Sunlight: $34.5 Million Spent in October on Senate Race Ad Buys

Over $100 million spent in October, according to Sunlight, with more than a third of that on TV advertising

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/24/2012 1:25:01 PM

The battle for the Senate has proved a boon to broadcasters as campaign spending in key battleground states has skyrocketed in the waning days of the campaign, including from Super PACs and other outside groups.

According to The Sunlight Foundation's latest figures, at the end of August, those outside groups had spent $32.9 million on Senate races. In September they spent an additional $55.7 million, and already in October more than $100 million.

Of that $100 million, about $34.5 million went to TV ad time buys and production costs, according to Sunlight reporting on Federal Election Commission data.

While Virginia and Ohio are two of the key swing states in the presidential election, they are also drawing a crowd of outside dollars for Senate contests.

Virginia leads all outside spending on Senate races with $29.7 million; followed by Ohio at $24.6 million; Wisconsin at $22.2 million; Nevada at $18.5 million; and Montana at $16.3 million, about a third of which is going to TV stations for ad time.

In Cleveland, for example, on just one station -- Fox affiliate WOIO -- ads for a single candidate in October so far have totaled $150,000.