As the elections draw closer, political actors are increasingly utilizing social media for their campaigns. Meta’s platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram, remain the most visited and most heavily politicized in Armenia, with Facebook leading. Consequently, investments in political advertising on Meta are rising significantly.
In recent years, Meta has categorized its advertising into two distinct types. One category includes ads related to public issues, politics, and elections. For these ads, Meta requires advertisers to provide clear information. Additionally, Meta offers public reporting on these advertisements through a separate platform called the Meta Ad Library.
The platform offers insights into trends and developments in Armenia. Data has been available starting June 2022, since then, a total of $262,496 has been spent on advertising targeting Armenia on Meta.
During the most recent 90-day period, spending on advertising has been disproportionately high compared to the total expenditures recorded since 2022. While the exact amount cannot be determined because Meta lists the cost of ads priced below $100 as “≤100,” we can estimate the spending for these ads. By considering a minimum-maximum range from $0 to $100, the total expenditure on political advertising over the past three months is estimated to be at least $50,469 and at most $98,269.
It should be noted that the data does not include only advertisements placed by political parties or individual political figures. The overall calculation also covers politically themed advertisements placed by media outlets, as well as ads run by non-governmental organizations. For example, over the past 90 days, CIVIC has placed 19 ads totaling $2,274. The Union of Informed Citizens ran 20 ads costing $899, while FIP, which is affiliated with the same NGO, placed 60 ads totaling $590. Public Radio of Armenia ran 26 ads costing $577, and the 7 Or news outlet placed one ad worth $168.
Active advertisers in this category also include official figures and state institutions, such as the Government of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan Municipality, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, and the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, Taron Chakhoyan, among others.
In the last 90 days, the primary advertiser has been the Civil Contract party. Notably, Argishti Mekhakyan, the head of the Vagharshapat community in the Armavir region, is the leading advertiser with 75 ads totaling $11,220. Currently, he is not posting any new ads and has not run any during the period preceding the elections. The Our Way movement spent a total of $8,392.23 on advertising over three months. In the past week alone, the movement allocated $3,339 to advertising. Meanwhile, the Country to Live party invested approximately $6,000 on the social media pages of its various representatives over the same three-month period. From 2022 to today, the party has spent a total of $10,207, while Tandilyan Mane has spent $10,168 on her page alone.
HayaQve (National Civil Union) is standing out for its significant advertising presence, with total expenditures of $3,328 across 418 ads over a three-month period. This amount constitutes approximately 17% of all ads available on the platform, which saw over 500 pages collectively post 2,373 ads during that time.
Currently, there are 34 active ads related to HayaQve. Additionally, HayaQve is the only political force to use targeted advertising, placing different ads for different audiences based on age, gender, and other criteria. In contrast, other political forces primarily employ a “one-size-fits-all” approach to their advertising.
Among the new players, it’s worth noting the Wings of Unity, which submitted five advertisements, all of which were blocked by Meta. This suggests that the social media specialist for this political group may not be fully aware of the restrictions surrounding political ads. We anticipate increased activity from them in the near future.
If we look into the last 30 days, the picture changes. The Civil Contract has stopped investing money in advertising, and the leaders are Our Way, HayaQve, and Country to Live.
It is clear that there will be significant investments in political advertising in the coming months. However, a large portion of these advertising budgets is likely to be opaque. This election cycle is expected to see an increase in social media influencer involvement, and much of the spending will likely remain unaccountable. These transactions are often handled in cash or through transfers between private entities, such as an LLC to a private business.
