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Regional elections drive up ad spending
What can an election promise? A huge ad jackpot for the media, a recent Nielsen survey in Indonesia suggests
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What can an election promise? A huge ad jackpot for the media, a recent Nielsen survey in Indonesia suggests.
The survey found that regional elections in many parts of the nation this year saw an almost seven-fold increase in ad spending to Rp 124.8 billion (around US$13 million) in the first half of the year, up from Rp 18.57 billion a year earlier.
The survey, released Monday, involved 19 TV stations, 93 newspapers and 149 magazines and tabloids.
Maika Randini, senior manager for business development, said during the presentation that spending on ads was clearly boosted by numerous provincial, regency and municipal elections across the archipelago in the past months.
"With numerous regional elections, spending on candidate ads ranks third among the overall top ten products with highest advertisement expenditures," she said.
In the first semester, ad expenses on regional elections peaked in April to reach Rp 35.94 billion, while political parties' ad expenses peaked at Rp 46.28 billion in May.
Among the recent regional elections were the gubernatorial elections in North Sumatra and West Java in April, East Kalimantan in April through May and Central Java in June.
The survey did not measure whether higher spending directly boosted candidates' chances of winning.
The survey did find, however, that in 2004's first round of presidential elections, the pairing of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla -- the eventual winners -- had more advertisements in the media than any of the other four pairings.
In total, political parties spent Rp 131.14 billion on advertising in March 2004, a month ahead of the legislative election, while presidential candidates spent Rp 129.3 billion on ads in June 2004, a month before the first round of the presidential election.
Rizal Malik, secretary-general for the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Indonesia, said the survey indicated that regional elections had become more expensive while offering little substance.
"The survey shows that candidates running in provincial, regency or municipal elections have no strong and clear political base, and they use advertising to make people aware of them only during the campaign period," he told The Jakarta Post.
The costly regional elections could, if unchecked, eventually force candidates to resort to corruption or to source the money from business interests, he added.
"This is troubling, as the candidates may need to repay all the money once they come to power."
