Digital ad spending data for the week of August 15 - 21
Top spenders last week include The Climate Pledge, Exxon, LCV, API, and EDF
The online battle over the Build Back Better Agenda is heating up, with more advertisers launching digital ad campaigns to pressure lawmakers and sway public support, specifically on the issues of climate change and clean energy.
Before we dig into it, here are the top 25 spenders on climate and energy-related ads on Facebook from last week:
The League of Conservation Voters continues to be a top spender on Facebook ads, and last week they launched a new campaign targeting the moderate Gang of Nine in the House of Representatives that had been holding up the Build Back Better agenda. Their ads, which target young adults in the representatives’ respective states, call on them to seize “our once-in-a-generation opportunity to fight climate change and secure middle class tax cuts, clean energy jobs, and lower costs for working families.” We estimate that LCV has spent at least $61k on this campaign since August 20th.
At the same time, LCV is running Facebook ads thanking a handful of other moderate Democrats in Congress who are playing ball - including Reps. Slotkin, Delgado, Pappas, Malinowski, Stevens, Horsford, Kind, Spanberger, Craig, O’Halleran, Kim, McBath, Davids, Axne, Susie Lee, DeFazio, and Luria, as well as Sens. Ossoff, Warnock, Cortez Masto, Rosen, Shaheen, and Hassan - for “fighting for clean energy that can power our economy, create good-paying jobs, and tackle the climate crisis.” These video ads focus on boosting clean energy jobs that don’t need a college degree and expanding their respective states’ clean energy industries.
LCV isn’t the only one targeting moderate representatives with Facebook ads, however. The American Petroleum Institute last week also started targeting several of the representatives mentioned above, both in the Gang of Nine and otherwise, as well as a handful of Republicans including Reps. Malliotakis, Miller-Meeks, and Chabot. Their ads use recycled rhetoric, arguing that, “Raising taxes on the U.S. natural gas and oil industry could put our economic recovery at risk!” We estimate that they’ve spent at least $31k on this campaign since August 17th.
Other groups that have been running Facebook ads pushing lawmakers over Build Back Better include the Green New Deal Network (calling on Gottheimer et al to “stop standing in the way”), the Working Families Party (telling the Mod Squad to “Stop obstructing President Biden’s proposal on jobs, climate, and care!”), and 350.org, which is railing against bipartisanship as an ineffective strategy for passing climate legislation.
Overall, here’s how much climate groups, polluters, and other pages spent on Facebook ads last week:
Google and YouTube
Over on Google and YouTube, LCV is also running its ads promoting various members on YouTube for supporting clean energy jobs, spending $53,300 on the platform last week. This is on top of their partnership with Priorities USA, which spent $17,600 last week on their ongoing YouTube and Google Search campaign supporting Hassan and Pappas.
The new bilingual campaign from Better Jobs Together Campaign also continued, spending $24,000 on the platform last week. You can check out all of their ads here.
Snapchat
The NRDC Action Fund launched last week a month-long campaign promoting the Build Back Better Agenda on Snapchat. They’re targeting adults aged 30 and up in California, New Mexico, and Colorado, and some laud Democratic lawmakers like Reps. Levin and Porter while others simply promote BBB with a static image.
Overall, here are the top spenders on climate ads on Snapchat so far this year: