Pharma companies that advertise on TV have an eye on thewriters’ strike, which has hampered Hollywood’s ability to churn out new showsand may have accelerated the ratings slide. How has the walkout affected pharmaadvertising?

 

Robert Enos

Media director

AbelsonTaylor

Forecasters will probably not rely on historical trends todetermine the current strike’s impact on pharma advertising. Any effect of thelast strike in 1998 appeared muted within the pharmaceutical industry by theboon in DTC advertising at that point due to relaxed FDA guidelines. Lookingforward, it is likely that larger pharmaceutical brands targeting massaudiences will be more affected by resulting declines in viewership, as noticedrecently among late night talk shows, than brands targeting niche audienceswhere DTC promotion is not a primary strategy. Brands that decide to takeaction will probably maintain their overall media strategy as opposed toshifting or adding resources to other forms of promotion like professionalmedia. Brands may explore more effective media within DTC not as impacted bythe writer’s strike such as print, Internet and, to a lesser degree, cable.

Tara Taylor

VP, associate media director

PHD

There’s a perfect storm brewing in the network TVmarketplace. With the new C3 ratings, writers’ strike and demand still surging,advertisers are waiting to see what’s going to give. In the short term, clientswill stay the course, even if it means higher scatter prices. There’s enoughmid-season replacements, already-written series and reality programming tosustain the market for a while. Advertisers must be more flexible in where theyrun and in what programs. If the strike persists, the upfronts will come underthe most scrutiny: Will marketers and buyers accept purchasing ratings withoutknowing the shows? Will there even be ratings to buy in Q4, and at what price?These questions will force a re-examination of the media mix, shifting more tomedia where there’s a comfort level.

Bill Harmon

VP, account director

Initiative

The ratings slide stemming from the move to a C3 metric andfrom the writers’ strike is definitely a concern, for several reasons:

• not receiving the impressions paid for when they areplanned to run;

• not receiving impressions in the same quality ofprogramming that was negotiated; and

• skyrocketing cost premiums being charged for remaininginventory.

These concerns are not unique to pharma advertising, and thedecisions they lead to depend on each individual brand’s situation. What isuniversal, however, is the constant monitoring and continued discussions on thevalue of television advertising and whether there are other, betteralternatives for future media dollars. Ultimately, the writers’ strike may furtheraccelerate the shift of advertising dollars to alternative media.

David Adelman

Partner

OCD Media

The TV networks are not folding up their tents due to thestrike. They are adding a lot of non-scripted shows to their schedules. Ratingshave already been sliding, and most of these shows do not have the broad appealthat many pharma brands need to cover their targets. For marketers who relyheavily on TV, reduced ratings means buying more units to achieve the plannedGRP levels. This drives up costs, because the market is priced on supply anddemand. Pay attention to opportunities on cable and syndication to providebroader targeting, and fringe programming in the mornings and late night canbroaden reach. This is a wake-up call that alternative approaches, includingplace-based and online video, must be considered and tested for the future.

From the February 01, 2008 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media