A. Guttmann
Research Lead covering media
Pharma and healthcare industry advertising in the U.S. - statistics & facts
The United States is the largest pharmaceutical market worldwide, accounting for close to a half of global revenues in 2023. It is also one of two countries worldwide (the other being New Zealand) where advertising prescription drugs directly to patients is permitted. Nowhere else do consumers spend as much money on prescription drugs, over-the-counter medication, and other healthcare products and services as it is the case there. While the ongoing increase in spending is mainly due to rising drug prices, it is also heavily influenced by the industry鈥檚 intensive marketing efforts.
Top players are household names
In the early 2020s, companies such as Pfizer, Modern, AstraZeneca, as well as Johnson & Johnson were making the headlines, being at the forefront of stemming the pandemic. When the world emerged out of chaos, Danish Novo Nordisk took center stage. It is the producer of the best-selling anti-diabetes drug Ozempic as well as its lower-dosed little sibling Wegovy, used for weight loss management. The latter is in such high demand that the producer runs its manufacturing facilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Only in the U.S., the company invested nearly half a billion dollars in 2023 in advertising campaigns for both drugs together and the publicity has paid off. Hollywood calls Wegovy its 鈥渨orst-kept secret,鈥 Novo Nordisk鈥檚 estimated market value is higher than its home country鈥檚 GDP, and its brand value tripled compared to what it was right after Ozempic was approved for use in 2017.Doctors and patients in focus
Despite spectacular successes, the industry cut spending in 2024. The mean marketing budget of U.S. healthcare companies fell by two million dollars as compared to the values recorded in 2023. Marketers focused their efforts on doctors. AbbVie, the producer of the bestselling anti-psoriasis drug Skyrizi, spent 187 million dollars on marketing its products to healthcare providers (HCPs), such as physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, and teaching hospitals. Patients followed in second place. Paid digital advertising received the highest share of the total healthcare marketing budgets , nearly 13 percent. Social media, traditional ad channels, and professional meetings followed shares varying from 9.2 to 11.5 percent each.Bracing for a marketing revolution
In 2025, pharma marketers are preparing for radical changes. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary of health and human services in the Trump administration, is an advocate for a direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharma ad ban. According to press coverage, he believes advertising leads to overreliance on drugs among the U.S. population and to biased media coverage as pharma brands account for a significant share of ad revenues, making media outlets unlikely to report on the activities of the sector objectively. Should such a ban be implemented, brands will need to pursue other marketing channels more intensively, most likely investing more in healthcare provider marketing and public relations.
