Once again the political party ads on radio and tv have fallen silent while newspapers, out of home and online media rake in the last dollars from the parties as they push their message to voters until the polls close tomorrow at 6pm.

The outdated assumption that voters should have some quiet thinking time to make their final voting decisions is well past its use-by date.

No doubt commercial and community stations have benefitted from political advertising during the 6 week campaign, and from ‘government advertising spending’ during the phoney campaign for months before. But the question remains, why are radio and tv broadcasters still being disadvantaged when the media landscape has changed?

Newspapers have always been able to carry political ads. Billboards, which are considered ‘print’ advertising, are also exempted.

Now online and social media are also in the race and anyone who opens their social media feed, or reads an online newspaper until the polls close will still see election ads. And don’t even mention text messages!

Podcasts, because they are not designated as ‘broadcasts’ are also not covered by the blackout.

Despite repeated objections from the radio and  tv industries, this outdated rule continues.

The ACMA rules tell broadcasters: “You cannot broadcast election ads on TV or radio during election blackout periods or referendum ads during referendum blackout periods.”

With millions of dollars spent for party advertising on online and social media, plus broadcast and newspaper media, the AEC has told radioinfo today that then exact amount spent will not be known for a while. “Election returns are published 24 weeks after polling day in accordance with the legislation…  Campaigning that incurs expenditure over $16,900 needs to be reported with the AEC.” Disclosures are available at this link.

Meltwater, a global company that tracks social and media intelligence and data analytics, has compiled this insight into social media usage for this election:

• Social media activity ramping up: Overall Election posts have increased by 20% in the past two weeks, generating over 4 million engagements as both parties intensified their campaigns.
• Most trending topics: While power and energy remain the most discussed topics overall (109K campaign posts; 34.5K in this period), cost of living is dominating in terms of engagement (426K) and reach (20.1M).
• Liberal leads on volume but sentiment skews negative: Dutton has driven more than double the posts and engagements compared to Albanese (180K posts/1.8M engagements vs. 76K/885K), but negative sentiment continues to overshadow his mentions.
• Some of the most viral posts include:
  • @PaulineHanson’s call for reduced immigration in a Facebook post – 49K engagements;
  • @batesforbrisbane’s recent Instagram reel humorously dubbing Peter Dutton “Temu Trump” – 43K engagements;
  • The Betoota Advocate’s satirical Instagram post on Dutton reversing his remaining election policies – 20K engagements.

There is no restriction on political interviews or commentary on radio or tv, and Commercial, ABC, SBS and Community radio stations are continuing to question, opine and analyse the parties and thier policies, as they should.

Meltwater’s Election Centre, a custom solution using an advanced AI engine to provide key insights from news, social media, broadcast has identified this campaign’s key issues:

Labor vs Liberal: Sentiment and Social Showdown
Meltwater’s real time insights in its Election Centre dashboard highlight [that] social media conversations are outpacing traditional news coverage in both volume and engagement, with both political parties’ volume of posts reflecting this trend.

Despite Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party generating a higher volume of social media activity—with 293K posts and 2.89 million engagements (compared to 163K posts and 2.14 M engagements by the Albanese government), Albanese – who boasts 1.7 million followers and an average of 15.1K engagements per post – is gaining a higher reach in conversations (229M)  by leveraging his strong social media presence and collaborations with influencers.

Labor vs Liberal: A Tale of Two Campaigns
The issues dominating each party’s online conversations show clear contrasts in focus. For Labor, healthcare is clearly leading the narrative, accounting for 25% of all trending discussions related to Anthony Albanese. This is followed by tax (6.1%), while the housing crisis and cost of living are tied in third place at 5.2% each.

For the Liberal party, the narrative is instead focused on immediate economic pressures, with cost of living leading at 16.5%, followed closely by power and energy (14.1%).  The housing crisis also features prominently at 12.3%, while healthcare lags behind at just 7%.

Commercial Radio and Audio has been calling for the blackout to be  abolished for years. In 2021 CRA said:

Where to listen to election results coverage on radio: