on cable news, C-SPAN, or Twitter. While the House Impeachment managers laid out a powerful case on the floor, many Americans consumed passing news and video about the trial through their Facebook feeds, if at all. What are they seeing? And how does that compare to content from Trump’s first impeachment trial?

One major difference, of course, is that Trump can no longer post on most social platforms during this trial, but bad-faith inflammatory content is still doing just fine. One of the most engaged with pieces of content on Facebook this time around was this Fox News graphic from Jim Jordan (🤮) on Tuesday:

By contrast, pro-impeachment content from the Left hasn’t performed as well on the issue. Posts from liberal mega-pages like Occupy Democrats and Robert Reich seem to be the most successful in getting high engagement rates on pro-impeachment content, but they just haven’t gotten as much traction on Facebook as pages like Franklin Graham, Fox News, and Don Jr.

This could be because it's easier to drum up opposition to seemingly political maneuvers than to build support for them among most Americans - or because people are simply ready to move on. That said, accountability matters - and so do heroes who defend our democracy in capes, so we are very here for Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) getting much deserved plaudits online! 👏🏿

While Fox, Newsmax, and OANN have been covering this week’s impeachment trial wall to wall (at least until Fox abruptly cut away from it), right-wing internet media has been more muted, perhaps because they think an acquittal is all but assured, or maybe because they’re ready to move on from Trump too. Scans of the websites and Facebook pages of the Daily Wire, Daily Caller, Free Beacon, and Western Journal show a limited editorial focus on this week’s trial, while Breitbart’s home page has summed up its own readers feelings:

Despite this reluctance from some of Trump’s friends online, “Team Trump”, a holdover page from the Trump campaign, is still apparently a thing on Facebook, and has been all impeachment, all week.

Keep it going 🙏

That’s all for this week, but before you go, we have one favor to ask. Since 2018, we've been providing valuable spending data, strategy and insights to help readers track the political information wars online. FWIW now reaches over 15,000 subscribers every Friday, and provides critical information to journalists, political staffers, and the progressive movement at large. Help us continue + expand on this work by chipping in a few bucks below!

SUPPORT FWIW