As the days until the primary election wind down--the campaign commercials are stacking up.

So far Democratic gubernatorial candidates have spent more than $2 million on television, radio and digital ads.

Adam Edelen is leading the pack on ad buys--spending close to $1 million on ads--when you factor in KY Better Future--the PAC running commercials on his behalf--there's been $1.3 million in ads for him so far.

Andy Beshear has spent almost $500,000 and Rocky Adkins has spent around $225,000 on ads.

The majority of the spending is in the Louisville and Lexington markets, where candidates have spent $958,269 and $874,936 respectively--but as Adkins is running ads in rural markets--others are following suit.

Dan Bayens, Co-founder and Creative Director of Content Creative Media, a Republican advertising firm, has been tracking the ad buys in the primary and says the spending in Bowling Green, Paducah and Evansville markets are starting to increase.

“Once Adkins went up in the rural areas, Beshear went up in the rural areas, and Edelen increased his spending in the rural areas,” Bayens said. “Beshear seems to be playing it pretty safe, he’s been rotating a couple ads for a while now, and the majority of his spending has been also in Lexington and Louisville.”

The price of a spot varies depending on market and whether it’s on cable or broadcast. Cable spots are cheaper, and smaller markets are cheaper.

“To fully deliver an average spot in the Lexington market is about $45,000, that’s for 1,000 points, which means someone would see your ad about ten times,” Bayens said. “In Louisville, that’s about $75,000 right now. Statewide what it would cost to run an ad on cable TV that everyone would see, is about $500,000, they are not spending quite that much money—even Edelen who is the top spender.”

The spending has been mostly on traditional media—radio and television—but there has been a slight push on digital media mostly by Beshear and Edelen.

“In this race we’ve seen Edelen and Beshear both spend about $21,000 on Facebook, Adkins has spent a little less,” Bayens said. “That’s only a small percentage, obviously, of the total advertising budget, so we are just not seeing the increase in digital ad spending here that we’ve seen in other races.”

While Edelen is outspending candidates by almost double, it’s working—he’s seen his polling numbers jump by double digits. So far, all of the ads have been positive, but to make up the double digit lead Beshear has, Edelen may need go negative which could not work in his favor.

“Someone is going to have to make a decision, do I go Negative? I don’t think most people expect it to be Adkins, most people expect it could be Edelen,” Bayens said. “Adam Edelen is a political animal, and he’s a student of politics, and he knows exactly where he is in this race, and what the dynamic is. So it will be interesting to see whether or not he goes negative, because I’m sure he knows that if he does, Rocky could be the one that ends up benefitting from that.”

Bayens pointed out the 2015 Republican gubernatorial primary which saw James Comer and Hal Heiner attacking each other, allowing Matt Bevin to narrowly sail to victory in the primary.

It’s not just Democratic candidates spending money on advertising. There has been spending in the Republican primary as well. Robert Goforth, who is taking on Gov. Matt Bevin in the primary, has spent more than $170,000 on broadcast and cable ads so far. Most of his ads are in the Lexington, Bowling Green and Hazard markets, although he has spent some money in Cincinnati and Louisville.

“I think this would surprise people, he’s also spent quite a bit on Facebook, over $10,000,” Bayens said. “In the data I’ve seen, and the antidotal evidence I’ve seen, I haven’t seen that Goforth is gaining much traction, but he’s spent a decent amount of money.”

While Goforth is the top spender in the Republican primary, he’s not the only candidate dropping money on television spots. Gov. Matt Bevin has placed an ad buy in Louisville, Lexington and Charleston, WV markets for May 4. Bevin placed a 60-second ad buy on the NBC affiliates—the cost to run an ad during the Kentucky Derby is not cheap—for the 3 spots, Bevin is spending more than $70,000. The spot on WLEX in Lexington cost $40,000, while he’s spending $28,000 in Louisville, and just $3,000 in Charleston.  

These spending totals are up to date as of April 24. With several weeks until the primary the spending is sure to increase.