Political parties in BiH have spent approximately 9.6 million KM on the election campaign so far, according to preliminary data from Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BIH). This amount was spent on billboards, media advertisements (television and print media), Facebook advertising, and pre-election rallies.
The largest amounts were spent by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats – SNSD (1.6 million KM) and the Party of Democratic Action – SDA (1.5 million KM). They are followed by the Party of Democratic Progress – PDP and the Social Democratic Party – SDP, which have spent 600 thousand KM each on the campaign so far.
These amounts are not final, as they do not include advertising costs and pre-election rallies in this last week of the campaign, nor other forms of advertising that TI BiH did not monitor. However, it can already be said that this is one of the most expensive election campaigns in BiH, as according to CIK data, parties have never reported higher amounts.
Approximately 6 million KM spent on outdoor advertising
Billboard advertising is by far the most expensive form of advertising used by political parties, and TI BiH observers in the field recorded about 3,500 billboard ads, with a market value of around 6 million KM. TI BiH has published all billboard locations where party advertising was recorded on an online map, with the largest number posted by SDA (541), whose market value exceeds one million KM.
After SDA, the most money on this form of advertising was spent by SNSD, SDP, People and Justice, Democratic Front, and the Party for BiH, which drastically increased campaign costs compared to previous years.
It is also surprising that the People’s Party of Srpska – Darko Banjac, which is participating in the elections for the first time, is among the 15 parties that spent the most on this type of campaign.
External advertising costs were calculated based on publicly available commercial advertising prices, although some advertisers emphasize that political marketing is charged an additional 20%.
Media advertising
In recent years, political parties have significantly reduced the amount of money they spend on advertising on television and in print media, and in the first three weeks of the campaign, approximately 1.5 million KM was spent on this form of advertising. The data was collected through media content monitoring conducted for TI BIH by a media monitoring agency and includes advertising costs on 19 major TV stations in BiH and eight daily and weekly newspapers.
The most money in this part of the campaign was spent by PDP with about 280 thousand KM, SNSD with 250 thousand KM, SDA around 225 thousand KM, United Srpska around 210 thousand, and DNS with 162 thousand KM.
Amounts are estimated based on official media price lists and commercial prices, and include costs for creating pre-election spots and materials. Trends are similar to previous Local Elections, where parties based in Republika Srpska continue to invest much more in media promotion, while other parties focus more on other forms of advertising.
Advertising on Facebook
Official Facebook data shows that 3,656 political ads have been paid for in BiH so far, with a value of around 243,500 KM. SNSD spent the most money on this form of advertising, as 209 ads were published on the accounts of this party and its candidates, with a value estimated by Facebook at around 46 thousand KM. After SNSD, the most money on this type of advertising was spent by PDP and DNS, followed by SDP and United Srpska.
This amount is expected to increase further as it includes data for only the first three weeks of the election campaign, and only refers to Facebook advertising classified as political advertising, not those that are not classified as such. Data on Google ads related to advertising on web portals and the YouTube platform are still unavailable.
Pre-election rallies
Political parties have also incurred significant costs in this campaign on pre-election forums and rallies, with TI BiH field observers following around 480 major pre-election rallies in the past three weeks. According to TI BiH’s estimate, based on the size of the rallies and accompanying content, they have cost around 1.8 million KM so far, with the price most influenced by venue rental costs, followed by food, drinks, music, equipment rental, and other content used at the rallies.
This amount is expected to increase further in the last week of the campaign when most major parties organize central pre-election rallies.
When all is summed up, political parties have spent around 9.6 million KM on three forms of paid advertising and pre-election rallies so far, which is already more than what all parties in BiH reported as total campaign costs for the 2018 general elections, which amounted to 9.5 million KM according to CIK data.
TI BIH has long warned that parties do not report actual campaign costs or the revenues they have. For the last local elections, according to TI BIH data, the 15 largest political parties spent 6.6 million KM on two forms of advertising (billboards and media) and pre-election rallies, while they reported only 5.2 million total campaign costs in their financial reports, clearly showing that parties hide actual costs and revenue amounts.
