Once again in Q3, pharmaceutical companies made significant investments in TV advertising. Many unveiled new creative approaches around existing brands, and introduced new prescription drugs that received FDA approvals.
For “rising” pharma brands – those that didn’t advertise in 2023 or had the largest year-over-year increase in TV ad impressions – there was a strong emphasis on broadcast news programs like NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell.
It’s a familiar playbook for both the advertisers and networks alike. Since the start of 2022, well over 25% of TV ad impressions during these programs are attributable to pharma brands. But the pharma industry has also expanded to advertising during plenty of other program genres in recent years.
Other highlights from the pharma industry’s Q3 TV advertising:
- Rising pharma advertisers also appeared frequently during daytime programming like The Price Is Right, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless and others in the entertainment genre.
- Brands like Genentech’s Vabysmo focused on ad buys during major sporting events as well: College football (4.25% of the brand’s household TV ad impressions), PGA Tour (1.59%), NFL (1.28%) and MLB (1.26%) were all among the top 15 programs for Vabysmo impression deliveries.
- Pharma accounted for four of the top 30 brand industries by Q3 TV ad impressions.
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