It was déjà vu all over again for TV drug ad spending in August, as the top 10 spenders barely deviated from July’s list and turned in a combined total nearly identical to the preceding month’s haul.
Nine of the top 10 brands in August were holdovers from the July rankings, and seven of them didn’t budge from their spots, according to an iSpot.TV analysis shared with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
The one newcomer on the list was UCB’s Bimzelx, which knocked Intra-Cellular Therapies' Caplyta out of the running as it took ninth place. UCB shelled out $10.3 million to air five commercials for the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis med throughout the month—including the fittingly named “I’m Back,” its biggest-ticket ad.
Otherwise, it was largely business as usual, with AbbVie’s Skyrizi and Rinvoq, Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, Lundbeck and Otsuka’s Rexulti and Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Jardiance holding steady in first through sixth place, in that order, with only minor deviations in their spending totals.
Perhaps the most significant change besides Bimzelx’s arrival was the shuffling of Novo’s Ozempic and Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent on the list. In July, Dupixent edged out Ozempic with almost $5 million more spent airing its TV ads, but, in August, Novo ramped things up, spending $11.2 million to Sanofi and Regeneron’s $11.1 million, to snag the lucky No. 7 spot.
Finally, rounding out the list was Teva Pharmaceuticals’ Austedo, with $8.4 million thrown behind its TV spots.
The vast majority of the brands directed their ads toward major networks, with eight of the top 10 naming ABC or NBC as their top TV network by spend. Wegovy and Bimzelx, meanwhile, listed the NFL Network as their top TV network—and they weren’t the only ones to capitalize on the professional football preseason: Skyrizi, Rinvoq and Ozempic also listed NFL broadcasts as their top TV programs by spend.
All together, the 10 biggest spenders poured $174.6 million into airing their TV ads in August. That’s less than a $1 million difference from July’s combined total of $173.9 million and marks the second month in a row—and only the second month all year—where the combined total fell below the $200 million mark.
The third-quarter drop-off follows a similar trend set in 2024, when a relatively high-flying winter and spring gave way to a low-spending summer, before the numbers began to tick back up from about September onward, skyrocketing toward the $300 million mark in the final quarter of the year—a threshold that was finally crossed, just once, in January 2025.
Below, find the full data for August 2025’s 10 biggest pharma ad spenders, as compiled by iSpot.TV.
1. Skyrizi
Movement: No change
What is it? AbbVie’s immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $34.5 million (down from $34.7 million in July)
Number of spots: Eight (seven psoriasis, one Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis)
Biggest-ticket ad: “In the Picture” (est. $18.1 million)
2. Rinvoq
Movement: No change
What is it? AbbVie’s JAKi immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $25.2 million (down from $25.5 million in July)
Number of spots: Five (two eczema, one ulcerative colitis/Crohn’s, two arthritis)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Checklist” (est. $9.6 million)
3. Tremfya
Movement: No change
What is it? Johnson & Johnson’s immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $23.5 million (up from $21.6 million in July)
Number of spots: Eight (five psoriasis, two ulcerative colitis/Crohn’s disease, one psoriatic arthritis)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Break Away: Relentless Weed” (est. $9 million)
4. Wegovy
Movement: No change
What is it? Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 agonist for obesity
Est. national TV ad spend: $20.4 million (down from $21.5 million in July)
Number of spots: Two
Biggest-ticket ad: “Think Wegovy: Multiple Ways to Save” (est. $18 million)
5. Rexulti
Movement: No change
What is it? Lundbeck and Otsuka’s neurology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $15.8 million (down from $16.7 million in July)
Number of spots: Two (one depression, one Alzheimer’s)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Still Masking: Garage and Office” (est. $7.9 million)
6. Jardiance
Movement: No change
What is it? Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s diabetes and kidney disease drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $14.2 million (down from $14.7 million in July)
Number of spots: Four (two chronic kidney disease, two diabetes)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Musical: Movie Night” (est. $6.7 million)
7. Ozempic
Movement: Up one spot
What is it? Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 agonist for diabetes
Est. national TV ad spend: $11.2 million (up from $8.9 million in July)
Number of spots: Three
Biggest-ticket ad: “Testimonials: Michael and Tanya” (est. $7 million)
8. Dupixent
Movement: Down one spot
What is it? Sanofi and Regeneron’s immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $11.1 million (down from $13.6 million in July)
Number of spots: Seven (four asthma, three eczema)
Biggest-ticket ad: “This Is Better: Roller Disco” (est. $4.8 million)
9. Bimzelx
Movement: Not listed last month
What is it? UCB’s immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $10.3 million (up from $8.2 million in July)
Number of spots: Five (three psoriasis, two psoriatic arthritis)
Biggest-ticket ad: “I’m Back” (est. $2.8 million)
10. Austedo
Movement: No change
What is it? Teva Pharmaceuticals’ movement disorder drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $8.4 million (up from $7.9 million in July)
Number of spots: Two
Biggest-ticket ad: “Phone Call” (est. $4.5 million)