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Almost $41 million and enough TV ads to fill more than 12 days of airtime, 24 hours a day.
That鈥檚 the political advertising tally at Denver鈥檚 top four stations based on contracts filed between Aug. 2 and Nov. 14. The CU News Corps entered data on the contracts filed with the Federal Communications Commission and analyzed them throughout the fall campaign.
President Barack Obama鈥檚 election victory in Colorado reflected a dominance of the airwaves in the Denver market as well.
In the end, Obama鈥檚 campaign contracted for $10.3 million and 10,616 ads starting Aug. 2, compared with GOP opponent Mitt Romney鈥檚 $6.1 million and 4,848 ads.
Super PACs supporting Romney narrowed the ad difference, with five spending almost $7.7 million on Denver ads, compared with three Democratic-leaning groups spending $3.9 million on Obama鈥檚 behalf.
2012 set a record for the total number of political ads aired, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, which used privately collected data to examine ad spending nationally. Denver ranked as one of the top markets for presidential ad spending nationally.
Super PAC ad spending potentially kept Romney and other Republican candidates competitive, said聽Michael Franz, co-director for the Wesleyan Media Project and a political science professor at Bowdoin College.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 really win anything that they were hoping to win,鈥� Franz said of the GOP super PACs. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what the races would have looked like if those ads were not on the air.鈥�
Obama鈥檚 buy-early tactic also may have been a factor.
By early September, the Obama camp had scheduled ads every week through Election Day, while the Romney campaign made week-to-week buys. That strategy proved economical, with the Obama campaign paying $969 on average for spots compared with an average of $1,251 for the Romney campaign.
鈥淭he Romney campaign going from week to week, it allowed them to be a bit more nimble, but it also meant that their dollars didn鈥檛 go as far,鈥� Franz said.
The economy turned out to be a reliable predictor of the election outcome, said Seth Masket, a University of Denver associate professor of political science.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean that the ads didn鈥檛 matter, though,鈥� Masket wrote in an email.聽聽鈥淎ds are designed to get people to think about the economy, or other issues, in certain ways, and they get voters to use their feelings about the economy when they cast their votes.鈥�
聽For many viewers, however, the onslaught of political ads didn鈥檛 make a huge difference.
聽鈥淭his year鈥檚 political ads made me sad and frustrated,鈥� said Joan Ringle, a Denver resident who voted for Obama. 鈥淭hey have no effect on my choices. I wish we as voters made our choices on policy substance rather than talking points that at best are an exaggeration and at worst is lies.鈥�
聽Franz said the election outcome might motivate conservative donors to look at alternative ways to spend their money in the future.
鈥淥ne of the things that will probably be reconsidered is whether or not it鈥檚 worth spending money on other types of electioneering, whether it is ground mobilization, peer-to-peer contact, Internet outreach, things that are cheaper, things that the research suggests might have longer term effects,鈥� Franz said.
Some details on contracts between political campaigns and the top four Denver TV stations filed on Aug. 2 and after.
Largest single contracts:聽Obama for American paid聽聽The Romney campaign paid聽
Top station:聽KUSA contracted for more than $15 million of the advertising haul, most likely because of the station鈥檚 top ranking for local news and Sunday night football games. KCNC came in second with $10.6 million, reflecting the station鈥檚 Sunday Broncos coverage. KMGH contracted for $9.6 million, while KDVR, the Fox affiliate, contracted for $5.5 million.
Most expensive ad:聽A two-minute,聽.聽The Republican National Committee spent聽
Cheapest buy:聽Obama and other Democratic candidates paid $25 for 30-second spots on super-early morning spots on KMGH and KUSA. By super-early, we鈥檙e talking 4 a.m.
A single ad:聽听蝉辫别苍迟听