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It was the week of the Great Conservative Ad Spend. The party churned out Facebook political ads at an industrial scale – over 6,000! – even if this did little to raise their overall spend. As all parties prepare for election day, we teamed up with CrossCheck, a collaborative reporting network led by First Draft, to figure out how the penultimate week of campaigning played out online.

We gathered Facebook API data for the period spanning from November 28 at 12:46 to December 5 at 12:45. As usual, the analysis zeroes in on the parties that polled highest at the 2019 European Parliament election. For the past round-ups, head here, here, here and here.


Conservatives

Messaging: The Conservative party messaging this week focused heavily on ending “chaos and uncertainty” and “making Parliament work again” – many of these ads were released on a splurge on December 4.

Number of adverts: 6,756 new ads. That is a 3,512 per cent increase from last week’s 187.

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Impressions: The Conservatives raked in between 3.2 million and 10.2 million impressions

Spending: Between £17,800 and £687,944. Who Targets Me points out that the Conservative party appear to be testing varieties of message, prepping for a possible big boost in spending in the final week of the campaign. On Monday, for instance, the party launched 4,700 ads but only spent £5,200 on them.


Targeting: The Conservatives are also actively targeting 13 of the 22 seats the Lib Dems are trying to take, but not advertising in the remaining nine: Eddisbury, Harrogate & Knaresborough, North East Somerset, Richmond Park, St Ives, Totnes & South Devon, Wantage, Wokingham and York Outer.

Elsewhere on the internet: On its Daily Facebook Digest, Crowdtangle reports that two of the most over-performing posts in the UK relate to the Tories: one, a Huffington Post article entitled “Sajid Javid says homelessness has fallen under the Tories. Reality: It’s up 77%” and two, Andrew Neil’s monologue addressing why Boris Johnson had yet to appear for an interview.

Labour

Messaging: Brexit took a back seat this week: while Labour’s pledge to hold a second referendum was featured in some of the ads posted at the end of last week, most of the new ads focused on other issues. These include protecting the NHS, the “Green Industrial Revolution”, cuts to rail fares, and free tuition fees. One group of ads redirected to a “fair tax calculator” showing voters what tax rates they would pay under a Labour government.

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Number of adverts: 217 new ads. That is a 1,708 per cent increase from last week’s 12.


Impressions: Labour raked in between 6.6 million and 7.9 million impressions

Spending: Between £91,200 and £133,283.

Targeting: Our Labour party sources denied that the party was about to change its strategy and start focusing on Leave-backing voters more, as it had been reported on many outlets. But a shift of tone in the campaign was apparent, as Brexit all but disappeared and ads aimed at emphasising the party’s pro-working class credential grew in number. Two videos in particular – one targeted mostly at people aged 35 and older – were devoted to explaining why working class communities should not vote Conservatives.

Liberal Democrats

Messaging: The Lib Dems continue to target Boris Johnson as the Conservative’s weak point, releasing multiple ads stating that “Britain deserves better than Boris Johnson”.

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Number of ads: 1,202. That’s a 75 per cent increase from last week’s 686.

Impressions: Between 1.1 million and 2.5 million.

Targeting: The party is targeting 47 seats – defending 17 seats and trying to gain 22 Conservative, six Labour and two SNP seats. The Lib Dems also continue to target women over 45 with adverts claiming that Boris Johnson is unsuitable to be PM.

The Brexit party

Messaging: The Brexit party cranked up attacks on its anointed rival the Labour party, with ads claiming that the two parties were neck and neck in some seats. Other ads pushed the angle that the Conservatives won’t be able to deliver Brexit “on their own”. There was also a quick foray into culture war territory, with ads lambasting the UK police for monitoring abusive social media posts. “Police the streets, not the tweets,” the pro-free-speech ads said.

Number of adverts: 164 new ads. That is a 382 per cent increase from last week’s 34.

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Impressions: The Brexit party raked in between 3.9 million and 4.7 million impressions.

Spending: Between £86,600 and £118,936.

Targeting: Many of the ads were geared towards voters younger than those the party has been targeting over the past few weeks. The party seems particularly interested in winning over men under 45.

Best for Britain

Messaging: Nothing new here: the pro-Remain campaigning group kept encouraging people to vote, ostensibly on grounds other than Brexit, such as environmental protection, the NHS, and fighting poverty.

Number of adverts: 11 new ads. That is a 37.5 per cent increase from last week’s eight.

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Impressions: Best for Britain raked in between 5.1 million and 5.4 million impressions

Spending: Between £29,200 and £34,989.

Targeting: Usual targeting of young people, with many ads targeted specifically at women under 35.

Momentum

Messaging: Most of the ads were videos – in some cases clips from TV programmes – and the overwhelming focus was the NHS and how it is under threat from the Conservatives. More general anti-austerity adverts were also featured.

Number of adverts: 52 new ads. That is a 333 per cent increase from last week’s 12.

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Impressions: Momentum raked in between 785,000 and 970,000 impressions.

Spending: Between £7,000 and £12,148

Targeting: Nothing too notable – most adverts were targeted at Momentum’s typically young base.

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