Political ad spending runs rampant in the final sprint to the election

“The money has no value after Nov. 5,” said Chris Grant, a professor of political science at Mercer University. “It’s not like you can pocket all the money that’s been raised. You’ve got to spend it.”

Grant said that with the breakthrough of small dollar donations during Barack Obama’s 2008 candidacy, campaigns now have an “almost unlimited resource for funding.”

Since the beginning of October, both campaigns and the political action committees supporting them have ramped up spending. Aside from a dip in Democratic TV ad spending last week, the cost of TV ads each week has increased for both sides throughout the past month.

As spending has increased, the number of ads airing has also increased. The average cost of an ad has risen as well. In September, the average cost of a broadcast TV ad was $584 each. So far in October, the average cost of the same type of ad is $951 each. This may be due to the increase in ads in the Atlanta market, one of the more expensive markets in the state.

On the digital side, each campaign and its supporting groups have increased spending every week since the beginning of October with both campaigns now spending over $5 million per week.

Unsurprisingly, the number of digital ads has also increased as spending increases. The average cost per ad has actually decreased slightly since last month. In September, the average cost of a digital ad was $144, and this month it is $131.