While Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) did not win an Emmy, the company has spent $96 million in Q2 alone on TV ads.

And I am sure if one queried a random group of actors, we might discover that taking one diet drug or another is integral to their vanity plan.

In June, Novo spent $39.9 million, up from $24 million in May.

Given what is known and what isn't public, a reasonable working estimate is that Novo Nordisk's U.S. TV ad spend for prescription drugs in 2025 to date is in the low hundreds of millions of dollars -- possibly in the range of $250-400 million for just its top GLP-1/weight loss ones, and higher if you include all branded drugs.

The future could be excellent for Novo.

The oral semaglutide developments are particularly important; if successful, an oral Wegovy dose for weight management would broaden use, improve patient compliance, and potentially open new market segments.

Novo's positioning may shift from purely growth and scaling toward "smart growth" -- doubling down on what works, streamlining what doesn't, being more disciplined in spending and R&D.

While the price has more to do with proving it has truly bottomed out, there are four interesting patterns to note.

South Park: The End of Obesity (Paramount+) shown on May 24, 2024, centered on an episode around weight-loss drugs (by name, Ozempic), not Wegovy.

The skit pointed out that insurance companies do not cover the drugs, making them unaffordable.

But the character does find an inexpensive alternative, "Lizzo."

A line from the episode, "In case studies, 70% of patients on Lizzo no longer cared how much they weighed. Lizzo helps you eat everything you want and keep physical activity to a minimum."

Educational purposes only, not official trading advice.