Are DTC Ads Falling Out of Favor with Pharma Companies?
Today's guest post comes from Nicole May, Research Analyst at Cutting Edge Information
With
the Super Bowl only days away, all the chatter has turned to the most
interesting aspect of this beloved American tradition — the TV ads. What
products will we see? Whose commercial will be funniest? What will
Betty White be doing? One thing that looks to be certain is that pharma companies won’t be joining this year’s
commercial line-up.
Are the
ad spots too expensive? Nielsen reports that the average price of a
30-second Super Bowl spot increased from $2.7 million to $3.4 million from 2008
to 2012. But considering the 111.3 million viewers who watched the game
last year, this investment seems well worth it. And pharma companies can
definitely afford it — estimates differ, but top companies spend anywhere from $4 to
$11 billion in development
costs per approved drug, so $3 million on a 30 second ad is an afterthought,
and in this case an afterthought that could reach more than 100 million
consumers in one go.
Pharmaceutical
companies in general have been relying on DTC advertising, TV in particular,
less now than in the past. Dollars spent on advertisements across all
media dropped by 22% from Q3 2011 to Q3 2012, according to Nielsen.
Why the shift? For one, marketers are seeing the effect the required
lists of drug side-effects have on viewers. After hearing ...
Source: ePharma Summit - Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: ePharma Summit 2013 cutting edge information Digital Marketing for Pharma super bowl Source Type: blogs
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