Commercial Companies in Party Networks: Digital Advertising Firms in US Elections from 2006-2016

Figures & data

Figure 1. Network visualizations each election cycle, broken out by party.

Ties are payments made from political committees to companies. Ties are binary, meaning the amount paid is not weighted or represented in the figure. Transparent nodes are companies. Black nodes are political committees. Nodes with less than two connections were removed for improved visualizations in the 2016 networks.

Table 1. Types of companies in each electoral cycle network

Company Type	2008	2012	2016
Political agencies	19 (10.8%)	157 (37.6%)	271 (42.1%)
Commercial agencies	18 (10.3%)	48 (11.5%)	81 (12.6%)
Digital advertising platforms	25 (14.3%)	27 (6.5%)	28 (4.3%)
Other	93 (53.1%)	122 (29.2%)	170 (26.2%)
Unknown	20 (11.4%)	65 (15.3%)	92 (14.4%)
Total companies in the network each cycle	175	418	641

Many companies were hired in multiple election cycles; types of companies cannot be totaled across rows.

Table 2. Types of political committees in each electoral cycle

	2008	2012	2016
Democrat	98	310	561
Candidate	72 (47%)	196 (25%)	338 (24%)
Party	8 (5%)	35 (4%)	42 (3%)
Other PAC	18 (12%)	79 (10%)	181 (13%)
Republican	43	430	747
Candidate	38 (25%)	302 (38%)	476 (34%)
Party	3 (2%)	18 (2%)	35 (3%)
Other PAC	2 (1%)	110 (14%)	236 (17%)
Other	12	56	79
Candidate	9 (6%)	32 (4%)	48 (3%)
Party	2 (1%)	2 (0%)	4 (0%)
Other PAC	1 (1%)	22 (3%)	27 (2%)
Total per cycle	153	796	1,387

Percentages calculated by election cycle. Many committees operated in multiple election cycles; types of committees cannot be totaled across rows.

Table 3. Network descriptives each cycle

	Democrat			Republican
	2008	2012	2016	2008	2012	2016
Nodes	245	503	840	72	666	1,127
Edges	249	559	1,056	50	732	1,328
Components	20	56	65	22	74	89
Density	1.72%	0.93%	0.69%	4.00%	0.72%	0.47%
Graph centralization	.41	.25	.36	.21	.20	.29
Average path length*	3.22	3.73	3.77	2.08	4.40	4.25

*Average path length calculated only within the largest component.

Table 4. Nodes with highest centrality measures each cycle, sorted by highest normalized betweenness centrality

	Democratic					Republican
	Normalized Betweenness Centrality	Degree Centrality	Normalized Closeness Centrality			Normalized Betweenness Centrality	Degree Centrality	Normalized Closeness Centrality
				2008
Obama For America	0.54	102	.58		Google	0.060	16	.90
Google	0.27	42	.48		Scontras for Congress	0.010	2	.51
PressFlex	0.12	19	.42		Plain State PAC	0.004	2	.51
Udall For Us All	0.06	7	.36		CD	0.003	3	N/A
MSHC Partners	0.06	5	.39		Campaign Solutions	0.002	5	N/A
				2012
Facebook	0.29	129	.45		Facebook	0.28	135	.38
Google	0.24	93	.43		Google	0.26	107	.37
Obama for America	0.06	25	.32		Audience Partners	0.10	36	.29
Emily’s List	0.05	14	.38		CD	0.06	26	.27
SEIU Committee on political education	0.04	12	.38		Freedomworks for America	.05	100	.34
				2016
Facebook	0.52	301	.49		Facebook	0.50	332	.43
Google	0.13	95	.35		Google	0.13	117	.34
Rising Tide Interactive	0.04	33	.31		Targeted Victory	0.07	48	.29
Revolution Messaging	0.04	25	.30		Americans for Prosperity	0.05	20	.33
Committee to elect Alan Grayson	0.03	14	.36		Connect Strategic	0.03	17	.25

Normalized closeness centrality only calculated within the largest component in the network; disconnected nodes removed from this calculation.

Data Availability Statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/79JC6.