From rallies to reels: Bihar’s election drama racks up crores in ad spends

Big ad dollars spent during Bihar elections.

Bihar elections, which is in its final chapter with the results awaited, saw months of high-voltage campaigning, sharp political crossfires, and crores were poured into advertising.

Marketers assess around Rs 200 crore worth of marketing spends during the campaign period.

Based on published transparency data, parties together spent around Rs 4.81 crore on paid advertising via Meta and Google in the 30 days leading up to the election, noted Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions.

Legislative Assembly elections were held in Bihar between November 6 and 11, 2025, to elect 243 members.

Who spent how much?

Data from Google Ads Transparency Center shows that, in October, the BJP-led digital political spending in Bihar with around Rs 6.75 crore on Google and YouTube ads. The Jan Suraaj Party followed, with roughly Rs 1.10 crore. In comparison, JD(U) spent about Rs 28 lakh, while the Congress’s ad spend was Rs 17,250. These figures account for political advertising on Google and YouTube from October 1 to October 31.

Meta’s ad library shows that the BJP spent roughly Rs 1.77 crore on Facebook, Instagram and other Meta platforms. The Jan Suraaj Party spent about Rs 1.21 crore, JD(U) around Rs 63 lakh, Congress nearly Rs 7.41 lakh, and the RJD about Rs 6.16 lakh. The numbers represent the top 100 pages spending the most on political ads on Facebook and Instagram between October 2 and October 31.

Who are the biggest spenders?

Combined data from Meta and Google’s ad libraries shows the BJP leading Bihar’s political ad spend in October with about Rs 8.52 crore. The Jan Suraaj Party followed, with roughly Rs 2.32 crore, while JD(U) spent around Rs 92 lakh. Congress was placed fourth, at approximately Rs 7.59 lakh, and the RJD fifth at about Rs 6.16 lakh.

Traditional versus digital versus influencers

Hamidani noted that both digital and influencer spends show how political parties in India, especially for regional campaigns, are treating individual creators, local influencers, social video content and embedded digital narratives as core campaign assets—not just support elements.

It is estimated that spending on influencer marketing during the election campaigning in Bihar scaled to Rs 100-120 crore this year from around Rs 20-25 crore in the previous election.

For campaign strategists and marketers, this implies a major re-calibration: instead of thinking of digital as just another channel, it must now be treated as a core narrative layer, especially in states like Bihar where youth, mobile-first populations and vernacular content consumption dominate, Hamidani said.

"The high influencer spends means the future campaign economy will be strongly shaped by creator credibility, hyper-local storytelling and peer-driven digital ripple effects more than only broadcast visibility," he said.