Digital political ad spending for the week of March 14th to March 20th

How much did campaigns spend on Facebook, Google, and Snapchat ads last week?

This week, outside groups and political campaigns are continuing their online campaigns to influence Congress and the Biden administration, while others are already gearing up for 2022.

Here are the top spenders on political Google ads from March 14th to March 20th:

One of the newest big spenders on Google ads is the North Fund, a project tied to progressive group Opportunity Wisconsin. Just last week, they spent $45,300 on YouTube and Google Search ads against Sen. Ron Johnson in response to his no vote to the American Rescue Plan.

Especially notable among the top spenders this week is the NRA’s campaign arm, which spent $33,400 on acquisition banner ads advocating against gun regulations. This particular campaign was launched on March 19th, just two days after the anti-Asian massacre in Atlanta, and three days before the mass shooting in Boulder. 

FWIW, here are the top spenders on political Facebook ads from March 14th to March 20th:

Gavin Newsom’s campaign against a probable recall effort is already underway, and he’s spending so much on digital ads already that he’s a top spender on both Facebook and Google. Read more + see his ads here.

We’re also glad to see that Facebook has finally started classifying *some of* Ben Shapiro’s ads on the platform as political, even if they are steaming hot garbage. All $156,128 he spent on the platform last week went toward ads criticizing the mere existence of a minimum wage and promoting his typical reactionary culture war schtick.

Finally, here are the top spenders on Snapchat so far this year. There aren’t any new big spenders from last week, but here’s a fun thing we caught: the JOSH PAC spent one (1) dollar on an ad targeting Springfield, MO, in an apparent effort to reach Josh Hawley (or perhaps his sister?) directly with a simple message: “HEY JOSH HAWLEY! TRAITORS DON’T BELONG IN THE SENATE!” The ad got 283 impressions, so maybe he did see it!