Last month, American TV viewers were exposed to almost 1.48 million political ads, up from the 1.41 million political ads aired in October 2008 (the last major presidential election year), according to data released today by Nielsen. It was the largest political ad output on record in what is traditionally known as the busiest month of the year for political messaging. Nielsen data over the last five calendar years suggest that TV distributors air twice as many political and issue ads in October than any other month, on average.

For some media markets, political ads are especially dominant in the local TV landscape, and nowhere is this more evident than Ohio.  In an analysis of local broadcast TV outlets in the top 128 U.S. markets in October, Cleveland stations aired the highest proportion of political and issue advertising.  Nielsen found that about one out of every four paid TV ads aired on local Cleveland stations was placed by a political candidate or outside political group. Ohio’s capital city Columbus placed a very close second in the ranking with an estimated 23.37% of paid ads bought by political entities. Portland, OR, Sacramento, CA, and Seattle, WA round out the top 5.

Ohio’s status as a political TV battleground is nothing new.  In 2008, six Ohio DMAs placed among the top 20 markets with the highest rate of political ads in October, and in the last midterm election in 2006, five markets from the Buckeye State placed in the top 20.

Of course, not all U.S. TV markets were as politically saturated. Ohioans seeking a respite from this year’s political noise may have wanted to lay low in Jackson, MS, where only one percent of paid TV ads airing on local stations were classified as political or issue ads. The Richmond, VA market had the second lowest rate of political saturation among the 128 markets analyzed in October at just 2.45%.  Richmond’s ranking comes in stark contrast to the same time last year, when it ranked fourth nationally in political TV saturation, thanks to a high-profile governor’s race in an otherwise off year for political campaigns.

Interestingly, Texas offered four of the ten least saturated markets last month.

Download the full rankings of all 128 markets contained in Nielsen’s October political advertising analysis.

“This data begs the question: is the constant negative news feed on the industry warranted when newspapers are actually being read by three-fourths of the adult population? When you look at audience data, it seems irrational that advertisers are leaving newspapers because the numbers speak for themselves,” said Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and digital media, Scarborough Research.