If you’ve headed over to YouTube over the past few days, you may have noticed President Donald Trump in a prominent spot on the site.
This isn’t a mistake—but rather a coordinated ad blitz from Trump’s re-election campaign to get eyeballs on his ads at the same time as the 2020 Democratic National Convention—in virtual form this year—will make former Vice President Joe Biden his official rival for the upcoming election.
The ads ask users to text “extreme,” “radical,” and “left” to a campaign number and are accompanied with a campaign-produced video.
On Wednesday, an ad linked to a video titled “Joe And Kamala Lie To Protect The Radical Leftist Mob,” which leans into Trump’s criticism of protests across the nation against police brutality and racism. A majority of the protests have been peaceful.
Another ad linked to a video titled “What Happened To Joe Biden?” that tries to disparage Biden’s mental fitness for the presidency, a common theme Trump has seized on.
It’s no coincidence that the ads are appearing during the Democratic National Convention.
Because the convention is being broadcast virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people will be tuning into the speeches and events via YouTube live videos, or will be catching up on it with clips posted on the platform.
The New York Times reported last week that Trump’s campaign bought out the banner ad on YouTube for 96 hours starting on Tuesday.
The cost of the ad blitz—which also includes ads on the home page of numerous news outlets and premium ads on Hulu in swing states—was in the “high-seven figures,” the Times reported.
