How Publicis Health Media is planning for pharma advertising disruptions

If you’re sick of hearing that one jingle about lowering your A1C, you may soon be in luck.

On the campaign trail last year, then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’d ban pharmaceutical TV ads on his first day in office, claiming that the industry’s ad dollars had warped media coverage of the category. Today, he’s the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which the Wall Street Journal recently described as something of a “worst-case scenario for drugmakers,” as he is now responsible for regulating the same industry he’s skeptical of. Other high-level Trump administration officials, including FCC chair Brendan Carr, have also voiced support for a drug advertisement ban.

While there have been no calls yet for a widespread pharma advertising ban (not to mention the fact that such efforts would almost certainly face legal challenges), pharma advertisers told Marketing Brew that they’re already bracing for disruption, whichever form it takes.

“We all expect change, we’re all planning for change,” Andrea Palmer, the CEO of Publicis Health Media, told Marketing Brew. “We don’t know what that change is going to be.” To better understand what is at stake, the agency is working with consultants in Washington, DC, to better understand any shift to the regulatory landscape, Palmer told us.

Side effects include…

Pharma advertisers have an outsized impact on the advertising economy, with TV ad spend from pharma reaching an estimated $5.15 billion in 2024 and accounting for 11.6% of all total linear TV ad spend, according to the firm iSpot. The programming that saw the biggest pharma advertising investments in 2024 were the NFL, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, per iSpot.

But linear TV spend makes up only a fraction of the total spend from the category. In total, US healthcare and pharmaceutical companies were expected to spend $30 billion on advertising last year, with $23 billion going to digital advertising, according to eMarketer.

Any kind of new restrictions around pharma advertising, though, could have wide-ranging repercussions.

“What does the marketplace look like when 10%–12% of the total TV advertising dollars…just evaporates?” Andrew King, GM of CTV and streaming technologies at the ad-tech company TripleLift, told Marketing Brew. “What does that do to your pricing strategy?”

Any attempt to ban TV ads would likely face an uphill battle, and the Journal has reported that drugmakers would be likely to fight a ban on First Amendment grounds. And if the ban focused on linear TV ads, it wouldn’t reflect the reality of where consumer behavior is headed: consumers are increasingly transitioning from linear television to digital and streaming.

“The ban would have to extend far beyond linear to truly eliminate the actual, fundamental concern, I suppose,” Palmer said.

In the absence of any concrete plans from HHS, Palmer and her agency are bracing for other potential hurdles, which she said could include increased requirements around disclosures or a longer lag time in the creative process. The concern stems from widespread layoffs in the federal government under the Trump administration, including at the FDA, where pharmaceutical advertisements that mention a brand’s name or make health claims are typically submitted for review.

If there are cuts to the agency, Palmer said, she would expect the creative review process to take longer.

“Pharma companies will have to develop their assets well in advance,” she said.

Under current regulations, drugmakers are required to “present the benefits and risks of a prescription drug in a balanced fashion,” according to the FDA. In practice, that means pharma advertisers spend about as much time on marketing as they do on safety information, Palmer said, and 60-second spots containing both claims and the risks associated with medication are the industry norm.

It’s possible that the FDA could move to require more information be shared with consumers, which could mean the industry could be on the hook for longer—and thus more expensive—ad buys. “Does that mean that the spots have to go from 60 seconds to 90 seconds, or even 120 seconds?” she asked.

Other potential restrictions could include limits on “how many pharma ads can run in a given ad pod” in television ad breaks, Palmer said. If there were to be an outright ban, she said she would expect clients to move dollars into digital advertising and to spend more marketing directly to doctors.

In the near term, the pharma industry is facing a more pressing problem. President Donald Trump is expected to announce widespread tariffs on America’s trading partners this week, which the pharmaceutical industry is warning will lead to higher costs for consumers.

In 2024, more than a third of US pharmaceutical products were imported from countries including Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland, according to figures from ING cited by CNBC.

Though Publicis Health Media has yet to issue any guidance to clients related to tariffs, Palmer told Marketing Brew that the agency is keeping an eye on tariffs and any potential business impacts.

“I sure wish I had a crystal ball,” she said. “There’s not a whole lot you can do on the marketing side there.”

04/02/25 Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Publicis Health Media.