Weight-loss drugs to compete on biggest stage with Super Bowl ads

By Amina Niasse NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Companies looking to sell weight-loss drugs directly to consumers, including Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, will shell out millions of dollars for celebrity-filled ads during Sunday's Super Bowl with its promise of one of the year's largest global audiences. Novo’s 90-second spot has comedian and SNL stalwart Kenan Thompson announcing the new Wegovy pill to America and suggesting, tongue-in-cheek along with music producer DJ Khaled, that people with obesity can benefit from the drug just like they would a pill for parallel parking or saving kittens in trees. Telehealth company Ro will bring out tennis star Serena Williams in its first Super Bowl ad, while a Hims & Hers Health commercial features a voiceover by rapper Common with the tag line "Rich People Live Longer." The U.S. healthcare system offers wealthy Americans luxury therapies that allow them to “live longer,” Common says over scenes of wealthy people receiving a variety of exotic, likely highly expensive treatments before describing how Hims' offerings can democratize healthcare for all consumers. The advertising blitz reflects the broader shift toward direct-to-consumer marketing with the launch of new pill versions of the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, industry experts and analysts say. LILLY TARGETS PRE-GAME SHOW Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly have been fighting for market share as millions of Americans turned to the highly effective injectable GLP-1 drugs. Novo just launched its Wegovy pill and Lilly's oral weight-loss offering is expected to be approved in April. Lilly plans to advertise Zepbound during NBC's pre-game show as well as during the game on its Peacock streaming service, a spokeswoman said. “The Super Bowl is one of the best channels to connect with millions of consumers,” said Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Bahl & Gaynor, which owns Lilly shares. He noted that the Super Bowl is the rare event where consumers actively seek out the TV ads, which place a premium on creativity and often humor that can generate outsized buzz. Ads during this year's 60th Super Bowl, in which the Seattle Seahawks will take on the New England Patriots, cost up to $10 million for a 30-second spot, according to Adweek. Around 130 million people are expected to watch the game on Sunday, according to Nielsen projections. NBC has said advertising slots for its Peacock streaming service cost roughly half as much as those shown on its traditional broadcast network. DROPPING PRICES AT NOVO AND HIMS High-visibility advertising will become a mainstay as more companies pursue a direct-to-consumer sales model and increased pricing pressure makes the weight-loss pill more affordable, drawing in new customers, said Michael Shnoe, a consumer health expert at consultancy West Monroe. The new Wegovy pill, which has the same active ingredient – semaglutide – as injectable Wegovy and Ozempic, has seen strong early U.S. demand. The treatment is available on its cash-pay direct-to-consumer website at a starter price of $149. On Thursday, Hims said it would launch a compounded GLP-1 pill based on semaglutide at a starting price of $49, drawing threats of legal challenges from Novo and the FDA. Sean Wright, an executive with media intelligence firm Guideline AI, said overall pharmaceutical advertising spending last year was propped up by the weight-loss category, and could have declined as much as 5% without GLP-1 ads. Hims is one of those companies that spent big in 2025, including on last year's Super Bowl. "The company is going for reach," said Leerink analyst Michael Cherny. "It seemed to work last year so I get the logic behind running another one." (Reporting by Amina Niasse; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)

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