Could A Pharma Ad Ban Shake Up The TV Industry?
Pharmaceutical advertising has long been one of the biggest cash cows for the TV industry—flooding airwaves with those familiar “ask your doctor” spots featuring happy retirees kayaking their way through life. But what happens if those ads suddenly disappear?
That’s the question tackled in a new report from TVREV Thought Leaders Circle member TripleLift, written by Mike Shields of NextInMedia, which explores the potential impact of a pharma ad ban on TV—an idea that just got a lot more real with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. has made it clear he supports banning direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical ads on TV, a move that would upend billions in TV ad revenue at a time when the industry is already scrambling to reinvent itself.
Shields concludes that a ban like this wouldn’t just be a headache for networks—it would fundamentally reshape TV ad economics, shake up pharma’s marketing playbook, and send ad dollars scrambling to new platforms. So how bad would it be? The study lays out the numbers, and they aren’t pretty.
Pharma Ads Are a Multi-Billion Dollar Business
Pharma isn’t just another ad category. It’s a foundational pillar of TV’s business model, pumping billions into the industry each year. According to MediaRadar, pharma brands spent $7.9 billion on advertising from January to October 2024, up 2% year over year. More than $5.3 billion of that went to local and national TV—a 10% increase over the previous year.
For context, pharma ads account for somewhere between 10 and 12 percent of total TV ad spending. Prescription drug brands alone drove 11.6 percent of total spend on national linear TV in 2024, according to iSpot. That’s a massive piece of the pie, and if those dollars were to vanish overnight, it would leave a gaping hole that no single category could easily fill.
Why TV Would Take a Big Hit
Unlike other ad verticals that have been steadily shifting to digital, pharma advertising remains heavily concentrated on traditional TV. That’s because older audiences—the ones most likely to need prescription drugs—are still watching broadcast and cable. It’s also because pharma ads tend to be long, with many running 60 or even 90 seconds, making them a perfect fit for news networks and other linear programming that relies on longer ad blocks.
This means that if a ban were to take effect, it wouldn’t just hurt TV—it would crush it in some key areas. Cable news networks, for example, would take a huge hit, as pharma brands make up a significant portion of their ad inventory. CBS, ABC, and NBC would also feel the squeeze since nearly half of all pharma ad dollars are spent on programming that airs on these networks.
David Campanelli, president of global investment at Horizon Media, didn’t mince words: “This would be pretty crippling for linear TV. Younger people aren’t watching, but they aren’t the pharma audience.”
The effects wouldn’t stop there. Former Paramount sales executive David Lawenda warned that a ban could trigger a ripple effect across the entire ad ecosystem. TV networks, faced with a sudden revenue shortfall, might be forced to scale back on programming. Meanwhile, pharma’s ad dollars would flood into other channels—especially digital—driving up ad costs on platforms like YouTube, Amazon, and social media.
The long-term impact could further accelerate linear TV’s decline as an advertising medium, pushing more brands toward digital-first strategies. In other words, it wouldn’t just be a loss of revenue. It would be a fundamental shift in how TV is valued by advertisers.
Where Would Pharma Dollars Go?
Of course, pharma brands aren’t going to stop advertising altogether. They’ll just have to find new ways to reach consumers. One likely destination is connected TV (CTV), where advertisers can use addressable targeting to reach specific audiences rather than blasting ads across national networks.
Another possibility is contextual advertising, where pharma brands shift their focus from broad national campaigns to placing ads next to relevant health-related content. Rather than running an ad for an arthritis drug during a football game, for example, they might sponsor a series on managing joint pain or partner with digital health publishers to integrate their messaging in a more subtle way.
Retail media is another potential landing spot. Amazon, Walmart, and other commerce-driven platforms already have deep relationships with pharma brands, and they offer the kind of audience targeting that could help make up for the loss of broad TV exposure. That said, these platforms don’t deliver the same kind of mass-market reach as television, which means brands may have to rethink how they structure their campaigns.
There’s also the issue of regulation. Unlike consumer goods brands that can easily shift from TV to digital, pharma advertisers have to navigate a complex web of rules and restrictions. HIPAA, the FDA, and various consumer protection laws all come into play when marketing prescription drugs—particularly around the use of first-party data— making this transition far more complicated than simply moving ad dollars from one platform to another.
What’s Next for TV?
If a pharma ad ban becomes reality, broadcast and cable networks will have to adapt—and fast. The report suggests a few topline pivots, including leaning further into programmatic ad sales to attract smaller, digital-native advertisers and making TV more accessible to direct-to-consumer brands that have traditionally focused on platforms like Instagram.
Live sports and events may also become even more critical, as they remain one of the few areas where TV still commands must-watch status. The report suggests that networks could double down on these types of programming to maintain high-value ad slots.
That said, none of this will happen overnight. As TripleLift’s Chelsea Glincman notes, any potential ban would take years to work its way through the courts. The industry will have time to prepare, but that doesn’t mean it should wait to act. Networks, media companies, and advertisers should be thinking now about how to navigate a future where one of TV’s biggest revenue sources is no longer in play.
Want to See the Full Picture?
TripleLift and Next In Media’s full report dives deeper into the potential fallout, alternative strategies, and how advertisers can prepare for a shifting market.
