US magazines face erosion of lucrative pharma ads

Clouds really do have silver linings, sometimes. What you don't have, you can't lose. 

Canadian publishers have lamented for years that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical magazine advertising has been denied to them while American magazine were spilling over the border, stuffed with them, without let or hindrance. 

But, according to a story in Mediaweek, magazines in the U.S. may come to rue the day of their dependence on these lavish accounts, as lawmakers consider curbs on pharma advertising. In particular, they are looking sceptically at tax deduction on ad expenses for prescription drugs and at the effect advertising has on driving up medical costs.

Even before President Obama took office, buyers and publishers noticed a tempering in pharma spending, which some interpreted as an anticipation of a less-friendly attitude toward the industry.

Drug and remedies advertising in the past five years has soared 58% to $2.2 billion. (Paradoxically, as pharma became more important to magazines, they also became one of the lowest-return categories in the business because of deals that publishers have agreed to. Often, those secondary pages of teeny-tiny print about drug interractions, complications and side effects are free or nearly so.)

Previously dependable magazine ad dollars from pharma have also been shifting to the web, like many other categories, largely in terms of accountability and measurability and the perception that it is easier to target behaviour online.