• Hollywood Reporter, Monday, November 7, 2005 12:01 PM

Since it's a so-called "off-year" election-wise, political ad spending was expected to be moderate in 2005, but hotly contested ballot referendums in California, and high profile mayoral and senatorial races in the New York metro area have poured sizeable political campaign ad dollars into the nation's two largest media markets. "It's not anywhere near the record spending levels of 2004's presidential election, but campaign advertising took an upswing with a flurry of TV spots on the California ballot referendums and the New York mayoral race," reports The Hollywood Reporter. New York City, the No. 1 market in overall media spending, was also the top market in campaign ad spending in 2005, attracting 15,285 TV commercial units between Aug. 1 and Oct. 16, while California had six of the top 10 markets, grossing 31,500 political spots, according to estimates from Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

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