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The Election: One Million Ads. More Than $1 Billion Spent. Ten Battleground States. Never Before Has So Much Money Been Spent on So Many Commercials Aimed at So Few Voters

Nov 5, 2012  •  Post A Comment

"One million ads. More than $1 billion. Ten battleground states.Those eye-popping figures tell the story of the 2012 presidential campaign TV ad blitz — never before has so much money been spent on so many commercials aimed at so few voters."

So writes Beth Fouhy of the Associated Press.

In total the election has set a record by generating a reported $6 billion in ad spending.

The article continues, "Television ads were the primary communications tool for the campaigns of President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, despite the gradual but persistent shift of viewers from television to the Internet.

"While both teams maintained a robust social media presence and used online ads for micro-targeting voters based on their reading and shopping habits, nothing came close to the campaigns’ investment in the kind of 30- and 60-second TV spots that have defined presidential campaigns for nearly half a century.

The story adds, "’The decline of television advertising hasn’t happened, and it’s not going away anytime soon,’ said Erika Franklin Fowler, director of the Wesleyan University Media Project which tracks campaign advertising. ‘TV is where you look for the persuadable voter, and the Internet is what you use to mobilize your base.’"

Separately, the Center for Responsive Politics predicts that in total, 2012 election spending will reach a whopping $6 billion, breaking the old record by more than $700 million, reports OpenSecrets.org.

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