Biden Outspends Trump by Some $3 Million on Facebook Ads

(Bloomberg) -- The Biden campaign paid up to $7.33 million for Facebook ads shown to users between Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, according to an analysis of data from Facebook’s Ad Library.

• The Trump campaign spent up to $3.67 million on ads active in the past seven days
• The three demographics most targeted by the Trump campaign’s 2,188 Facebook ads that were seen on Sept. 20 were females, 65+, females, 55-64 and males, 25-34. The demographics on which the Biden campaign focused its attention in its 3,345 ads were females, 65+, females, 25-34 and females, 35-44
• Here’s how the two campaigns’ demographic targeting strategies compare:

  Age	Gender	Trump Average Share	Biden Average Share
  18-24	female	2.2%	8.5%
  	male	4.5%	4.6%
  	unknown	0.0%	0.2%
  25-34	female	5.4%	13.2%
  	male	12.0%	9.6%
  	unknown	0.1%	0.3%
  35-44	female	6.3%	12.7%
  	male	11.6%	9.0%
  	unknown	0.3%	0.3%
  45-54	female	8.7%	10.4%
  	male	11.7%	7.2%
  	unknown	0.2%	0.2%
  55-64	female	12.3%	12.1%
  	male	12.0%	6.7%
  	unknown	0.3%	0.2%
  65+	female	13.7%	13.2%
  	male	9.9%	6.6%
  	unknown	0.3%	0.3%

• The three states most targeted by the Trump campaign were Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Biden focused most heavily on Florida, Wisconsin and California
• Here’s how the two presidential candidates’ ad targeting strategies differ by geography:

  State	Trump Average Share	Biden Average Share
  Alabama	2.0%	0.8%
  Alaska	0.5%	0.4%
  Arizona	15.2%	10.1%
  Arkansas	1.5%	0.7%
  California	12.9%	16.9%
  Colorado	2.4%	4.6%
  Connecticut	1.3%	1.6%
  Delaware	0.5%	0.4%
  Florida	23.1%	23.0%
  Georgia	12.2%	5.4%
  Hawaii	0.4%	1.3%
  Idaho	1.0%	0.6%
  Illinois	4.9%	4.4%
  Indiana	3.2%	1.8%
  Iowa	9.6%	2.5%
  Kansas	1.5%	1.0%
  Kentucky	2.4%	1.2%
  Louisiana	1.6%	0.8%
  Maine	1.8%	0.8%
  Maryland	2.0%	2.8%
  Massachusetts	2.1%	3.9%
  Michigan	14.6%	11.4%
  Minnesota	9.7%	5.7%
  Mississippi	1.1%	0.3%
  Missouri	3.1%	1.9%
  Montana	0.7%	0.5%
  Nebraska	5.2%	1.5%
  Nevada	8.9%	6.4%
  New Hampshire	0.7%	2.6%
  New Jersey	3.3%	2.8%
  New Mexico	0.9%	0.9%
  New York	6.1%	7.8%
  North Carolina	18.4%	9.5%
  North Dakota	0.6%	0.3%
  Ohio	16.0%	5.0%
  Oklahoma	2.0%	0.9%
  Oregon	1.8%	3.2%
  Pennsylvania	15.7%	10.5%
  Rhode Island	0.4%	0.6%
  South Carolina	2.2%	1.0%
  South Dakota	0.6%	1.3%
  Tennessee	3.5%	1.7%
  Texas	13.7%	6.4%
  Utah	1.2%	1.6%
  Vermont	0.2%	1.1%
  Virginia	3.4%	5.2%
  Washington	3.0%	4.9%
  Washington, D.C.	0.2%	1.1%
  West Virginia	0.9%	0.5%
  Wisconsin	11.1%	19.6%
  Wyoming	0.4%	0.2%

• The Trump ad still in use yesterday that has been seen by the most people, up to 14,582,938, says, “We can’t count on Joe Biden to lead us through times of crisis.”
• The Biden ad with impressions yesterday that has been shown the most, to a maximum of 4,495,979 people, says, “I’ll be honest: the outcome of this election may very well come down to undecided swing voters. It’s critical that our message reaches as many of these voters as possible in the final days of the election. Yard signs are a crucial tool for showing our support among swing voters in battleground states. The more signs we send, the more voters we reach. We need to spread as many of these across the nation as possible, but we need the funds to cover our costs. Can you chip in right now so we can spread our message and defeat Trump & the GOP up and down the ballot? We don’t have much time left, so right now is the best time to donate.”

NOTE: The Facebook Ad Library reports ad spend and ad impressions as ranges. This story uses these ranges’ upper bounds.

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