• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 23, 2016

Ad spending volume expanded to its biggest October ever, according to the latest monthly update of the Ad Market Tracker. The index, which was benchmarked at 100 in January 2010, rose 10 points from September and 22 points over October 2015.

The pattern follows historic patterns of ad spending momentum coming into the fourth quarter of the year, which is the start of the holiday shopping season when demand for most forms of media typically expands.

This year happened to coincide with a record political advertising season too, which helped tighten supply, driving prices and ad spending volume up, as well.

“The news networks also delivered great numbers in the final weeks of the election coverage,” notes James Fennessy, CEO of Standard Media Index, which powers the index. “We are seeing many advertisers front-load the holiday season with TV, OOH and radio, buys and we anticipate they will finish this up with a heavy focus on digital as they look to drive consumers into stores later in the season.”

Drilling into the political numbers, SMI found that while neither presidential candidate spent much on national media, Hillary Clinton spent 276% more on national TV advertising buys between Jan. 2016 and the end of Oct. 2016 than Donald Trump’s campaign.

“Clinton’s heaviest month of spend was August, with nearly $18 Million for the month. More than $14 Million of that was spent on the 2016 Olympics,” SMI noted in a special analysis of the campaigns, adding, “Trump’s heaviest month was October, with $10.5 Million. Even with his October increase, Clinton still outspent him during the month with $12.3 Million.”