With the NSW state election approaching this weekend, and other states also in an election cycle, AirCheck Australia has tallied which advertisers, markets and stations aired the most political spots.

Well ahead of their competition, the United Australia Party aired a whopping 4,887 spots across 13 stations covering a range of formats including Talk, CHR, Classic and Hot AC with 4BC out in front with 561 ads or 11% of spots, closely followed by 2GB airing 554 instances.

The Australian Labor Party spread their 2,730 ads across 12 stations, airing almost a third of their spots on Sea Hit 101.3 Central Coast and KIIS 1065 alone.

With less than half the airtime of their competitor, the Liberal Party of Australia placed 1,277 instances across 15 stations, and again Sea Hit 101.3 Central Coast aired the most spots for the party, followed by WSFM.
 

Comparing the Market Share, 32.7% of political advertisements were aired in Sydney, with almost double the number of spots on the Central Coast in second place with a 16.4% share.

Sydney talk station 2GB aired more political advertisements than any other station during the last four weeks, with a total of 741 spots.

Seven different parties were represented in these spots including in order of appearance: United Australia Party, Liberal Party of Australia, Christian Democratic Party, Liberal Democratic Party, Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party, Australian Conservatives and the Voluntary Euthanasia Party.

The commercial radio and tv industries continue to lobby for the removal of unfair regulations which permit advertising to continue on social media up to election day, while blacking out election ads on radio and tv three days before the election is held. Social media platforms have been shown to be open to abuse and manipulation by unknown elements, while responsible media consistently follow the rules, check and properly disclose the bona fides of political advertisers.