The news: Five pharma and healthcare brands leaned into the big advertising stage at Super Bowl LX, but their "wins" looked very different depending on the goal: public sentiment or immediate engagement.
When it came to general consumer appeal and message resonance, awareness-driven campaigns dominated in USA Today’s Ad Meter poll ranking of 66 commercials voted on by viewers.
- Novartis’s prostate screening ad: Ranked 7th overall.
- Boehringer Ingelheim’s kidney disease ad: Ranked 34th, making it the second-highest rated pharma on the list.
While awareness ads scored well with the masses, other product and service campaigns saw a massive spike in direct consumer action, per EDO’s engagement ranking of performance of app downloads, website visits, and searches after airing:
- Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill ad: The standout performer, ranking 10th overall in engagement and generating 3.7x the median ad impact.
- Hims & Hers’ telehealth challenger ad: The ad drove 2.2x the median engagement.
Why it matters: While more than a third of consumers don't take any action after seeing a health advertisement, a meaningful percentage take steps that move them closer to care. At Super Bowl scale, even modest response rates translate into millions of consumer actions.
According to EMARKETER’s US Digital Health 2026 survey, after seeing or hearing a health ad: