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Netflix set records for the most streamed NFL games ever in the U.S. with its two Christmas Day matchups, according to Nielsen.
Nearly 65 million people across the U.S. tuned in to the two NFL games on Christmas Day.
The NBA also had its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, averaging 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. across five contests throughout the day, according to Nielsen.

A detailed view of a Netflix Christmas Gameday sign during the regular season NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers on December 25, 2024 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. 
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Christmas came right on time for Netflix, as the streamer set records for the most streamed NFL games ever in the U.S., according to Nielsen.
Nearly 65 million people across the U.S. tuned in to the two NFL matchups on Christmas Day, which Netflix held exclusive rights to show. The Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million viewers, while the Kansas City Chiefs’ win against the Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 24.1 million, according to Nielsen.

The U.S. audience for the Ravens versus Texans game peaked during Beyoncé’s halftime show, with more than 27 million viewers tuning in to watch the star-studded performance.
“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a press release. “We’re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let’s please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”
Wednesday’s games were the first in a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to show Christmas matchups exclusively on the streaming giant.
The NFL wasn’t the only sports league to feel the Christmas cheer. The NBA — which typically dominates the Christmas sports schedule — set a record for its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, averaging 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. across five games throughout the day, according to Nielsen.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Golden State Warriors was the most watched NBA regular season and Christmas Day game in five years, averaging 7.76 million viewers and peaking with 8.32 million viewers. The first game of the day, the New York Knicks’ win over the San Antonio Spurs, averaged 4.91 million viewers, making it the most watched Christmas Day opener in 13 years.

All in all, viewership was up 84% across the five games compared with Christmas in 2023. The games were broadcast on Disney’s cable and streaming platforms ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+.
The strong ratings were a welcome sign for the NBA, which is struggling with lower viewership this year.

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Media companies are expecting to see ad spending stabilize in 2025 — and even grow for those platforms with sports and live events, industry executives told CNBC.
Even as streaming gobbles up a bigger share of ad dollars from traditional TV, executives are telling advertisers they need to plan for both distribution platforms to reach more demographics.
Ad spending has picked up late in the fourth quarter, and executives see a strong pipeline in the first quarter of 2025 as they move past any uncertainty tied to the election.

The New York Liberty celebrate after wining the 2024 WNBA Championship against the Minnesota Lynx during Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals on October 20, 2024 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 
David Sherman | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

The advertising market has positive momentum going into 2025 — especially for media companies with sports rights and tentpole live programming.
Sports and live events such as awards shows reigned supreme in conversations with media executives who weighed in on their expectations for the advertising market in the year ahead. The end of the uncertainty surrounding the election has helped the outlook improve, too, they said.

And despite consumers fleeing the traditional TV bundles, with more ad dollars going toward streaming, executives emphasized that traditional TV is still important in discussions with advertisers, especially when it comes to sports.
Overall, executives said they expect stability in the market and are hoping to move past the slowdown in ad spending in recent years.
“Normalization is the right way to say it with the advertising market,” said Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships. “With the election settled, a lot of companies feel the uncertainty over that has gone away.”
He added that the company has seen more so-called scatter market budgets come in during the fourth quarter, which is what the industry calls the buying and selling of ads closer to their airdate versus ads that are bought further out.
“Our first quarter is looking really strong. I think that any election year is challenging for anyone in the fourth quarter because a lot of marketers end up sitting on their hands since the airwaves and digital are crowded,” said Dan Porter, CEO of sports media company Overtime. “I think that’s true for us and it’s true for everyone.”

Yet despite the uptick in ad revenue following the election and the forecast stability, Natalie Bastian, global chief marketing officer at Teads, said she expects a lot of the same trends.
Bastian noted that 2024 included major moments like the Summer Olympics and presidential election, which strengthened TV ad revenue. She expects the same budgets to carry over into the new year, however.
“What we’ve heard in general from some of our closest partners … media budgets aren’t growing, and so there’s just more selection into where [advertisers are] spending their money,” said Bastian. This makes sports and live programming that much more important to media companies.
Overall, the global advertising industry is expected to surpass $1 trillion in total revenue for the first time this year, excluding U.S. political advertising, and will grow 7.7% in 2025 to reach $1.1 trillion, according to a recent report from GroupM, WPP’s media investment group. Advertising on digital platforms — which includes retail media as a segment — is what’s driving that increase.
TV, considered “the most effective form of advertising,” is expected to grow nearly 2% in 2025 to $169.1 billion in total global ad revenue. In comparison, ad revenue for “pure-play digital,” which excludes “the digital extensions of traditional media” like streaming but includes platforms like YouTube and TikTok, is expected to grow by 10% to $813.3 billion globally in 2025, according to GroupM.

Championing sports

Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles, waves the Olympic flag as Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee, applauds during the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France.
Carl Recine | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Sports keep attracting big audiences and advertisers, leading media companies to pay hefty sums for the rights to games.
Commercials during live sports generated 24% more engagement than other programming, according to EDO, an advertising data company.
“Live event coverage will continue to be a cornerstone of media engagement, and streaming services must step up their game,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media at Goodway Group. “As more streaming platforms dive into sports, the challenge will be to keep viewers engaged, not just by offering content, but by enhancing the overall experience with personalized, non-disruptive ad units.”
Comcast’s NBCUniversal said the Summer Olympics in Paris generated a record $1.2 billion in ad revenue. It appeared to have paid off, with the company reporting a total audience delivery of more than 30 million people on NBC’s TV and streaming platforms.
Fox Corp. executives have said the company already sold out of Super Bowl ads for this coming February, which reportedly cost about $7 million each. The 2024 Super Bowl had an estimated 123.7 million viewers.
And Disney said it had sold out of ads for its Christmas Day NBA games two weeks before they aired. The company added that it’s “pacing up substantially” for the full NBA season when it comes to ad revenue compared with last year, and that it’s “already seen early movement” for the postseason in the scatter market.
The audience for women’s sports, driven by the WNBA in particular, also ramped up in the last year, meaning more opportunities for advertisers.
“This is beyond Caitlin Clark, even though she is a massive catalyst,” said Josh Mattison, Disney Advertising’s executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations. “This was a transformational year in terms of audiences.”
The audience for the WNBA hit a record in 2024, and consumers were 16% more likely to engage with ads during these games compared with last year, according to EDO. But while advertisers spent $8.5 billion on sports TV ads in 2024, women’s sports only made up 3% of that number, according to EDO, leaving plenty of room for growth next year.
The growing popularity of women’s sports and its importance for media companies was evident this month when Netflix secured the U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. The streaming giant has been bulking up its sports portfolio, as have its peers across the legacy and digital media space.

Linear importance

A view of a ESPN cameraman during the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals on December 4, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fl. 
David Rosenblum | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

While consumers are cutting the cord and streaming services are now snapping up sports rights, linear TV’s audience still significantly outpaces streaming.
“There’s still declines in linear TV in a lot of markets, but not in all markets,” said Kate Scott-Dawkins, GroupM’s global president of business intelligence, noting there are international markets that are seeing growth. “When we talk about total TV, there is still a lot of opportunity and hopefully a renewed appreciation for how effective that can be as a medium [for advertisers].”
Amy Leifer, DirecTV Advertising’s chief ad sales officer, said the company predicts continued growth in programmatic ad spending, or automated digital ad buying, in streaming.
“Despite the shift towards streaming, linear TV still holds a significant advantage in terms of ad impressions, generating six times more than streaming,” said Leifer.
Executives said they have been talking with advertisers about how to look at linear and streaming together when disbursing ad dollars.
Leifer said DirecTV Advertising’s mantra is that “TV is TV,” no matter the distribution method. “Our focus for 2025 is to unify digital and linear television advertising by adopting a comprehensive approach and developing convergent TV solutions,” she added.
Both Marshall of NBCUniversal and Mattison of Disney said advertisers used to be focused on linear “versus” streaming. That’s not the case anymore.
“The pitch [we made to advertisers] last year is you really can’t look at one versus the other. When it’s rolled out into one platform, it’s how do you look at digital and linear together. That’s made a huge difference,” said Marshall, noting that older audiences are more present on linear TV, while younger generations have gravitated toward streaming.
Marshall said that NBCUniversal’s Peacock “hasn’t been cannibalizing linear,” because there’s little overlap between the content on both distribution outlets. “It’s actually two distinct, different audiences,” Marshall said.
Mattison noted Disney’s expansive sports portfolio and its various platforms across linear and streaming, with TV networks like ABC and ESPN, and streaming service ESPN+, which has content being added to Disney+, have been an advantage.
“The convergence [of the streaming apps] is really good for consumers, which leads to growth for advertisers,” he said. “We’re fortunate we spent years building our streaming ad tech, and we’re able to maximize audience reach as well as targeting and performance.”
“Maybe a few years ago it was linear versus streaming. I think now it’s linear AND streaming,” Mattison continued. “They’re kind of planned together. It’s true on both the media side and the advertiser side.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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The drama-filled year in airlines started with a midair door panel blowing off a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9.
2024 also brought an activist campaign to Southwest, an IT meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of Delta travelers during the height of summer travel and the first major U.S. airline merger since 2011.
Holiday demand broke records and airline executives say bookings are strong into 2025.

