Political Confrontation, New Party and Unofficial Campaign in Kharkiv. Monitoring of Political Ads in Facebook in June, 2021

During the first summer month, the pages of Ukrainian politicians and parties, and the accounts related to politics, shared 11,257 promoted posts. The total investment into promotion of political content was from USD 209,126 to 317,234*. Over the same period of the previous year, according to Facebook Ad Library Report, all numbers were lower: the political PR with the help of Facebook ads cost from USD 178,933 to 273,973. Although the political ads labelling rules have been introduced by Facebook two years ago, some still keep ignoring it. Thus, 6.7% promoted posts in June did not include any “political ad” label.

However, the general parameters are not the only thing that is different. To compare, a year ago, social media users from Kharkiv region were not so interesting for advertisers, but this time, most of political ads were targeting them (7.1%). The cause to such increase comes from the head of Kharkiv city community. At the same time, the citizens from Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv regions, and from the city of Kyiv, keep their leading positions among commissioners of promoted posts on Facebook. This month also showed the increase in the parameter of targeting political content at citizens of Transcarpathia (in percentage terms among other regions). As usually, most ads were shown to women, aged 55-64.

Top Spending for Ads

The top spenders for ads invested into promotion on social media the USD 36,026. The suggestion that Kharkiv voters now got into the spotlight can be also supported by the fact that the top spenders include the two pages (Аліна Мустафаєва and RegioNews.ua), when their promoted content targeted the citizens from this region. Other top commissioners of political ads this month include the pages of the parties “Servant of the People” and  “For the Future”, of politicians Arseniy Yatseniuk, Borys Kolesnikov, Ihor Palytsia, of the media Перший Незалежний and 112.ua, and the platform of the  All-Ukrainian Forum Ukraine 30. According to the disclaimer about the payer, the same as in the previous two months, the highest amounts were spent for promotion in social media by the “For the Future” party,  as they pay for ads on their three pages. The total costs in June were USD 16,219.

Almost USD 10,000 was invested into political ads on Facebook from the page of the “Servant of the People” political party. The page has been a leader also in the number of ads shared during the month — the total of 400 promoted posts. They shared a rather broad range of topics for users from all Ukraine’s regions: explained positions of party members about the legislative initiatives;  their estimates of the foreign policy challenges; fragments of TV shows with party members; their vlogs; some rubric about local teams; information about the party convention; and speeches by the “servants of the people” at the All-Ukrainian Forum “Ukraine 30,” and a post about the new national program of the President. 

The costs from the official page of the “For the Future” largely exceed the costs from other pages — USD 8,735. In June, 107 promoted posts were shared from the party page. The content was covering positions of party members on policies and legislative initiatives. Despite the bright colors in visuals of the posts, most of them had negative evaluations of the current situation and the depressing messages about poverty, food deficit, growing prices, debts, tax pressure, or inflation. At the same time, the page reported about the party convention, and wrote about support and investments into the regions. In addition, they posted greetings on the occasion of several holidays in June.   The ads targeted users from all country’s regions, with a rather high exposure for users in Donetsk region (7.1%).  

The personal  page of the leader of the “For the Future” political party, Ihor Palytsia, posted 46 ads. In style and in content, they resemble advertising posts on the party’s official page. The party invested into ads on Palytsia’s page the USD 3,856. Content-wise, the posts present the deputy’s position about various political and economic issues.

In the first two pages, all ads were USD 100 worth, each, the page of the Перший Незалежний channel had more costly posts. Thus, in June, the page posted 28 ads worth USD 5,862, and confirmed its status of the most generous advertisers since its inception (February, 12, 2021). The page’s promoted posts mostly criticize the performance of the president Zelenskyi; the introduction of land market in Ukraine; but also give a positive light to activities of the OPFL (such as the supporters walkout near the Verkhovna Rada, and the march of party members to commemorate the victims of the WW2). The social media ads targeted at Facebook users from all regions of Ukraine.

