Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Cold and Flu Season
TV is the aching, sneezing, snuffling, coughing medium
Marketers of cold and flu products overwhelmingly choose TV as the remedy for their advertising needs, spending as much as 93.1% of their budgets in 2003 and 89.1% on TV last year. If misery loves company, ailing consumers will gain some comfort from all the images of fellow cold and flu sufferers in this season’s barrage of TV commercials.
Annual National Advertising Spend – Q4 – Cold and Flu Season
| Q4 2001 | Q4 2002 | Q4 2003 | Q4 2004 | |
| Analgesic lotions, rubs, cream | $637,881 | 93,445 | 406,447 | 819,021 |
| Analgesic tablets, gum, throat sprays | $2,679,530 | 3,541,753 | 4,978,476 | 10,176,805 |
| Cold remedies, nasal mists, allergy & congestion products | $5,841,730 | 5,381,227 | 6,920,303 | 8,712,051 |
| Cough drops, lozenges, capsules | $1,640,279 | 2,547,690 | 3,497,958 | 13,193,228 |
| Cough syrup | $1,640,279 | 2,547,690 | 3,497,958 | 3,193,228 |
| Total | $13,350,952 | $13,294,363 | $16,749,710 | $24,762,413 |
National Q4 Total Spend by Medium
2001
| Dailies | $246,627 | (1.8%) |
| Magazines: | $691,482 | (5.0%) |
| Out of Home: | $1,081,505 | (7.8%) |
| Radio: | $474,510 | (3.4%) |
| Total TV: | $11,356,828 | (82.0%) |
2002
| Dailies | $121,144 | (0.9%) |
| Magazines: | $423,133 | (3.2%) |
| Out of Home: | $750,608 | (5.6%) |
| Radio: | $225,450 | (1.7%) |
| Total TV: | $11,774,028 | (88.6%) |
2003
| Dailies | $88,776 | (0.5%) |
| Magazines: | $356,877 | (2.1%) |
| Out of Home: | $568,294 | (3.4%) |
| Radio: | $139,010 | (0.8%) |
| Total TV: | $15,596,753 | (93.1%) |
2004
| Dailies | $600,217 | (2.4%) |
| Magazines: | $1,567,570 | (6.3%) |
| Out of Home: | $248,893 | (1.0%) |
| Radio: | $278,069 | (1.1%) |
| Total TV: | $22,067,664 | (89.1%) |
National Q4 2004 – Top 5 Spenders, Cold and Flu Season
1) Tylenol Extra Strength EZ Tabs – Johnson & Johnson (Analgesic tablets, gum, throat sprays)
2) Advil LiquiGels for Pain Relief – Wyeth (Analgesic tablets, gum, throat sprays)
3) Tylenol Cold with Coolburst Caplets – Johnson & Johnson (Cold remedies, nasal mists, allergy & congestion products)
4) Advil Cold & Sinus Analgesic Decongestant – Wyeth (Cold remedies, nasal mists, allergy & congestion products)
5) Bayer Extra Strength Aspirin Adult – Bayer AG (Analgesic tablets, gum, throat sprays)
The preceding data is from the Nielsen Media Research, AdExpenditures. For more information, please contact Andrea Beach, business manager, andrea.beach@nielsenmedia.com.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
