Only three of eight specialty markets audited by PERQ/HCI’sJournal Ad Review registered higher ad expenditures during 2007. Reportinggains were laboratory (+8.4%), ophthalmology (+0.2%) and optometry (+0.2%).Those with lower ad spending when compared to 2006 include radiology andpharmacy. Smaller losses were reported by hospital management, nursing anddental.
When measured on an ad page basis (Fig. 1), only one market,laboratory, reported an increase (+8.1%). Losses for the seven markets indecline ranged from -14.6% (radiology) to -1.1% (nursing). Overall, the eightspecialty markets reported on here were down 3.4% on an ad page basis and -1.2%on a dollar basis.
Ophthalmology advertising has marginal gain
Ad spending in ophthalmology journals grew by just 0.2%during 2007. This marginal gain follows a very strong 17% increase in 2006.
Alcon Laboratories, which increased ad spending by 13%,repeated in first place, while Allergan retained the number two spot eventhough ad outlays were reduced by 10%. Advanced Medical Optics moved up from4th to 3rd due largely to higher ad expenditures for their Advanced CustomVueProcedure, Bausch & Lomb slipped from 3rd to 4th following a 28% cut in adoutlays and Genentech advanced from 6th to 5th following a 50% boost inspending.
Pfizer Ophthalmics moved up from 8th to 6th due largely tohigher ad outlays for Xalatan Solution. Santen and Vistakon Pharmaceuticalsclimbed from 11th to 7th due largely to the launch of Iquix, an ocular anti-infectivemedication, while Ista Pharmaceuticals fell from 5th to 8th following an adspending cut of 41%. Bausch & Lomb stayed in 9th, while Optimedica movedfrom 12th to 10th as expenditures were increased for PASCAL Method ofPhotocoagulation.
Genentech’s Lucentis Injection is now the most heavilyadvertised product with a 4% share of all ad outlays in this segment. Alcon’sTravatan Z jumped from 23rd to 2nd, while Pfizer Ophthalmics’ Xalatan Solutionmoved up from 7th to 3rd following a 36% boost in spending. Allergan’s Lumigandropped from 2nd to 4th as ad outlays fells by 22% and Alcon’s Vigamox slippedfrom 4th to 5th even though ad spending was up by 7%.
Restasis, up from 11th to 6th, and Alphagan P, down from 1stto 7th, were two more Allergan products that made the top 10 list. Alconproducts took the next three spots. Ad spending on Nevanac, for eye pain andinflammation resulting from cataract surgery, slipped from 6th to 8th, thenewly advertised Infiniti Ozil Torsional Handpiece was 9th and the AcrySofToric Single-Piece IOL climbed from 29th to 10th as outlays increased by 77%.
Pharmacy journals turn negative
After reporting a gain of 8.6% in 2006, ad spending inpharmacy journals registered a loss of 4.5% during full year 2007.
Pfizer retained the number one spot in this market segmenteven though ad expenditures were reduced by 3%. Moving up from 32nd to 2ndfollowing a major boost in ad spending for Invega was Janssen Pharmaceutica,while AstraZeneca climbed from 15th to 3rd due largely to the launch ofSymbicort. Wyeth slipped from 2nd to 4th following a 34% reduction in adexpenditures, while Novo Nordisk advanced from 11th to 5th on a 26% increase inad outlays.
GlaxoSmithKline fell from 4th to 6th as ad spending wasreduced by 18%, while Sandoz moved up from 9th to 7th as expenditures increasedby 7%. Schering-Plough, new to 2007’s top 10, climbed from 102nd to 8th duelargely to higher ad outlays for Noxafil and the over-the-counter launch ofMiralax. Teva dropped from 3rd to 9th, while Takeda advanced from 34th to 10thdue to higher ad spending for a number of products including Duetact and ActosPlus Met.
Three newly advertised products that made the top 10 listinclude Janssen’s new schizophrenia medication, Invega (1st), AstraZeneca’s Symbicort(2nd) and Bristol-Myers Squibb/Otsuka’s Abilify (5th). A 200% boost in spendingmoved Forest’s Lexapro from 39th to 3rd and a 104% spending increase advancedPfizer’s Exubera Insulin Inhalation Powder from 20th to 4th.