In June, the list of top advertisers of the month included a page of the TV channel 112.ua — USD 4,161 spent for the promotion of 12 posts. According to the disclaimer, the ad on the page was paid by the PNK, ie the First Independent Channel (https://pnk.tv).  The investment into some posts on the page was from USD 300 to 600. The most expensive ad about the retirement age  cost USD 2,000 to 2,500.  According to what OPORA captured, shortly after the CNSD resolution came into effect, about imposing sanctions against a people’s deputy from the “Opposition Platform – For Life,” Taras Kozak (the restrictive measures included the closure of some TV channels he owned), the 112.ua have largely increased their engagement on social media platforms, such as on Facebook.

151 promoted posts were shared from the page of a city councilor from the “Servant of the People” party, Alina Mustafaeva. In June, costs for political ads amounted to 4,929 $. The deputy started using the political ads tool in Facebook in February, 2021. Ever since, she has invested into the promoted content on her page targeting users from Kharkiv region the USD 8,288. Alina Mustafaeva positions herself as a candidate for Kharkiv city mayor, and in most posts she criticized the activities of the city council secretary, Ihor Terekhov, or other actors on the city’s political arena. Furthermore, in January and in February, Alina Mustafaeva “advertised” herself on the page of a Kharkiv-based businessman, Dmytro Nikonov, a leading page in the beginning of winter, cost-wise.

Arseniy Yatseniuk spent a higher amount than in May for promotion on his  page,   specifically the USD 4,446.  Most of these ads have been posted on the page several times, with outreach configuration for different regions in Ukraine. All paid posts can be divided into several groups, such as posts on foreign policy (NATO, Russian Federation, Crimea, Putin-Medvedchuk links); informing about the Kyiv Youth Security Forum; greetings for holidays; advertising the Telegram channel. They traditional use the encouraging posts such as “Agree? Press like!” The content from the page is offered to users from all regions but Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk have been prioritized.

The top ten spenders for political ads on Facebook welcomed the page of an ex-Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and the Minister for Infrastructure of Ukraine in Mykola Azarov government (2010 — 2012), Borys Kolesnikov. The page spent USD 4,104 to promote 47 posts. Most posts have been dedicated to the establishment of the party “Ukraine is Our Home” (according to Opendatabot, on June, 29, 2021, the “Ridnyi Kraj” political party received a name “Ukraine is Our Home,” and changed the registration address from the Druzhkivka town (Donetsk region) to Kyiv, and it also acquired a new leader, Borys Kolesnikov). The page also covered positions of Borys Kolesnikov about various political issues, such as the law on de-oligarchization. A distinct group of posts includes holiday greetings.

Advertisers on the page of the all-Ukrainian news agency,  RegioNews.ua were most interested in users from Kharkiv region. Throughout June, they posted 82 ads and spent for it the USD 4,014. Some of the posts explain about the initiatives and positions of the potential mayoral candidate, Mykhaylo Dobkin, while his probable opponents have been criticized.  The same as in May, ads from the page were not targeting all Ukraine’s regions, but 80% of outreach was configured for users from Kharkiv region.

June also saw the continuation of promotion of the All-Ukrainian Forum Ukraine 30, initiated by the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi (according to the page description).  The disclaimer also says that the ad was paid by the Convention Center Parkovy, where the office of the “Servant of the People” party is incidentally located. This month, the USD 3,964 was spent for promotion of the Forum participants presentations. They represented the government of all levels, experts, civil society, and international community. The ads from the page have been configured to reach the audiences in all Ukraine’s regions (mostly to users in Lviv and Transcarpathia Oblasts). As to age groups, advertisers focused on “younger audiences” — women aged 35 — 44.

Users mostly responded and commented to posts on the pages of the “Servant of the People” party, Arseniy Yatseniuk, and “For the Future.” At the same time, the highest growth was typical of the pages of Ihor Palytsia and Alina Mustafaeva.

source: Crowdtangle

* Since Facebook Ad Library report does not offer precise data on the price for political ads under 100 $, the analysis of advertiser costs relies on two amounts, the minimum and the maximum.