Tremor Media has launched a video ad-banner format that may address government fair balance requirements for online pharma advertising - as well as hold users' attention online. The product, called Rx In-Stream, uses shorter-form, pre-roll video in place of the long-form video ads that typically convey safety information. An accompanying banner ad, instead, provides the data about the risks and side effects of the drug in question, while the shorter-form video ad focuses on product messaging and branding.
The fair balance requirements under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for prescription drug advertising require that the benefits and risks of prescription drugs are displayed equally. Rx In-Stream is carving out a niche for itself by promising advertisers that the pre-roll ad won't appear without the companion banner. It does this by waiting for technical confirmation that the companion ad is present before the video ad starts to play.
Regulations in Flux
Pharma companies are still feeling their way around the changing view the government is developing about online advertising of their products - a topic of discussion at a recent two-day workshop held by the FDA. The agency has been known to surprise pharma companies by different interpretations of its regs. For example, earlier this year the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications sent notices to 14 major pharmaceutical manufacturers informing them that their sponsored link ads were misleading because they did not adequately inform consumers about the drugs' associated risks. The result was a significant decrease in the use of sponsored ads by pharma companies.
Experiments
Since then companies have been experimenting with new formats that might address these concerns, with Tremor Media being the latest example. Before the start of the workshop last month, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America (PhRMA) proposed creating a logo for online communications that meet FDA standards and requirements.
At that same workshop Google introduced its own version of an FDA-friendly online ad format. Bayer recently tested the concept in an online campaign for its birth control bill, Yaz.