People check-in for their flights at the airport ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., November 27, 2024. 
Megan Varner | Reuters

It’s been another eventful year for U.S. air travel. Just five days into the year, a door panel blew off of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max, operated by Alaska Airlines, as it climbed out of Portland, Oregon, after sunset, plunging the airplane manufacturer back in crisis mode and delaying deliveries of new jets for months.
Two weeks later, a federal judge blocked JetBlue Airways’ planned purchase of Spirit Airlines, leaving the smaller, battered budget carrier to fend for itself. Struggling Spirit ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

The drama-filled year also included an activist campaign at one of the country’s most cautious carriers, a tech meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers during the height of summer travel and the first major U.S. airline merger since Barack Obama was president.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker announced he’ll step down on Jan. 20, about a year into a five-year term, and the day President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, leaving the critical agency that oversees everything from aircraft certification to the U.S. airspace yet again without a leader. Airline CEOs have been clamoring for more air traffic controllers and investment in air traffic technology.
Meanwhile, carriers duked it out for who could be the most “premium” and profitable, with cabins closer to the front of the plane becoming more popular purchases for travelers (sorry to those seeking free upgrades). The top two contenders — stalwart Delta and challenger United — brought most of the industry’s profits, and their stock prices hit records, while smaller airlines leaned into roomier seats and announced higher-end credit cards.
Airlines played chicken until the industry trimmed its glut of U.S. flights that were pushing down fares. But the international travel boom, well into the off-season, is showing no signs of slowing down. Through it all, demand for air travel overall smashed records, and CEOs are optimistic about next year, too.
Here’s how they each fared in 2024:

Delta Air Lines

Travelers from France wait on their delayed flight on the check-in floor of the Delta Air Lines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on July 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. 
Mario Tama | Getty Images

The most profitable of U.S. carriers struggled to recover from a July 19 CrowdStrike outage that took hundreds of Microsoft Windows machines offline. It cost Delta Air Lines more than $500 million and left thousands of stranded customers, with a cancellation tally that topped all of 2019. Still, the carrier’s stock price hit a record this month.
CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC last week that demand looks strong going into 2025. The airline has been stepping up its premium offerings for high-paying customers, like with three new Delta One lounges, dedicated to travelers flying in that eponymous highest-tier cabin; New York, Los Angeles and Boston opened this year, with more on the way.
It’s a sign of Delta’s continued focus on upscale travelers and its “premium” brand, which like Spirit for budget travel, has become a punchline about the upper end of travel to the point that a “Saturday Night Live” sketch last week featured Martin Short playing a Delta employee who blocks actor Paul Rudd from entering a coveted Delta Sky Club, saying his name “sounds poor.”
Delta stopped short of rolling out a business-class lite product that some analysts expected during a November investor day, but the new lounges could relieve crowding at Delta’s popular Sky Clubs.

