Advertising of pharmaceutical drugs to the public is a peculiar U.S. phenomenon, which has allowed great expansion of the pharmaceutical business by pushing demand. Hedonistically I've always enjoyed the windfall that the Ad business has enjoyed as well over the past decade however I have wondered about downside of going to our own doctor and announcing our own prescription.
Apparently I’m not alone in this thought process and the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health is looking over a multi-
pronged bill concerning health in the US. Some of the items being considered are an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act "to improve drug safety." Advertising Policy is one of the primary concerns. Here are some of the proposed changes: an ad may need government approval: "the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for a drug may require that the applicant submit...advertisement of the drug for pre-clearance." The appropriate authorities would have 45 days for review. Second, if there have been any "significant adverse events" or other risk associated with the drug, this must be part of an advertisement, and "advertisements lacking such disclosure would be false or misleading." Finally, the bill states that "the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for a drug may require that for a fixed period after initial approval, not to exceed three years, the applicant not issue or cause to be issued direct-to-consumer advertisements..."
I’m all for putting a few controls into place however this sounds like bureaucratic BS at it’s finest. One thing we know for sure is nothing will change fast. There are far to many companies involved with very large vested interests.
A new Harris Poll survey shows that television is the top source for news among US citizens, beating out #2 online 26%-18%, but the group participants also expect that this order will flip within five
years, when online will be on top with 25% to television's 22%. Cable is expected to show a modest 14%-15% increase over the same period, with a slight 12%-11% drop-off for radio and 12%-10% drop-off for major daily newspapers.
There is nothing surprising here with the results. Technology is changing the future of news delivery as much as Media consumption habits are changing with the generations. In the 2002 movie Minority Report, a passenger on a subway train gets constantly updated news on a flexible, translucent, portable flat-panel device that he carries with him. This is not very far fetched and it is just 5 years later. Now would this be TV or Online, newspaper or some new variations of all of them? I Believe that no matter what the platform is, integrated media systems will revolutionize the methods for acquiring, packaging, organizing and delivering the news in the not-too-distant future and our current definitions of television, online, newspapers will be noted in history.
eBay began taking bids for radio spots today as the online auction leader expands into offline ads. 
The company is auctioning advertising airtime on 2,300 participating U.S. radio stations, expanding on an existing plan to sell cable television ads. EBay is partnering with Bid4Spots (Encino,Ca.) to power the eBay Media Marketplace for Radio. The new U.S. auction market for radio advertising will go live today and include both conventional terrestrial radio and Internet radio advertising. Stations in all of the 300 top-ranked radio markets are covered. Available inventory is determined by participating radio stations and what they choose to sell for the next week. Available advertising inventory includes primetime spots. Some 90 percent are in morning “drive time,” midday or evening commute hours from Monday through Friday. EBay’s own radio auctions target last-minute ad buyers. This flexibility enables stations to be extremely aggressive in their pricing,
Ok, this is hedonistic but what the heck since I made Charlotte, NC my home base in 2001 I feel it only right to comment on good advertising news about my fair city. Shoot, I know my friends at the local radio stations are pleased. Charlotte has been a
growth market since before my family arrived it has moved on up the Nielsen DMA list from #29 in '01 to bumping out San Diego CA this year for the number 26 position. Arbitron has measured the market very differently however that is all set to change this Fall when their new market rankings come out. According to the Charlotte Observer, the market is getting credit for the population in four fringe North Carolina counties and two more in South Carolina, an infusion of almost 400K fresh bodies which will take the market's 12+ count all the way to 1.8M. More importantly, it will allow the city to leap all the way from #33 to #25 on the market ranking chart (ADI). This change is very significant and could result in an additional $3M in national advertising revenue coming into the market (now will be included in buys for the top 25 mkts). Obviously this change on the radio side will make the Arbitron configuration more congruent with the Nielsen DMA definition. Based on current population grow estimates Nielsen is expected to move Charlotte up a notch to #25 by next year. On a side note, the radio market currently occupying #25 and expected to be elbowed aside is Riverside-San Bernardino CA LA is my past stomping grounds).
pronged bill concerning health in the US. Some of the items being considered are an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act "to improve drug safety." Advertising Policy is one of the primary concerns. Here are some of the proposed changes: an ad may need government approval: "the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for a drug may require that the applicant submit...advertisement of the drug for pre-clearance." The appropriate authorities would have 45 days for review. Second, if there have been any "significant adverse events" or other risk associated with the drug, this must be part of an advertisement, and "advertisements lacking such disclosure would be false or misleading." Finally, the bill states that "the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for a drug may require that for a fixed period after initial approval, not to exceed three years, the applicant not issue or cause to be issued direct-to-consumer advertisements..."
