Television remains the undisputed king of election advertising in Australia, with parties spending more than $54 million on linear and broadcast video-on-demand services (7Plus, 9Now, 10Play, SBS On Demand, and Binge/Kayo) over five weeks of campaigning in the 2025 Federal Election.
According to video measurement firm Adgile, television platforms accounted for a significant 74% of all video revenue during the campaign.
Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots took the lion’s share of the media spend, pouring more than $24.1 million into broadcast and online ads.
Labor wasn’t far behind, investing $24 million, while the Coalition’s total spend reached $20.7 million. The Greens, comparatively, spent $4 million in an effort to engage voters.
While traditional television channels dominated the ad spend, YouTube saw an impressive $17 million invested in political advertising, with minor parties and independent candidates focussing their spending on the platform.
This marks a clear trend of political players adapting to the evolving digital media landscape while still banking on the broad reach of television.
Targeted advertising emerges as a game-changer in 2025
The 2025 election also witnessed the growing prominence of geotargeting and addressable advertising, with parties using hyper-targeted ads to zero in on key electorates.
Shaun Lohman, Adgile’s Founder and Managing Director, highlighted the new level of precision with which ads were delivered.
“No matter how you cut it, television remains the most powerful channel for reaching voters at scale,” he said. “But what’s new this election is the scale and sophistication of geotargeting and addressable advertising.”
Lohman explained that Australian political campaigns have increasingly mirrored the strategies seen in U.S. elections.
The use of finely-tuned targeting allowed ads to be tailored to specific voter groups across streaming platforms such as 7Plus, 9Now, 10Play, SBS On Demand, Foxtel apps, and YouTube. In particular, this shift allowed candidates to reach a far more granular audience than ever before.
Palmer’s campaign, known for its all-out media blitz, exemplified this approach, deploying ads across multiple channels without targeting just one group of voters.
However, Labor and the Coalition weren’t far behind, each spending considerable sums on TV to keep pace with Palmer’s aggressive campaign. Interestingly, Labor’s strategy in this election differed from past campaigns, where parties typically held off on significant spending until the final weeks.
In 2025, they took a more aggressive early approach with policy-driven content, keeping a steady flow of TV ads to engage voters as soon as the campaign kicked off.
Labor’s early push and the shift in election advertising strategy
Adgile’s analysis also shed light on the nature of the political content itself. Labor, according to Lohman, was proactive in airing policy announcements early in the campaign, particularly highlighting issues like tax cuts.
“It is interesting that Labor went big early on TV and video with policy messaging,” Lohman said. “They were spending consistently throughout the five weeks of the campaign, especially in the early weeks when they had clearer air.”
In contrast, the Coalition relied more heavily on attack ads, which were ramped up later in the campaign, with policy spending being delayed until the final stretch.
This divergence in media strategy could have played a role in the increased pre-poll voting that has become a major feature of recent elections.
“The significant pre-poll vote has had an impact on the final results,” Lohman noted.
“This represents a strategic change in the media strategy compared with previous elections. Labor broke the traditional spending model by pushing out policy ads early, whereas other parties typically reserve their big ad spends for the final week.”
The rise of geotargeting and the future of political ads in Australia
This shift towards more precise targeting signals a broader change in the landscape of political advertising.
The increasing use of geotargeted video ads to reach voters by electorate, combined with sophisticated digital strategies, is reshaping how Australian political campaigns approach media buys.
As Adgile continues to track these shifts, it’s clear that the evolution of advertising in Australian elections is far from over.
Adgile itself is at the forefront of these changes, with its video measurement and analytics service helping brands such as Suncorp, Optus, and Sportsbet navigate this complex media landscape.
As the political parties continue to invest heavily in these advanced targeting strategies, media buyers and political strategists alike will need to adapt to a world where digital and linear media are both integral to the path to victory.