• Broadcasting & Cable, Wednesday, December 3, 2008 9:30 AM

Between $2.5 billion and $2.7 billion were spent on political ads this election season, with television taking a hefty $2.2 billion of that, per TNS. The total figure is up from $1.7 billion back in 2004.

Political ad dollars are expected to continue to flow in 2009, in what will be welcome news for beleaguered TV executives. "2009 is going to be another record setting cycle," says TNS executive Evan Tracey.

Who will be spending those ad dollars? As President-elect Barack Obama continues to make appointments among existing senators and governors, there'll be a lot of jockeying at the local level to replace them. Issue advocacy is also predicted to be big business in 2009 as groups fight for issues such as healthcare reform. There are also 36 governor races in 2010.

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