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This week we're covering:

• 💊 FDA Cracks Down on TV Drug Ads

• 📺️ Disney+ Ad Tier Subscriptions

• 🎥 Creative Spotlight: Coca-Cola - “The Holiday Magic is Coming”

• 🎞 Freevee Folds into Prime Video

FDA Tightens Rules on TV Drug Ads

The FDA is reshaping TV drug ads with stricter rules demanding greater transparency.

Starting November 20, drugmakers must use straightforward, consumer-friendly language to explain medication risks and side effects, eliminating medical jargon and distracting visuals.

The legislation comes after 15 years of FDA efforts to curb industry practices that obscure risk information.

The aim is to make drug ads more balanced, ensuring they clearly show both benefits and risks—hence those fast-talking side effect lists. But the new rules let companies decide how much text to show on-screen during audio explanations, raising concerns from experts that key details could still be missed.

Key points:

• The new rules apply to TV and radio ads, and demand clear, conspicuous, and neutral presentation of risk information.

• Despite the changes, experts note that the positive visuals in ads are unlikely to change, even when discussing serious risks.

• The FDA's guidelines coincide with a growing trend of pharmaceutical companies using social media influencers to promote drugs, often with less oversight.

Congress is stepping up with a bill to hold social media influencers promoting pharmaceuticals to the same rules, requiring them to disclose risks and side effects. It also pushes for drug companies to reveal payments made to influencers publicly.

As the FDA tightens its grip on TV ads, the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly looking to social media, where influencers are seen as more trustworthy and cost-effective.

Read More:

• New FDA Rules For TV Drug Ads: Simpler Language and No Distractions - AP News

[Webinar] TV Advertising, Reimagined

Welcome to the future of TV advertising! As digital transformation and streaming shift consumer behavior, traditional TV has become costly and harder to measure, leading many brands to redirect ad budgets to digital channels with clearer, outcome-based metrics.

When:
Thursday, December 12th, 11:00 AM PST | 2:00 PM EST

Webinar:
TV 2.0–Drive Better Outcomes with the Next Evolution in TV Advertising

Why Attend?

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TV Industry Updates

• Station consolidation: Trump's win sparked a rush for TV stations, with expected deregulation paving the way for major industry consolidation.

• Super Bowl sellout: Fox announced Super Bowl 59 ads are sold out at record pricing, with 30-second spots reportedly going for $7 million minimum.

• Disney's AVOD reveal: CEO Bob Iger accidentally disclosed that 37% of U.S. Disney+ subscribers use the ad-supported tier.

• Holiday nostalgia: The automaker marked 25 years of "December to Remember" with ads that celebrate family moments and holiday traditions.

Stay up to date on the latest in TV advertising by joining our Slack community!

Creative Spotlight: Coca-Cola -“The Holiday Magic is Coming”

Coca-Cola debuted its first AI-generated TV commercials for the holidays, updating the classic "Holidays Are Coming" spot from 1995 using sophisticated AI models.

The Details:

• The ad was created by three AI studios - Secret Level, Silverside AI, and Wild Card - using four different generative AI models

• It features iconic Coca-Cola imagery like red trucks driving through snowy streets and people in winter attire holding Coke bottles.

• Despite vocal backlash, Coca-Cola emphasized its commitment to exploring new creative avenues by combining human storytelling with AI innovation.

What We Loved: The ad controversially experimented with AI, sparking important discussions on how technology could transform the industry.

Marketing Mix

• Freevee farewell: Amazon confirmed plans to shut down Freevee and move its free streaming content to Prime Video's "Watch for Free" tab.

• Premium partnership: Adlook and FreeWheel joined forces to boost marketers' access to premium CTV inventory with AI-driven optimization.

• CTV plays: Viant acquired IRIS.TV, enhancing its programmatic CTV capabilities with improved video-level data targeting.

• Sports streaming shift: Live sports have pushed the need to unify linear and digital ad platforms together as streaming jumps into live events.

The TV Room is your go-to source for staying ahead in the world of television and digital media. Want to chat about these stories with other industry pros? Join our Slack channel to continue the conversation.