From Covid ad boom to en­dem­ic: Track­ing TV ads from first rush of brand ca­ma­raderie to to­day’s phar­ma boost­ers

When the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic be­gan, con­sumer brands rushed to the TV air­waves to broad­cast mes­sages of sol­i­dar­i­ty and hope. The surge from brands of­fer­ing Covid-19-re­lat­ed mes­sages tal­lied close to $5 bil­lion in TV me­dia spend­ing for the first nine months of the pan­dem­ic, ac­cord­ing to da­ta from re­al-time ad track­er iS­pot.tv.

The 2020 tsuna­mi was led by TV ads from au­tomak­ers, restau­rants and re­tail­ers, but phar­ma and health­care — the in­dus­tries most close­ly tied to the ac­tu­al pub­lic health cri­sis — kept most­ly low pro­files.

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