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