The local election results have been disappointing for Sinn Féin so far, despite the party outspending their main rivals on digital ads on election day with a spend of €16,150.
Sinn Féin spent €16,150 on digital ads on June 7th, according to analysis by Mulley Communications, outspending their main rivals by at least 3:1.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, the Green Party and the Social Democrats all upped their spend in the final days of the campaign, but not to the same level.
While the likes of TikTok and Instagram are popular ad targets for parties, Sinn Féin's strategy in the days leading up to the June 7th vote focused on YouTube.
Sinn Féin spent €28,450 from June 2nd to June 7th on YouTube ads, which featured party leader Mary Lou McDonald, generating over four million views.
On the June 7th spend, report author Damien Mulley noted the aggregated actual spend won't be published by Meta (Facebook and Instagram) until June 10th, so manual calculations were carried out.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil spent €4,282 on Meta ads on June 7th. This included €2,034 on ads from party leader Micheál Martin supporting local candidates and €2,248 from the main account.
Fine Gael ran the most ads from June 3rd to June 7th. Given they spent €6,378 on June 5th, Mr Mulley said: "We broadly estimate Fine Gael spent at least €5,000 on June 7th based on budgets for existing ad campaigns."
Fine Gael outspent everyone on June 5th with €6,378 from their main account and €3,040 on their candidates. The same day, Sinn Féin spent €4,580, the Green Party spent €1,918 and Fianna Fáil spent €1,425.
Green Party
The Greens spent €750 on ads starting on June 7th. Adverts already running are estimated to have cost €550 that day. They didn't spend on Google or YouTube on election day.
Labour Party
The party's spend was €1,150.
Mr Mulley said: "We estimate Labour spent close to €900 on Meta ads on June 7th based on an average daily spend for ad campaigns run that week."
Their Google and YouTube spend on June 7th was €250.
Social Democrats
The research indicates the Social Democrats spent close to €1,100, of a total €1,350, on Meta ads on June 7th.
Their Google and YouTube spend on June 7th was €250.
