• Medical Marketing & Media, Monday, April 9, 2007 11:45 AM

With virtually no growth in medical/surgical ad spending during the first half of last year, there was a slight bump in the back half of 2006, resulting in a total increase of about 2% for the year, according to PERQ/HCI's Journal Ad Review. Ad pages, meanwhile, were up 1%.

But the figures show that journals have yet to stage a strong break-out from the marginal gains observed in recent years. Since 2000, year-on-year spend has remained flat. Of the top five medical/surgical journals by dollars, only American Medical News managed an increase in ad pages -- up 11%. At the same time, the New England Journal of Medicine was down 2% and the other three all showed double-digit declines.

Total ad pages for the top five were off by 7%, and their share of all medical/surgical ad pages slipped from 13.2% to 12.3%. Pfizer was the top spender in the category, with 11% of the total on a 16% jump in outlays; the company also had six products among the top 25. Wyeth was No. 2 overall, while a 71% spending increase moved Merck from 9th to 3rd place.

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