United Airlines

An American Airlines airplane passes behind a United Airlines airplane at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 28, 2024.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

Can it beat Delta? It’s not clear whether the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding is enough to get more travelers to buy up to first class, but United Airlines is making other big moves, like expanding its network to include more premium leisure destinations from Mongolia to Greenland to northern Spain in the next year to capture customers seeking to travel off the beaten path of traditional U.S. airline destinations.
The carrier has thrilled investors with its results this year and set lofty targets for next year. Its stock has more than doubled in 2024, becoming the top-performing carrier.
United is introducing freshly outfitted narrow-body planes with new interiors featuring seat-back screens and Bluetooth connections into its fleet. It announced a Wi-Fi partnership powered by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Starlink, and it won’t charge for the service, following Delta and JetBlue.
CEO Scott Kirby early in the year said the carrier isn’t counting on Boeing’s yet-to-be-certified 737 Max 10 and will look at more Airbus planes as an alternative, but he’s thrown his support behind the plane maker’s new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines new premium seats featuring extra legroom.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC

Say goodbye to open seating. The Dallas-based carrier shocked customers — faithful and frustrated alike — when it said in July that it would start assigning seats and update its uniform cabin to include several rows with extra legroom in a bid to increase its revenue. It was the biggest strategy change for the carrier in its almost half century of flying.
While Southwest said it was working on the changes for months, the carrier announced them after activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management took a roughly $2 billion stake in the airline and pushed for changes, including CEO Bob Jordan’s ouster. He survived the campaign, though ex-CEO and former Chairman Gary Kelly agreed to retire. In a truce, Southwest appointed six new board members in October, including five of Elliott’s nominees.

American Airlines

Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

American Airlines ousted its commercial chief, Vasu Raja, in May after a sales strategy that cut out travel agencies in favor of selling directly to business travelers backfired and the carrier abruptly slashed its sales guidance.
Its outlook has improved, and executives are upbeat about year-end demand and into 2025. It signed a new credit card deal with its partner Citi, and will end things with its co-brand partner Barclays, a holdover from American’s 2013 merger with US Airways.

Spirit Airlines

LaGuardia International Airport Terminal A for JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in New York.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

The budget carrier comedians love to hate saw its problems snowball this year, starting with a federal judge blocking Spirit’s acquisition by JetBlue in January.
Merger off, Spirit was left to face its other problems: a surge in labor and other costs post-pandemic, high competition in domestic markets, a jump in travel demand to places it doesn’t fly (like Italy and Japan), and Pratt & Whitney’s engine recall that has had an outsize affect on Spirit, grounding dozens of its planes.
Hemorrhaging money with a refinancing deadline approaching, Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, becoming the first major U.S. carrier to do since American Airlines in 2011. It expects to emerge in the first quarter and it’s an open question whether it will again attempt a combination with fellow budget carrier Frontier.
The carrier changed its longstanding business model of charging a low fare and adding on fees for everything else, like seat selection, to offering more bundled options in the summer.

JetBlue Airways

A person sits on the edge of an engine of an Airbus A320 passenger aircraft of Jet Blue airlines in a maintenance hangar of the company at JFK International Airport in New York on March 4, 2024, prior of a Career Discovery Week event. 
Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images

While Spirit saw its stock delisted after filing for bankruptcy, JetBlue forged ahead after the judge blocked the planned acquisition with a singular focus: slash costs and get back to profitability.
New CEO Joanna Geraghty and former commercial chief Marty St. George, who returned to the airline as president in February, set out on JetForward, a strategy that aimed to refocus the airline, which had added too many money-losing routes after the pandemic with its premium-outfitted planes deployed to the wrong places.
The carrier earlier this month announced it would update some of its jets with a domestic business class, to complement its aircraft that feature its top-tier Mint business class.
Its shares are up more than 40% this year through Tuesday’s close, topping the S&P 500’s performance. Investors have been happy with its latest update that showed better-than-expected revenue.

Alaska Airlines

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 7, 2024.
Ntsb | Via Reuters

The airline started the year with the door plug blowout of one of its new Boeing planes, which led to a temporary grounding of Max 9s, and later a payout from Boeing, which makes the Maxes a few miles away in Renton, Washington.
Months later, it was back to focusing on its nearly $2 billion acquisition of struggling carrier Hawaiian Airlines, a combination that got through antitrust regulators in the summer, marking the first merger of major U.S. carriers since Alaska bought Virgin America in 2016.
Alaska has posted solid profits and enjoyed a surge in its stock price of more than 70% so far this year, a nearly threefold premium over the broader market. Executives painted an ambitious picture for investors earlier this month, announcing a global expansion for the combined airline that includes nonstop service on wide-body planes from Seattle — where its top competitor is Delta — to Europe and Asia.

