Biden spends big on Facebook during campaign launch week
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden dominated in political ad spending on Facebook last week, as the new Democratic presidential candidate sought to build early traction with voters.
Biden spent $406,860 between April 21 and April 27, Facebook's Ad Library Report shows, more than double that of the next-highest political spender, President Trump's campaign. But all of that spending came in just the last three days of the week, since Biden didn't announce his bid until Thursday.
The Democrat bought ads in the hopes of spreading his announcement video, adding possible supporters to his campaign's list and encouraging donations.
That donation push appears to have been fruitful, as Biden reported raising $6.3 million on his first day as a candidate, more than any other Democrat on launch day this cycle.
The Trump campaign spent the second most of any political group, with $158,343. That healthy spending pace is no surprise — Trump's campaign has spent $3.6 million on Facebook from Dec. 30 to March 23, NBC News reported last month based off of analysis from the Online Advertising Transparency Project. That total was more than all of the Democratic candidates combined at that point.
Many of his ads centered on fundraising pushes surrounding the birthdays of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump, with other messages including Spanish ads aimed at the crisis in Venezuela, and ads promoting Trump's signature, red "MAGA" hats as well as an 'exclusive membership card" to the campaign.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's $100,677 was good for the third-most political spending of the week. Some of the major themes in her ads included her asking for donations by highlighting her decision to eschew high-dollar fundraising events as well as her new proposal to cancel student debt for more than 40 million Americans.
Other top political Facebook spenders last week included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, entrepreneur Andrew Yang's presidential campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.