DIGITAL DUEL by NewsVibe. The ranking of candidates for the Capital City Hall – visibility and online impact

The main candidates for the Bucharest City Hall elections officially submitted their candidacies last week. At the same time, we are witnessing an increase in media appearances by candidates supported by coalition parties, who have given multiple interviews in recent days, addressing both administrative issues and reporting on the main opponents, including in an accusatory register.

ONLINE VISIBILITY: VOLUME AND IMPACT. According to data analyzed with the help of NewsVibe, an AI-supported media monitoring platform, events in recent days have led to a change in hierarchy regarding visibility for the four names. If in the previous interval Anca Alexandrescu was in the first position in the top mentions in relevant online sources, she currently occupies the last position in the same ranking. At the top of the ranking is now Ciprian Ciucu, followed by Daniel Băluță — only these two candidates surpass the threshold of 1000 mentions.

The estimated impact of the mentions indicates a similar hierarchy, although in this top Daniel Băluță is significantly closer to Ciprian Ciucu. Only mentions about Ciprian Ciucu and Daniel Băluță exceed the threshold of 30 million estimated views (specifically, over 34 million views).

NewsVibe Chart. Online visibility benchmarks of the main candidates in the PMB race, in the last week: volume (number of mentions), impact (estimated views), sentiment analysis

THE TONE OF ONLINE CONVERSATION. The candidates most frequently mentioned in negative/polarizing contexts are Anca Alexandrescu and Cătălin Drulă, the latter being the candidate that generates the most intense level of emotion from the perspective of the tone used in digital debates, a constant also in previous weeks. This is also determined by the differences in campaign approach — candidates without effective experience in local administration tend to attack their opponents more. However, there are also specific events that influence this type of media coverage — such as the confrontation between Anca Alexandrescu and a USR parliamentarian in Piața Rahova, Sector 5.

THE COMPARATIVE PACE OF APPEARANCES. The official moment of submitting candidacies for the Bucharest elections generated the most significant peaks of mentions for the four names included in the top, a situation particularly visible in the cases of Ciucu, Băluță, and Drulă. Among the analyzed candidates, these three names attracted the most mentions on the day of submitting their candidacies, in relation to the volume of mentions regarding their main opponents.

This type of increase in visibility fits into the specific dynamics of campaign periods, where official events with high media potential — such as the submission of candidacies — function as key moments that activate the interest of the press and the public. In such situations, all relevant sources pick up the subject almost simultaneously, generating accelerated exposure, which, however, is maintained only in the short term, until the next high-stakes moment.

NewsVibe Chart. Evolution in the number of mentions about the main candidates in the PMB race, in the last week

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS. Evaluating comparatively the weight of volume and impact of mentions, the competitive analysis engine created by NewsVibe assesses the strength of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly related to their competitors.

Both the number of mentions and their estimated views have significantly increased compared to the situation from the previous week. Approximately 2,500 mentions are recorded in total about the four names, and their projected impact is more than twice as high compared to the previous interval.

Even though Ciprian Ciucu concentrates over 30% of the total mentions, the impact of these represents 29% of the total estimated impact — a percentage equal to Daniel Băluță. The most balanced ratio between the weight of mentions and the weight of projected impact is recorded in the case of Cătălin Drulă, which indicates a relatively proportional distribution between quantitative exposure and media visibility generated by his appearances.

This difference between volume and impact suggests that not all mentions generate the same effective visibility in the eyes of the public. While Ciprian Ciucu quantitatively dominates the conversation, Daniel Băluță's exposure is more effective from the perspective of estimated visibility, with a greater focus on sources with high reach. In other words, beyond the quantity of mentions, their context plays a decisive role in how candidates impose themselves in the public's attention at this stage of the campaign.

NewsVibe Charts. The weight of the number of mentions (left), respectively the impact of mentions (right) about each of the four candidates, from the total cumulative mentions about all

*****Summary created with the help of a data stream provided by the media monitoring platform NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data, and images presented have been enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.