New York, NY (May 28, 2026)—How has the FDA’s crackdown on deceptive drug advertising affected multiscreen TV? The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) examines that question in its newly released report.
“In September 2025, the FDA launched a crackdown on deceptive drug advertising with an initial issuance of over 65 ‘warning’ letters to pharma companies, 96% of which were targeted towards digital and social platforms. What came from that was a regulatory clarity that spurred increased investment across multiscreen TV platforms,” said Jason Wiese, EVP, Strategic Insights & Measurement. “To help marketers better understand this current landscape, VAB conducted an analysis of recent TV investment and ad duration trends, with our findings detailed in the report.”
Among the report’s takeaways:
- The marketplace clarity provided by the FDA’s actions spurred significantly increased investment across multiscreen TV platforms in the six months immediately following the crackdown, with an 11% increase in Pharma Rx advertisers and 53% increase in total TV spend year over year.
- There has been a noticeable shift towards longer pharma Rx ad unit durations. For instance, between Q1 2024 and Q1 2026, the share of pharma Rx ad units longer than 30 seconds in the first quarter increased from 74% to 82%. Further, the share of 60-second TV ad units in the pharma Rx category increased from 56% to 63% between August 2025 and March 2026.
- In 1Q ’26, the highest share of longer-length TV ads came from pharmaceutical categories focused on serious and complex health conditions, including depression, HIV, tardive dyskinesia, bipolar disorder, cancer, and diabetes.
- Rx brands are being more mindful of proactively adhering to advertising rules and regulations across multiscreen TV platforms as they present a fair balance between their product’s risks and benefits and include information regarding major side effects and considerations.
Read the full report—which includes in-depth data, charts and analysis spanning total TV and streaming, prime-time daypart, sports, news and entertainment genres, as well as pharma product categories—here.
