2020 polls: NPP, NDC groups spent more than GHC 1million on Facebook Ads

The two major political parties in Ghana made Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at least $213,750 richer from only five months of campaign adverts leading into the 2020 elections.

The entities backing the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition NDC, spent in excess of GHC 1.2million to sell their messages to the electorates and ultimately, harvest votes.

According to the Africa 2020 population and internet users statistics, there 4.9 Ghanaian Facebook subscribers as of September 2020.

However, Reportal pegged Ghanaian social media users at 6 million.

Sponsors of the two political heavyweights accounted for more than 90% of the total expenditure.

In total, Mr Zuckerberg and his shareholders would be smiling to the bank to cash at least $234,496 (US$=GHC 5.88) or GHC 1.34m million from all political campaign ads that ran on his social media platform between August to December 2020.

The biggest spenders were the sponsors of the ‘Mahama2020’ page with $65, 120 or GHC 382, 905 on 127 campaign adverts in total captured in their library.

This was followed by the ‘Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’ page $53, 598 or GHC 315, 156 spent on 117 campaign adverts.

Also captured in the top 20 biggest spenders was the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), an independent, non-partisan governance institution responsible for civic education which doled out $1,608 or GHC 9,455 on 14 adverts.

For the geographical location, Greater Accra had the most expenditure of $121, 930 almost double that of the Ashanti Region with totalled $61, 440.

The figures were contained in a Facebook Ad Library Report on Ghana. Facebook said the publicly accessible report is part of its efforts to increase transparency in advertising.

Commenting on the development, Digital Marketing Strategist Maximus Ametorgoh, who has conducted research into the expenditure pattern told theghanareport.com that the amount is likely to double or exceed a 100 per cent increment by the next elections in Ghana.

“It clearly shows that online platforms especially Facebook is the go-to channel for political parties to push their communications and advertise to their audience,” he noted.

Former President John Dramani Mahama had the most votes in the Greater Accra with the NDC also winning the majority of seats with 20 seats out of 34.

He pointed out that the message, budget and target audience is key for an effective social media strategy as he linked the results of the elections to the social media input.

“You would realise that the NDC won in the Greater Accra Region,” he observed.