Election Tally: $3.1B Spent on TV Ads

Election year spending poured $3.1 billion into the broadcast television business, according to an analysis of Kantar Media's CMAG data by Marci Ryvicker, senior analyst at Wells Fargo.

About $2.9 billion was spent on local TV ads. The rest went to network and national spots. In October alone, there was $1.27 billion spent. The biggest contributor to spending was the presidential race, which contributed 41.8% of the ad dollars. Another 21.9% was spent in support of ballot initiatives. The markets that got the most political ad dollars were Los Angeles, Washington, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Denver.