Here’s one reason newspapers and television news crave disasters.

Sometimes they result in bringing in unexpected --- and welcomed --- advertising, as with the case involving BP PLC which spent more than $93.4 million on U.S. ads between April and the end of July, following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, notes GrumpyEditor.com.

That’s more than three times the amount BP spent in advertising during the same period last year when the company ran local newspaper ads in only two states and the District of Columbia.

This year’s expenditure included newspaper advertising in 126 markets in 17 states plus magazine ads and local/national television commercials.

Most of the advertising campaign focused on BP’s role in relief and recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Benefiting most from the oil spill’s aftermath were media outlets in states directly impacted by the incident, especially Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Other states --- most far from the Gulf --- getting a chunk of ad expenditures included California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas.