The 2025 federal election has seen a four-way arms race with YouTube one of the central battlefields, according to research by Brisbane-based video measurement firm Adgile.
As the campaign reaches the halfway point, an analysis of the first two and half weeks has found the number of political advertisers on YouTube is up 40%, but total spend is up 600% compared with this point in the campaign cycle at the last election.
Much of this is driven by the platform’s ability to hyper-target, based on demographics and geography.
Adgile managing director Shaun Lohman said it is clear in this election that YouTube is one of the central battlegrounds.
"Last time the parties largely used it simply to extend the reach of their campaigns. This time round we are seeing a four-way battle between Labor, Liberals, Greens and Trumpet of Patriots for dominance on the platform," Lohman said.
"The major driver of this change? YouTube’s ability to hyper-target based on demographic and location.”
The 2025 campaign has really seen the Liberals embrace YouTube.
In 2022, their YouTube presence lagged behind minor parties, but in the first two and half weeks they have run over 251 different pieces on creative on YouTube, with over 1,184 different targeting lines, often placing creative that is hyper-targeted to local issues.
“This is no longer just a TV campaign where you focus on mass reach – it’s a hypertargeted video strategy the likes of which we haven’t seen before,” said Lohman.
“The Liberals in particular appear to have learnt lessons from the recent Queensland State Election. In that campaign we observed the Queensland Liberals making significant changes to support specific marginal seats via YouTube throughout the campaign. They appear to be now using this tactic on steroids in this campaign.”
Labor is also embracing YouTube’s targeting, with 958 targeting lines and 266 creatives, but their shift to YouTube is less dramatic and they are buying ~10% fewer impressions than the Coalition.
While YouTube provides the ability for the major parties to double down on local issues in their messaging the Coalition has a slight tendency to push a single message per video compared with Labor.
“While both sides are using attack ads it is clear the Liberals are using targeted YouTube videos to really drive home negative ads in certain seats,” Lohman said.
In contrast, Clive Palmer’s party, Trumpet of Patriots, appears to be using a broad brush, outspending the major political parties on YouTube so far in the campaign.
“It is very clear that Clive Palmer isn’t just focusing on traditional media, newspapers or outdoor, in this election,” said Lohman.
“He is also spending big on YouTube, outspending the major parties at the halfway point of the campaign, with a broad spend reaching all demographics.”
Palmer also appears not to be using YouTube’s ability to geo-locate or focus on particular demographics; rather, he seems to be using the platform to buy broad audiences across the country as cheaply as he can.
“Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party appears to be targeting every YouTube user in Australia, and this would include a significant number of Australians aged under 18, estimated to be at least 10 per cent of YouTube’s total audience”, said Lohman.
“This is in contrast to the Greens and major parties who appear to be employing a very focused and regional YouTube strategy where they are geo-locating and sending messages relevant by electorate.
"So whilst Palmer is only spending 10 per cent more on YouTube than either Labor or the Coalition, he has more ads playing than those parties combined.”
Adgile’s analysis also provided a state-by-state breakdown of YouTube ad delivery and showed that Palmer’s broadcast approach was not delivering a balanced share.
“You’d think Palmer heartland would be somewhere like Queensland. What is interesting with the broad approach he is taking is that he is shouting down some of the major parties on YouTube in places like the ACT and South Australia. One wonders if that is a deliberate strategy”, said Lohman.
The video measurement service also looked at the Greens’ spend and found the minor party launched over 350 distinct YouTube creatives, tightly tailored to specific genders, age groups and electorates, with the party favouring linear television in Adelaide and Perth but digital video in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“The Greens are still using linear TV in Adelaide and Perth, but in other states we see them shifting spend to digital video on the TV networks and YouTube. It’s a modern, multi-platform strategy, cost-efficient, data-led and electorally precise,” he said.
“It’s still early days in the campaign and negative attack adverts are slowly beginning to ramp up from all parties, with the Greens the notable exception. But in the first half of the campaign we have seen the Liberals go negative from the outset with a very sophisticated geo-location strategy, something they have been refining in recent state elections.
"We are seeing a step up on the use of technology and they are selectively attacking rival parties on a seat-by-seat basis.
“Labor launched their own attack ads in week two, but the majority of their spend remains with positive messaging about achievements or future policies.”
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