The marriage equality postal survey is only now arriving in mailboxes the nation over, however, a new report by ad analytics firm Ebiquity has found the “no” campaigners have outspent their “yes” counterparts by five to one when it comes to TV advertising.
Ebiquity’s research, published on The Guardian, found the no campaign had spent a total of $312,000 in TV advertising thus far, while the yes campaign had only spent $64,000.
Interestingly, the biggest spender had been the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It had spent $1.7 million spruiking the postal vote and encouraging people to ensure they took part. The postal vote is not compulsory.
Ebiquity’s research was based on the free-to-air television ads in the five major metro markets from the 8th August until the 12th of September.
The bulk of the money spent on the no campaign was for its controversial “You can say no” campaign that featured mothers worried about the effects same-sex marriage would have on children.
However, the figures do not include Dr Kerryn Phelps’ rebuttal of the ad because it only appeared on Foxtel.
Ebiquity believed both sides would ramp up spending now the postal surveys had been distributed.
The company’s Aaron Rigby told The Guardian: “We haven’t seen anything yet: I think we will start to see a spike in activity, now the postal votes are arriving in people’s post boxes … and then a continuous flatline of spending throughout the [survey] period, with a final spike towards the end to convince those who haven’t voted.”
