Government Expenditure on Advertisements and Sponsored Posts on Online Media Platforms

12 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) for each year from 2011 to 2015, how much has the Government spent on advertisements and sponsored posts on online media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, YouTube and Google; and (b) what is the breakdown of this spending by each Ministry.

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: The Government does not keep track of the total amount Ministries spend on online advertisements. However, MCI itself spent approximately $4.3 million last year (or 0.5% of our operating budget) on digital advertisements to support a wide range of major policies and initiatives, such as the Pioneer Generation Package, SkillsFuture, Marriage and Parenthood and Integration issues. This was spread out across multiple online media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Google.