Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led political advertisements spending on Google and its video sharing application, YouTube, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the total expenditure on the two online platforms in Telangana, according to the political advertising transparency report for India released by Google.
The BJP spent Rs. 12 crore of the total Rs. 30.2 crore expended by political parties on advertisements published by Google and YouTube between 1 February 2024 and 27 March 2024 in Telangana, said the data.
Of the total 15,690 advertisements featured during the same period, consisting 80.9 per cent of videos (Rs. 24.4 cr) and 19.1 per cent of images (Rs. 5.7 cr), BJP alone accounts for 11,613 ads (62.7 % video and 37.3% images.
The Central Bureau of Communication also ran advertisements worth Rs. 8.41 crore followed by India PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd running ads worth Rs. 3.19 crore. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) stands third in ranking running ads worth Rs. 2.07 crore. Shree Cement Ltd and Way2News Pvt Ltd stand fourth and fifth spending Rs. 69.2 lakh and Rs 61.9 lakh respectively on political ads on Google and YouTube for the same period.
“Advertisers may run India election ads if the advertiser completes advertisement verification. They must submit for each ad a valid pre-certificate issued by the ECI or anyone authorized by the ECI. An advertiser must first be verified by Google before submitting the pre-certificate for each ad,” according to Google.
The advertisements list consists of government schemes in multiple Indian languages.
Among states, Uttar Pradesh tops the list by spending Rs 15.8 crore followed by Maharashtra at Rs 11.1 crore and Bihar at Rs 8 crore.
