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Pour one out for Pepsi.
A few months after Dr Pepper replaced it as the second most-popular soft drink in the US, the soda giant is also lagging behind Dr Pepper in terms of TV ad spend, according to data from MediaRadar.
In the first four months of 2024 alone, Dr Pepper has invested almost all—92%—of its ad spend into TV ads, according to MediaRadar, which analyzed TV ad spend data from January 1, 2022, to April 30, 2024, for Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, and Pepsi. In comparison, Pepsi spent 72% of its ad spend on TV, while Coca-Cola spent 52%.
Combined, the three brands have spent nearly $400 million on TV ads since January 2023, MediaRadar found.
“There have been notable TV ad campaigns for soda over the years, from Coca-Cola’s polar bears to Pepsi’s star-studded commercials,” Todd Krizelman, MediaRadar’s founder and CEO, wrote in the report. “There is a reason why these brands choose to spend more heavily on TV compared to any other format, because TV provides wide visibility for them.”
The doctor is in: While Dr Pepper spent the highest percentage of its advertising budget on TV, Coca-Cola spent the most on TV in the first four months of 2024. It contributed $41 million in TV ad spend, while Dr Pepper spent $29 million and Pepsi spent $17 million, per MediaRadar. Of the more than $204 million spent on soft-drink advertising in the first four months of 2024, the three brands accounted for more than $133 million of it, according to MediaRadar.
It’s a huge sum of money, but Coca-Cola and Pepsi are both dialing back their TV spend year over year. Coca-Cola’s spend represented a 46% YoY decrease, and Pepsi’s ad spend dropped 54% YoY, while Dr Pepper’s TV ad spend was relatively flat year over year, MediaRadar found.
Sportstar: Dr Pepper has notched a few memorable ad campaigns in the past few years, including its “Fansville” campaign capitalizing on NIL college athlete partnerships. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, is gearing up for the Olympics as the Games’ longest-running partner, recently debuting a new Olympic ad campaign.
Pepsi has also leaned into sports-related marketing opportunities this year. Despite ending its partnership with the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022, the brand activated heavily around this year’s Super Bowl, including with broadcast ads for its “Get Wild” campaign and national TV ads around Wild Card Weekend leading up to the big game. The soft-drink brands’s longtime CMO, Todd Kaplan, exited the company last month to join Kraft Heinz North America as its top marketer.