Greens use record sum for social election campaign - a look at the numbers!

Greens use record sum for social election campaign - a look at the numbers!

In the run -up to the Viennese elections, it can be seen that the political parties are increasingly focusing on social media. It is particularly striking that the Greens invested the most in advertising on social networks in the current election campaign. According to Oe24 they spent almost 300,000 euros Vote.

In comparison, the People's Party invested around 75,000 euros and thus took second place in the ranking of the editions. At around 70,000 euros, the FPÖ was not far behind, while the NEOS only spent around 36,000 euros for online advertising. The Ludwig-Spö, on the other hand, stands out with its low investment of only around 22 euros. Ex-Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and his team HC had around 42,000 euros for the election campaign, which led to about 1.5 percent of the votes.

strategies of the parties

The expenditure of the Greens underline a trend towards targeted microtargeting. With this method, parties can address specific groups of voters. Here, moving images are increasingly being used in order to address voters emotionally. According to Tagesspiegel notices that the Greens are increasingly relying on the charism of Robert Habeck in their online advertising, while other parties in less dynamic, more set static advertising.

As part of the advertising strategies, the “Who Targets Me” project is also mentioned, which examines which political advertisements are activated on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Analysts observe that from January to February 2025, the Greens' expenses for online advertising were even higher than that of the FDP, which also relies on microtargeting with their advertising.

effects and challenges

The use of social media for combating votes also brings challenges. Scientists warn that the targeted address with microtargeting and growing AI generated content could lead to a division of society. In addition, the use of these technologies raises ethical questions that must be viewed in the context of the European Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA, which comes into force in 2024, should ensure, among other things, that advertising is transparent and is not based on profiling.

While the parties do everything they can to achieve their voters, it remains to be seen how these new strategies will influence developments in politics and the election campaign as a whole. With an ever increasing consumption of online and social media content, political communication is faced with a new era challenge.