Local stations were the major beneficiary of political spending on television during the 2012 election, according to a new TVB study. More than 80% of total television spending in the political category was spent on local television, boosting stations’ political revenue +38% from the 2008 election:

Local TV stations captured over 80% of total television spending in the political category, including local and national cable and network broadcast. Of the local television total we believe that stations maintained their 85% share. And television is by far the largest segment of political media spending. On top of this continued dominance, TV stations’ total political revenue has been growing at an extremely high rate: $1.5 billion in 2008, $2.1 billion in 2010 (+35%) and $2.9 billion in 2012 (+38%).

Local broadcast TV station Presidential spending alone, just from the conventions to election day, grew dramatically 2008-2012 as well. It was up 65%, from just under $300 million in ’08 to nearly $500 million in 2012. Clearly local TV’s role as the campaign media workhorse has not changed.