Seeing some traction with online video ads, the Trump campaign is pouring resources into YouTube much like it used the Facebook platform in landmark ways in the 2016 presidential election, according to Politico.
Among the $65 million on YouTube and Google, $30 million of it has come since July by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. Most of that is on YouTube and that is after the Trump campaign spent less than $10 million on YouTube in 2016, Politico reported from Trump campaign sources.
The Biden campaign has only spent $33 million on YouTube and Google during its entire campaign.
"The conditions on the ground — record unemployment and 180,000 COVID deaths — strongly favor Biden, so the Trump campaign has to create a more positive narrative to keep their supporters engaged and energized," Democratic strategist Nu Wexler told Politico. "YouTube hype videos is one way to do that, though their content is completely at odds with reality."
The Trump campaign took advantage of Facebook ads in 2016, en route to its surprising victory over the well-funded Hillary Clinton campaign that was deploying traditional methods.
YouTube is the 2020 pathway for Trump as a potential soft spot for Biden, according to strategists. The Trump campaign posted nearly 900 videos in August, compared to Biden's total of just over 100.
"The name of the game with algorithms is to flood the zones," veteran Republican digital operative Eric Wilson told Politico. "The Trump campaign is putting on a master class in advertising according to algorithms — it just rewards the side that will produce more content."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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