New to the top 10 are the NovoLog FlexPen, up from 11th to6th and Schering-Plough’s Noxafil. Repeating products include a Mylan PharmaCo. Ad, down from 6th to 7th, Wyeth’s Tygacil, down from 5th to 9th following abudget cut of 25%, and Abbott’s Humira, down from 4th to 11th as spending wascut by 47%.
Optometry advertising turns positive
After reporting a loss of 2.8% during 2006, ad spending inoptometry journals registered a marginal gain of 0.2% during 2007.
Once again, Alcon Laboratories was the heaviest advertiserin optometry journals even though spending was cut by 5%. Allergan moved upfrom 6th to 2nd as ad outlays were increased by 80% for a number of productsincluding Restasis, Optive Lubricant Eye Drops, Allergan Dry Eye Products andLumigan. The Essilor Group moved up from 4th to 3rd even though ad outlays werereduced by 7%, Bausch & Lomb slipped from 3rd to 4th and Marchon Eyewarerepeated in 5th place.
Hoya Corporation, a supplier of advanced optical materialsand components, jumped from 50th to 6th as ad expenditures were increased by308% on a number of their products that compete in this segment. Otheradvertisers in the top 10 that increased ad outlays include the LuxotticaGroup, up from 9th to 7th and Shamir Insight, unchanged in 10th place.Conversely, lower ad expenditures resulted in CIBA Vision moving from 2nd to8th and Carl Zeiss Vision from 7th to 9th.
Three of the most heavily advertised products in optometryjournals are from Alcon. They are Opti-Free Replenish Multi-Purpose Solution,which retained the top spot, Travatan Z, up from 68th to 2nd on a 238% boost inspend and the Tobradex Family of Products, up from 96th to 9th. Also in the top10 were Allergan products, Restasis, up from 17th to 3rd with a 67% increase inad spend, and Optive Lubricant Eye Drops (8th).
Other products new to the top group include Bausch &Lomb’s Zylet, up from 24th to 4th, Pfizer’s Xalatan, up from 12th to 5th, andDrivewear Eyewear from Younger Optics, up from 97th to 10th. Vision Exposlipped from 2nd to 6th following a 23% cut in ad outlays, while a new entryfrom Seiko, Succeed Internal Free-Form Lens, was 7th.
The other specialties
The 6.4% increase reported by radiology journals during 2006was followed by a 9.6% loss in ad expenditures in 2007. Siemens MedicalSystems, up from 2nd to 1st, even as spending was cut by 16%, edged out GEHealthcare which slipped from 1st to 2nd following a 47% reduction in adoutlays. During 2007, ad spending in dental journals had a marginal loss of0.1%. In the year-ago period, this segment grew by 1.3%. 3M ESPE, which boostedad spending by 47% to support a number of new products, repeated as the topadvertiser in dental journals during 2007. Invoclar Vivadent moved up from 3rdto 2nd following a 6% increase in ad outlays. After registering a 6.9% lossduring 2006, ad spending in hospital management journals declined by 0.7% in2007. Siemens Medical Systems moved up from 2nd to 1st due in large part to adsupport for newly advertised products, Medical Solutions Diagnostics and UpTimeService. Premier Inc. moved up from 3rd to 2nd. During 2007, ad spending inlaboratory journals grew by 8.4% when compared to the year-ago period. Thisgain follows a 3.9% increase in 2006. Roche Diagnostics repeated in the numberone spot even though ad outlays decreased by 19%. Bio-Rad advanced from 3rd to2nd with spending increases of 11%. After recording a 4.4% increase during2006, ad expenditures in nursing journals declined by 0.3% during 2007. The top10 advertisers in this market tend to focus on recruitment. The two exceptionswere Nurses Services Organization, which repeated in 2nd place even though adexpenditures were down by 26% and Pfizer, which moved up from 9th to 7th as adoutlays increased by 16%.
Eugene M. May is director of marketing research at ACNielsenHCI
From the May 01, 2008 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
