Vienna Wahl 2025: Ludwig dominates the media, Nepp violently criticized!

Vienna Wahl 2025: Ludwig dominates the media, Nepp violently criticized!

On Sunday, April 22, 2025, the state and municipal council elections take place in Vienna. These elections are particularly important because they will significantly influence the political climate of the city. Against this background, the Brand Intelligence company "Observer" analyzed the media performance of the eight top candidates. The period of the investigation extends from March 21 to April 21, 2025.

The analysis shows that Michael Ludwig from the SPÖ has the highest media presence. In the past few weeks it has been omnipresent with 1,090 print posts and 967 online articles, which corresponds to a range of around 1.3 billion users. A report on orf.at alone achieved over 9.6 million unique clients.

media presence of the candidates

• Michael Ludwig (SPÖ): 1,090 print posts and 967 online articles
• Dominik Nepp (FPÖ): 436 print and 719 online posts
• Karl Mahrer (ÖVP): 857 contributions
• Bettina Emmerling (NEOS): 748 mentions
• Barbara Urbanic (KPÖ): 145 contributions

An exciting detail of the study is the sentiment in the online articles. With 26%, Selma Arapović from the Neos recorded the most positive sentiment, especially because of their suggestions for a AI data center in Vienna-Askern and a climate. In contrast, Dominik Nepp from the FPÖ has learned the most negative reporting, with 41% negative and only 7% positive sentiment.

The social media activity of the candidates is also revealing. While Heinz-Christian Strache (Team HC) with 704 postings was the most active person on social media, Michael Ludwig and Judith Püringer followed with 170 and 138 postings. All candidates were most present on Facebook, while the activity on the X (formerly Twitter) platform was rather low. It is striking that Barbara Urbanic from the KPÖ is only active on Instagram.

The influence of social media on elections

In a broader context, social media increasingly influence the way in which election campaigns are conducted. In the European elections 2024, which took place in 2024, the role of social media for mobilizing young voters became clear. In many places, young eligible voters, especially 16 and 17-year-olds, who were eligible for the first time, did not feel sufficiently informed, although two thirds wanted to go to election. Social media are the primary source of information for this generation and especially platforms such as Tikok and Instagram.

The results of the EU election 2024 showed a high turnout of 64.8%, the highest value since Germany was reunited. This development illustrates how important it has become for parties to be active and strategically present on social media. Parties and candidates use creative, viral content on platforms such as Tiktok to spread their messages and to address younger voters.

The strategic use of social media is crucial for the election success, whereby authenticity and target group -friendly communication were identified as key factors. The analysis of voices and interactions on platforms such as TikK and YouTube shows that they are particularly high and are a competitive advantage for many parties, including the FDP and the party DIE LINKE.

Developments in Vienna and the observed trends from the EU election clarify that both classic campaign methods and modern, digital approaches are important. The upcoming elections in Vienna not only throw a light on the media performance of individual candidates, but also on the changing requirements and expectations of voters.