The latest from DTC Perspectives

Alert: 'Reported' Spending Data Shows Decline For DTC Advertising in Third Quarter

After a long run of quarterly spending growth, the reported spending for DTC advertising fell 7.1% in the third quarter to $1.13 billion, according to data released this week by Nielsen Monitor-Plus . The decline represented “reported” dollars of $86 million.

(Note that for the first nine months of 2007, the reported spending data shows an increase of 2.6% to $3.85 billion.)

The shift in the third-quarter DTC spending hit network television hard. According to Nielsen data, network TV saw its DTC ad dollars fall 10.1% in the quarter to $314.5 million (a drop of more than $35 million). As a result, cable TV surpassed network as the market-share media leader for DTC in the period (28.9% market share for cable compared with 28% share for network TV).

Still, it's too soon to claim DTC marketers are making a big move away from mass broadcast-type campaigns, particularly since cable TV saw its add dollars increase almost $4 million in Q3. The Nielsen data also does not present a clear picture on the online spending of pharma, which is harder to track given the range of options available.

The list of DTC brands that trimmed spending in Q3 include Crestor and Nexium (AstraZeneca), Coreg and Immitrex (GlaxoSmithKline), Singulair (Merck), Zelnorm and Lamisil (Novartis), Relpax and Lipitor (Pfizer) and Rozerem (Takeda).

Zelnorm, which restricted its marketing efforts earlier this year under an agreement with the FDA, had spent $29 million for DTC advertising in Q3 2006, but did not advertise in the recent third quarter. Crestor also did not advertise in Q3, after spending $43 million in the year-ago period.

For more analysis of Q3 spending data, see the DTC Insights issue available mid-December.

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