Series · Indian political ad disclosures
The Political Ad Ledger
A five-part read through India's political advertising disclosures — who buys, what they say, and what the ledger leaves out.
6 parts so far
- Part 1
BlogNewElections & VotingWhat's in the Ledger — The Political Ad Ledger
Before the findings, the source. What Google's public political-ads dataset actually records about India — 397,522 ads across eight years — and the things it can and cannot tell us.
india politicsgoogle ad - Part 2
BlogNewElections & VotingThe Anatomy of a ₹383-Crore Ad Election
Seven years of Google political ads in India — 397,522 of them — show a machine that wakes only for elections, spends four of every five rupees on video, and is dominated by one party running images at industrial scale.
india politicsgoogle ad - Part 3
BlogNewElections & VotingThe Government Is the Second-Biggest Political Advertiser
On Google's platform, the largest political advertiser in India after the ruling party isn't another party. It's the government itself — ₹155 crore of taxpayer-funded publicity that the system files as political, and that surges when ele…
india politicsgoogle ad - Part 4
BlogNewElections & VotingThe Shadow Campaign
Google's political-ad ledger doesn't just list parties. Hidden in it is the machinery behind them — the consultancies and the governments — and you can read which firm ran which campaign from nothing but where and when the ads were aimed.
india politicsgoogle ad - Part 5
BlogNewElections & VotingWhat the Ads Say — The Political Ad Ledger
The dataset has no creative content — so we watched the ads. A close reading of the top video ads from five key advertisers: who builds campaigns around a leader, who attacks, and a government that puts the Prime Minister in most of its…
india politicsgoogle ad - Part 6
BlogNewMedia, News & AdvertisingThe Political Ad Ledger
A data booklet on what Google's public political-ads dataset reveals about political advertising in India, 2019–2026: the money, the machinery, and the government behind it.
Text analysisAdministrative dataTrend analysis
This collection is still growing — more parts are on the way.