Case in point: In the 2020 presidential elections, more than $67 million was been spent on Facebook, while $32 million went to Google, according to Open Secrets. Meanwhile, candidates spent less than $5.2 million on Twitter, while Trump never ran an ad on the platform.
“It’s slightly higher in the funnel tactic for how we use the platform,” said Tom Blake, svp, paid media at left-of-center public relations firm Fenton Communications.
But Democratic ad buyers—who are open to running campaigns on Twitter—have cited brand safety concerns. Some sources admitted media spend could change if Musk took a step back from his personal interventions and reversed his decision to reinstate banned accounts.
“I have clients who are incredibly reluctant to put another cent in his pocket,” said Jake Sticka, partner at the Democratic firm Rising Tide Interactive
Controversies around Musk’s tweets haven’t had the same impact on Republic advertisers, according to two sources interviewed for this article, who are instead more concerned with how performant the platform is before confidently increasing spend, said Hacker.
A discrepancy in Twitter support
Now political ad buyers can spend on the platform, and they are expected to fill out a Google Form to request verification to run political ads on Twitter. This is followed by a review process by the company, including how an account uses Twitter, its profile, its content and targeting included in any active or draft advertising campaigns, per the company website. The entire process takes up to four weeks.
Twitter representatives are expected to help advertisers to navigate this process.
“We’ve been lucky enough to talk with the Government and Cause-Based reps at Twitter,” said Hacker. “We’re really happy with the support that they’ve been providing to help us kind of navigate and figure this out.”
Meanwhile, four Democratic ad buyers told Adweek that they’ve struggled to get similar support.
“It’s been hard to even get someone on the phone at Twitter to help us set up for advertising or work through issues we’re having,” said Andy Amsler, svp, paid media at Democratic ad firm Precision.