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Miami Herald
14 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
RFK Jr. plans crackdown on pharma ads in threat to $10 billion market
The Trump administration is discussing policies that would make it harder and more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to patients, in a move that could disrupt more than $10 billion in annual ad spending. Although the U.S. is the only place, besides New Zealand, where pharma companies can directly advertise, banning pharma ads outright could make the administration vulnerable to lawsuits, so it's instead focusing on cutting down on the practice by adding legal and financial hurdles, according to people familiar with the plans who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The two policies the administration has focused in on would be to require greater disclosures of side effects of a drug within each ad - likely making broadcast ads much longer and prohibitively expensive - or removing the industry's ability to deduct direct-to-consumer advertising as a business expense for tax purposes, these people said. The discussions are ongoing and plans could still change before the agency undertakes any action, they said. Limiting pharma ads would be a major win for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He's long wanted to more strictly regulate how medicines are promoted. He's said he believes Americans consume more drugs than people in other countries because of the U.S. drug companies' ability to directly advertise to consumers. The new policies could threaten a key source of revenue to advertising and media companies, as well as the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Companies spent $10.8 billion in 2024 on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising in total, according to a report from the advertising data firm MediaRadar. AbbVie Inc. and Pfizer Inc. were particularly big spenders. AbbVie alone spent $2 billion on direct-to-consumer drug ads last year, primarily on advertising for the company's anti-inflammatory drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq. The medicines brought in more than $5 billion for AbbVie in the first quarter of 2025. "We are exploring ways to restore more rigorous oversight and improve the quality of information presented to American consumers," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a written statement, adding that no final decisions have been made. AbbVie shares fell as much as 2.3% on Tuesday, their biggest drop in a month. Pfizer shares slipped as much as 1.7%. Ad reversal Before the loosening of advertising regulations by the Food and Drug Administration in 1997, U.S. pharma companies had to list all possible side effects for a medication if they wanted to mention which condition the drug being advertised was intended to treat. Reading out a list of side effects took so long it drove up the cost for air time and meant there wasn't as much broadcast advertising as there is today, said Jim Potter, executive director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, a trade association. The FDA change allowed ads to disclose fewer side effects and also allowed companies to direct customers to talk to their doctors, call a telephone number, or visit a website to get more information on the advertised drugs. In the following years, TV pharma ad spending surged. In 2024, 59% of the pharmaceutical industry's spend was on television advertising, making pharma the third-highest spending industry on television ads, according to MediaRadar. If the Trump administration brings back some of those restrictions, broadcast ads may become more "impractical," according to Meredith Rosenthal, a professor of health economics and policy at Harvard University's school of public health, who has studied the impacts of pharma advertising. More specific drug ads could have benefits for patients who might be prompted to talk to their doctor for the first time about a medical condition like depression or erectile dysfunction, Rosenthal said. However, there are also drawbacks. Drug ads can be used to drive sales of expensive, brand-name medicines when lower-cost generic alternatives may be appropriate, she said. When asked if a crackdown on ads would hurt its business, AbbVie chief commercial officer Jeff Stewart told analysts at a conference in May that the company "would have to pivot." He said the company could shift its investment to "disease awareness" or through advertising on digital channels rather than through mass media. Tax changes The Trump administration could also work with Congress to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from deducting direct-to-consumer advertising costs as business expenses on their taxes. House lawmakers discussed the idea in talks over President Donald Trump's tax cut legislation, but ultimately left the measure out of the bill. The Senate omitted it as well. HHS has been supportive of those discussions, according to a person familiar with the talks. Kennedy has also said publicly he's having conversations about tax changes within the administration, telling Senator Josh Hawley during a May hearing on Capitol Hill that he expected an announcement on the matter "within the next few weeks." Joe Grogan, who served as White House Domestic Policy Council chief during President Donald Trump's first term and now consults for health-care companies, said it's unclear whether lawmakers will have an appetite to crack down on the pharmaceutical industry further given Trump's tariff threats and demands to dramatically lower drug prices. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry has warned that allowing lawmakers to regulate advertising by changing the tax code to single out pharmaceutical companies could set a dangerous precedent and raise the specter of lawsuits. Other industries also can deduct advertising costs as business expenses, heightening concerns they could be targeted next. "If you choose a sector, if one becomes a target, everyone becomes a target," said Potter of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication. The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents companies that own radio and television stations, said the group opposes restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising, and that revenue from ads allows local broadcasters to staff newsrooms and invest in weather technology. "Restricting pharmaceutical ads would have serious consequences for stations, particularly those in smaller markets, and could raise First Amendment concerns," NAB spokesperson Alex Siciliano said. (With assistance from Madison Muller.) Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Associated Press
02-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
MediaRadar set to lead competitive ad intel market with enhanced capabilities across Streaming TV and cross-media measurement
MediaRadar integrates Vivvix data, providing actionable marketing intelligence across $275B in cross-media spend and over 35 million creative assets. NEW YORK, April 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- MediaRadar, the industry-leading marketing intelligence platform, announced today a significant expansion of its capabilities across traditional and streaming TV, online display, and video advertising through the integration of Vivvix. This integration enhances MediaRadar's solutions for brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms with expansive data and insights across the linear and digital media world. The new capabilities span key marketing intelligence use cases ( visit our website to learn more) including: Competitive Intelligence to gain a significant competitive edge with a total view of brand and category marketing moves and share of voice. Commercial Intelligence to know and reach the right prospects at the right time with always-on insights into brand investment. Creative Intelligence to stay ahead of the latest ad creative, product launches, and brand campaign trends. Market Intelligence to identify trends driving industry growth with a clear view of brand and category spend across channels. As part of this release, MediaRadar is bringing a variety of innovations to enable brands and agencies to develop more competitive campaign, media, and creative strategies to improve marketing performance. Expanded streaming TV spend measurement to cover 4x more advertisers across the full video-on-demand universe (AVOD), including the television glass. Increased streaming TV coverage to include Netflix in addition to YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, Max, Tubi, Pluto, and Peacock. Accelerated final linear-TV spend measurement up to 3x faster than the top TV measurement providers, which often take 60-90 days to report. This includes enhanced ad creative and campaign tracking across broadcast, cable, syndicated, spot, and local vs. national TV. Additionally, MediaRadar is releasing a variety of additional innovations that enable publishers and platforms to compete effectively for national and local advertising. Expanded TV measurement across 150 national channels covering broadcast, cable, and syndicated TV. Launched local spot TV coverage across 950 English-Language stations and 100 Spanish-speaking stations in 210 major DMAs. Rolled out local radio coverage across 825 stations in the top 45 radio markets. Incorporated traditional and digital out-of-home (OOH) measurement across 200 U.S. markets. 'The MediaRadar platform's core strength is connecting the advertising ecosystem with unparalleled data and insights,' stated Tejas Desai, Chief Product and Technology Officer. 'Our enhanced Streaming TV capability creates a true video-everywhere solution. These improvements, along with others across linear and digital media, enable us to better manage the omnichannel advertising use cases of our clients.' All of this follows MediaRadar's recently announced innovations in AI, and its deeper digital coverage across online display, video, and social media channels including: AI Outreach Writer: A new AI solution for publishers and platforms that generates personalized sales sequences and marketing programs infused with deep advertising intelligence recommendations for clients and prospects. Local insights for digital and video media, which adds 8.5x more local digital display and video advertisers across 210 DMAs. Social media coverage across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok. 'We're innovating to become the premier marketing intelligence platform for the advertising ecosystem's future,' MediaRadar CEO Matt Krepsik explained. 'This future will enable our clients to gain real competitive advantage in a media landscape marked by increasing competition and video-everywhere ad strategies that leverage the power of sight, sound, and motion.' MediaRadar, now including the data and capabilities of Vivvix, powers the mission-critical marketing and sales decisions that drive competitive advantage. Our competitive marketing intelligence platform enables clients to achieve peak performance with always-on data and insights that span the media, creative, and business strategies of five million brands across 30+ media channels. By bringing the advertising past, present, and future into focus, our clients rapidly act on the competitive moves and emerging advertising trends impacting their business.
