Home / Health / Weight-Loss Drugs Go Hollywood for Super Bowl Ads
Weight-Loss Drugs Go Hollywood for Super Bowl Ads
7 Feb
Summary
- Weight-loss drug companies are spending millions on Super Bowl ads.
- Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound are key focus areas.
- Direct-to-consumer marketing is booming for these new medications.
This year's Super Bowl is a major advertising battleground for weight-loss drug manufacturers, with companies like Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers Health investing millions. Novo Nordisk is running a 90-second commercial for its Wegovy pill featuring Kenan Thompson and DJ Khaled, highlighting the drug's potential benefits.
Telehealth companies Ro and Hims & Hers are also participating; Ro features Serena Williams, while Hims & Hers uses rapper Common in its advertisement. These ads signify a growing trend of direct-to-consumer marketing for new GLP-1 weight-loss medications, driven by their recent pill form launches.
Eli Lilly is set to advertise its Zepbound drug during NBC's pre-game show and its Peacock streaming service. The immense reach of the Super Bowl, with up to 130 million viewers expected and 30-second ad slots costing as much as $10 million, makes it an ideal platform for these campaigns.
Industry experts note that increased pricing pressure is making these weight-loss pills more accessible, fueling direct-to-consumer sales. Novo's Wegovy pill starts at $149, while Hims offers a semaglutide-based pill for $49. Pharmaceutical ad spending has significantly relied on this category, with GLP-1 ads boosting the market.
