Brief Report
E-cigarette Advertising Expenditures in the U.S., 2011–2012

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2013.11.003Get rights and content

Background

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are growing in popularity, but little is known about the extent to which these products are advertised to consumers.

Purpose

To estimate expenditures for e-cigarette advertising in magazines, TV, the Internet, newspapers, and radio in the U.S. from 2011 to 2012.

Methods

E-cigarette advertising data were obtained from leading media intelligence companies, Kantar Media and Nielsen. Estimated e-cigarette advertising expenditures were summarized across media channels for 2011 and 2012. Additional information on brands advertised and market-level buys (i.e., local versus national) also was examined.

Results

Overall, e-cigarette advertising expenditures across media channels tripled from $6.4 million in 2011 to $18.3 million in 2012. Expenditures were highest in magazines and TV and lowest in newspapers and on the Internet. More than 80 unique brands were advertised, but blu eCigs dominated ad spending, comprising 76.7% of all e-cigarette advertising expenditures in 2012. National markets were increasingly targeted from 54.9% of ad buys in 2011 to 87.0% of ad buys in 2012.

Conclusions

E-cigarette advertising expenditures are increasing, with a greater focus on national markets and TV ads, which will likely increase consumer awareness and use of e-cigarettes in the future. Federal-level efforts are needed to mandate that e-cigarette companies report their advertising expenditures. Future studies should examine how e-cigarette advertising expenditures and message content influence consumer awareness of, interest in, and use of e-cigarettes.

Introduction

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are growing in popularity,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 with U.S. sales estimated to reach $1 billion in 2013.7, 8 In 2011, 57.9% of U.S. adults were aware of e-cigarettes, and 6.2% had ever used e-cigarettes, including 21.2% of current smokers.6 Consumer awareness and use of e-cigarettes is likely influenced by e-cigarette advertising, as studies show that tobacco advertising influences consumers’ brand preferences, smoking initiation, and cigarette consumption.9, 10

Little is known about e-cigarette advertising trends other than that advertisements have appeared online.11 In the fall of 2012, two leading e-cigarette companies, blu eCigs and NJOY, began airing advertisements on U.S. TV cable networks,7, 8 despite tobacco ads having been banned from U.S. TV since 1971.12 E-cigarettes are exempt from this ban because they are not tobacco products.13 This shift to national TV advertising signals that e-cigarette companies are making an aggressive push to attract customers.

To date, no studies have documented the extent of e-cigarette advertising across media channels. Tobacco companies are required to report their advertising expenditures annually to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC),14, 15 but there are no comparable reporting requirements for e-cigarette companies because e-cigarettes are not currently regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

This study uses data from media companies that systematically track advertising expenditures for consumer products to estimate e-cigarette advertising expenditures in the U.S.

Section snippets

Data Sources

Kantar Media’s Stradegy™ and Nielsen Ad⁎Views® were used to estimate e-cigarette advertising expenditures in magazines, TV, the Internet, newspapers, and radio from 2011 to 2012. Kantar tracks product advertisements in more than 400 consumer magazines, 90 TV networks, 6,000 websites, 200 newspapers, and 4,000 radio stations in the U.S. Nielsen tracks product advertisements in more than 200 consumer magazines, 100 network and cable TV networks, 1,000 websites, 100 newspapers, and 1,200 radio

Results

Overall, e-cigarette advertising expenditures totaled $6.4 million in 2011 and doubled to $18.3 million in 2012 (Figure 1). Expenditures were highest in magazines and TV and were lowest in newspapers and on the Internet. Expenditures increased from 2011–2012 in magazines ($1.4 million to $10.8 million), television ($3.2 million to $5.0 million), newspapers ($410,582 to $811,744), and radio ($364,794 to $1.6 million). Expenditures decreased substantially for the Internet ($1.1 million to

Discussion

E-cigarette advertising expenditures have increased dramatically in the past two years, particularly in magazines and TV. TV expenditures will likely outpace other channels given the recent national cable network campaigns for blu eCigs and NJOY.7, 8 Comparatively, advertising expenditures for the Internet and newspapers are minimal. However, comparing spending across media channels is difficult because advertising costs vary substantially; TV advertisements are the most expensive and online

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Youn Ok Lee for feedback on earlier drafts.

This work was funded as part of RTI International’s evaluation of the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida.

No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.

References (18)

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