Pharma Buys Into Live Sports as Novartis and AbbVie Court Fans

Sports accounted for 96 of the 100 most-watched U.S. television broadcasts in 2025, and pharmaceutical companies are now buying their way directly into that audience rather than renting commercial breaks. This fall, Novartis ran cancer screening messages not just on national NFL broadcasts but inside local stadiums across six NFL franchises. AbbVie became Major League Baseball's first official pharmaceutical partner and took its brain health awareness campaigns to the PGA Tour.

The shift is structural, not cosmetic. For decades, pharma's presence at sporting events stopped at television advertising during commercial breaks. Companies now want to become part of the sporting experience itself, building relationships with leagues, athletes and audiences in ways that would have been unusual a decade ago.

The numbers explain why. NFL games averaged 18.8 million viewers through the first five weeks of the 2026 season — the highest average at this point in a season on record, according to Sports Media Watch. At a time when audiences fragment across platforms, a captive audience that large is rare.

Why are drugmakers rethinking their ad dollars?

Two forces are pushing the reassessment. Healthcare digital advertising spending continues to grow and has overtaken linear TV, and the FDA has launched a crackdown on deceptive direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Add the growth of women's sports and athletes' growing openness about mental and physical health, and pharma sees room for conversations that extend well beyond competition.

But Ed Mitzen, founder of Fingerpaint Group and The Business For Good Foundation, warns the industry is importing old habits into new venues. "I worry that some pharmaceutical companies are approaching these partnerships with the same thinking that has long shaped traditional advertising—securing the audience first, then figuring out what to say," Mitzen wrote.

The pattern is familiar to anyone in healthcare marketing. A company signs a recognizable athlete. Only after negotiating league sponsorship rights or funding a high-profile activation does it ask how the arrangement supports broader business objectives. By then, Mitzen notes, the investment has been made and the pressure to justify it can matter more than whether it was the right call.

What makes health campaigns different from ordinary endorsements?

Sports organizations and athletes have a reliable "in" with communities that healthcare companies struggle to reach through conventional advertising. Fan loyalty and athlete credibility open the door to health topics patients are often reluctant to discuss. But without a clear understanding of the healthcare challenges a company is trying to address, the partnership risks becoming just another advertising slot rather than a campaign built around outcomes.

Healthcare also demands more from spokespeople than a typical consumer product deal. These campaigns often touch on a sensitive diagnosis or a personal medical decision. "That requires a level of authenticity and vulnerability that can't be manufactured through the usual advertising tactics," Mitzen wrote. An athlete's genuine experience with a health issue, he argues, resonates far more than a recognizable name attached to a generic message.

How should success be measured?

The standard advertising metrics — impressions, media coverage, brand awareness, social engagement — say little about whether a campaign changed anyone's health decisions. Reach matters, but high engagement numbers don't prove a partnership improved access to care or pushed patients to act.

Mitzen's prescription: define objectives before writing the check. Companies should plan from the start to measure whether audiences sought additional information, discussed screening with a healthcare professional, or moved toward scheduling an appointment. Not every outcome can be attributed to a sponsorship, but setting those goals upfront gives the investment a real basis for evaluation.

Pharma has already proven it can buy its way onto the biggest stages in professional sports. Whether it can convert that visibility into something valuable for patients, Mitzen concludes, will decide whether these partnerships become a lasting part of healthcare marketing or simply another expensive way to compete for attention.