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines planes are parked at gates in Denver International Airport (DEN) in Denver, Colorado, on August 5, 2023.
Daniel Slim | Afp | Getty Images

First-class Frontier? The carrier is turning a profit again and is trying to go upscale, planning to outfit its planes with first-class domestic seats.
It’s also planning to offer more bundles that include seat assignments, baggage and no change fees.
CEO Barry Biffle said the airline expects to get back to double-digit margins in mid-2025 and credits recent improvement in results with a series of network changes, such as cutting flying during lower-demand days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and in crowded markets like in Florida and Las Vegas.

Allegiant Air

A file photo of an Allegiant Air plane
Source: Allegiant Air | Wikipedia

Allegiant Travel’s foray into the hotel business hit a rough patch and said this summer said it would undergo a strategic review for its Sunseeker Resort in Florida. It added this fall that it was closing in on a capital partner for the property that located north of Fort Myers.
The main business, low-cost Allegiant Airlines, has turned a corner, seeing high demand in peak periods, new CEO Greg Anderson told investors this fall. The carrier updated its fourth-quarter guidance that came in ahead of analyst estimates in early December.

Sun Country

A Sun Country Airlines jet
Nick Potts | PA Images | Getty Images

With enviable margins, especially for a low-fare airline, the carrier has benefited from its cargo-flying contract with Amazon and competitors cutting capacity from its home hub of Minneapolis, Deutsche Bank airline analyst Mike Linenberg said this month.
“Sun Country’s revenue diversity provides the company with an economic moat that has allowed the carrier to maintain profitability during even the most volatile and intensely competitive quarters since the pandemic,” he wrote in a Dec. 11 note.
The airline has been successful at switching its schedule with the seasons, ramping up service to warmer destinations in the winter.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC, which broadcasts “Saturday Night Live.”

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ANOTHER UNEASY year for chief executives is drawing to a close. A series of elections, from India to America, cast a shroud of uncertainty over 2024. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East kept geopolitics front and centre. China’s economy slowed and Europe’s continued to sputter. Excitement over artificial intelligence (AI) was balanced by gnawing questions over the pace of adoption and the rate of further technological advances. More

American briefly grounded U.S. flights on Tuesday.
The carrier said a technical problem stemmed from a hardware issue with a third-party platform.
The ground stop lasted about one hour but more than 900 American flights were delayed.

American Airlines planes sit by their gates at the Miami International Airport on October 25, 2024 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

American Airlines briefly grounded its U.S. flights Tuesday morning due to a technical problem, snarling travel during what carriers expect to be a period of record demand for the holidays.
By 7:55 a.m. ET, the ground stop had been lifted, an American Airlines spokeswoman told CNBC. The ground stop lasted for less than an hour but more than 900 American Airlines mainline flights had been delayed, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. That was more than 38% of American’s schedule for Tuesday, and more delays than any other U.S. carrier. Only 11 mainline flights were canceled, however.

The airline’s subsidiary regional carrier Envoy also reported another 200 delayed flights. In addition to the earlier ground stop, American was also facing thunderstorms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where its biggest hub is located.
The problem was a network hardware issue involving a platform using DXC Technology, a vendor that maintains the flight operating system that lets flights leave the gate, American said in a statement.
The system is tied to critical data like an aircraft’s weight and balance, which is required before a flight can leave the gate.
“That issue has been resolved and flights have resumed,” the carrier said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said American had requested the ground stop.

Airlines routinely request ground stops, which hold flights at origin, so that destination airports aren’t overwhelmed by flights with nowhere to park when there are disruptions. In addition to technical problems, ground stops are put in place for thunderstorms and other severe weather.
American was operating a smaller schedule on Christmas Eve compared with other days around the Christmas holiday. The carrier didn’t have any cancellations tied to the issue, a spokeswoman said.
Airlines’ patchwork systems of critical technology platforms have gained more attention lately after periods of mass flight cancellations such as Southwest’s meltdown during the 2022 year-end holiday season and Delta’s struggle to recover from the CrowdStrike outage this past summer.
Correction: The ground stop was issued Tuesday. An earlier version misstated the timing.

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The Food and Drug Administration announced that branded tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound, is no longer in short supply.
That decision will largely prevent compounding pharmacies from making and selling cheaper versions of the drug in the next two to three months. 
It will also leave some patients in limbo, closing a niche market for compounded tirzepatide that patients say helped fill a gap in care for those who say they simply can’t afford to pay out of pocket for Zepbound.

An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on Dec. 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

The roughly $1,000 monthly price tag of Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound put the blockbuster treatment out of reach for Willow Baillies, 29, whose insurance does not cover it.
Baillies, a human resources specialist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been attempting to lose weight and dealing with chronic autoimmune issues for years, so she turned to a cheaper alternative: a compounded, off-brand version of tirzepatide.

Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Zepbound and in Eli Lilly’s diabetes counterpart Mounjaro, which are part of a class of highly popular medications called GLP-1s. 
She said compounded tirzepatide has helped change her life dramatically since she began taking it in June, alleviating pain from her autoimmune issues and helping her lose about 52 pounds. She said it costs her around $350 per month.
But soon, compounded versions of tirzepatide could become inaccessible to Baillies and other patients who rely on them. Patients and health-care experts said that could force some consumers to stockpile doses, switch to other treatments, or stop receiving care altogether due to financial constraints. Others could turn to a potentially unsafe method of mixing vials themselves. 
That’s because the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced that branded tirzepatide is no longer in short supply — a decision that will largely prevent compounding pharmacies from making and selling cheaper versions of the drug in the next two to three months. 
During FDA-declared shortages, pharmacists can legally make compounded versions of brand-name medications. But drugmakers and some health experts have pushed back against the practice because the FDA does not approve compounded drugs, which are essentially custom-made copies prescribed by a doctor to meet a specific patient’s needs. 

The FDA’s decision, based on the agency’s comprehensive analysis of data, could mean that more patients with insurance coverage will be able to access Zepbound after months of limited supply. It also suggests that Eli Lilly’s multibillion-dollar effort to ramp up manufacturing for tirzepatide is starting to pay off. 
But it will also leave other patients in limbo, closing a niche, lucrative market for compounded tirzepatide that patients say helped fill a gap in care for those who can’t afford to pay out of pocket for Zepbound.
Many insurance plans still don’t cover drugs for weight loss, and some patients said prices under Eli Lilly’s savings program and for its half-priced vial versions are still too high.
“I’ve stockpiled 10 compounded vials at home, so I have at least a year’s worth,” said Baillies, one of six patients CNBC spoke with about compounded tirzepatide. “We’re willing to kind of do anything to have this. It’s not just about looks; it’s about the opportunity it gives us to live our lives to the fullest.” 
Many patients and major trade groups question whether the shortage is truly resolved amid reports of people still struggling to find Eli Lilly’s drugs. 
Some medical professionals raised concerns about whether Eli Lilly can meet demand once more patients come off compounded tirzepatide and others start Zepbound for its newly approved use: obstructive sleep apnea. 
It’s unclear how many people are on compounded tirzepatide, but one trade group estimated in November that there are more than 200,000 prescriptions for compounded versions of its main rival — Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy — being filled each month. 
“In this current moment, I have confidence that the shortage is over,” said Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity medicine specialist and medical director of the Tulane Bariatric Center in New Orleans. “Do I think the shortage is over forever? Probably not.” 
Eli Lilly did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Compounders face deadlines, with some exceptions

The FDA initially declared the tirzepatide shortage over in October. 
But a trade group called the Outsourcing Facilities Association sued days later, claiming the agency made its determination without proper notice and failed to account for continued supply disruptions. That lawsuit pushed the FDA to reconsider and allowed pharmacists to make compounded versions in the meantime. 
In its decision announced Thursday, the FDA concluded based on data from Eli Lilly, patients, providers, compounders, and other sources that “Lilly’s supply is currently meeting or exceeding demand and that, based on our best judgment, it will meet or exceed projected demand.”
The FDA is giving so-called 503A compounding pharmacies until Feb. 18 before it takes enforcement action that would put a halt to their work. The 503A pharmacies make compounded drugs according to individual prescriptions for a specific patient and are largely regulated by states rather than the FDA. 
Meanwhile, pharmacies manufacturing compounded drugs in bulk with or without prescriptions — known as 503B outsourcing facilities — get an additional month, with a deadline of March 19. They are regulated by FDA guidelines. 

An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York on March 28, 2024.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Those “off-ramp periods are appreciated” because it gives patients time to switch to brand-name tirzepatide, said Tenille Davis, chief advocacy officer for trade group Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding.
But the group’s members are still reporting that “there’s a real lack of availability” of tirzepatide, she said. That trade group represents compounding pharmacies and hybrid pharmacies that also dispense regular drug prescriptions.
Still, 503A pharmacies may be allowed to continue making compounded tirzepatide in certain situations under the law, Davis said. 
That includes when a prescriber determines that a compounded version with certain changes will produce a “significant difference” for a patient. For example, a patient may need a specialized dose or be allergic to the dye in a branded product. 
Davis said that means compounded tirzepatide won’t be completely eliminated in the U.S., but the scale of it will “certainly decrease.”
The legal battle between the FDA and the Outsourcing Facilities Association isn’t over yet, however. On Thursday, the FDA and OFA jointly said they will provide an update in court by Jan. 2 to address the “next steps in this litigation.” They also said if the trade group files a preliminary injunction over the next two weeks, the FDA will not take action against its members for continuing to make compounded tirzepatide until the court resolves the case.
That pending litigation further “adds to the confusion of the status of compounded tirzepatide after February and March,” said Dae Lee, a partner at law firm Frier Levitt who represents pharmacies, none of which were involved in the dispute with the FDA.

Patients look to alternatives

Amanda Bonello has been taking compounded tirzepatide and has launched a petition demanding the FDA support access to compounded GLP-1s.
Courtesy: Amanda Bonello

Many patients who rely on compounded tirzepatide are scrambling to ensure they can continue care. 
That includes Amanda Bonello, 36, an Iowa-based account manager who said she is prediabetic. Bonello said taking compounded tirzepatide over the last two months has helped her lose 26 pounds and normalized her blood sugar levels, allowing her to avoid a diabetes diagnosis. 
She said she “absolutely cannot” afford branded tirzepatide since her insurance does not cover it, so she will consider switching to compounded semaglutide. That is the active ingredient in Wegovy and its diabetes counterpart Ozempic, Novo Nordisk’s two GLP-1s that are still on the FDA’s drug shortage list. 
Many compounding pharmacies make unbranded versions of semaglutide, which has been on the U.S. market — and in short supply — for much longer than tirzepatide. But an end to the shortage may be imminent, with the FDA announcing in late October that all doses of semaglutide are available. 
“If compounded semaglutide goes away as well, then I will be screwed,” Bonello said. She has launched an online petition demanding that the FDA support access to compounded GLP-1s. The petition has gained more than 15,000 signatures in the past month.

Erin Hunt (right,) a patient who has been taking compounded tirzepatide, and her husband Brice.
Courtesy: Erin Hunt

Another patient, Erin Hunt, 31, a communications analyst based in Maryland, said she may eventually switch to the branded version of tirzepatide. 
Hunt started taking compounded tirzepatide in April after struggling to find supply of Zepbound, which she took for one month. It has helped her lose around 55 pounds, experience fewer symptoms from her chronic inflammatory conditions and pursue a healthier diet and exercise. She said she initially paid $300 per month for the compound drug and now pays $350 for a higher dose.
Hunt’s insurance does not cover Zepbound. But she qualifies for Eli Lilly’s savings card program, which allows commercially insured patients without coverage for Zepbound to buy a month’s supply for around $650. Under that program, patients whose commercial insurance plan covers Zepbound can pay as low as $25. 
“I am extremely concerned for what it’s going to cost,” Hunt said. “This medication has literally changed my life, and it’s probably going to benefit me to be on a maintenance dose for life.”
For Jill Skala, 49, a teacher in western Pennsylvania, the FDA’s decision means that she will lose a more affordable option after her insurance drops Zepbound coverage on Jan. 1. 
Her copay for Zepbound has been around $10 per month since she started the drug in March. Skala said she has lost 52 pounds and noticed “profound improvements” in her mental health, sleep and energy levels. She has stockpiled a three-month supply of Zepbound, she said, and will “do the best I can to maintain my weight loss” once that runs out.
“I don’t see myself continuing to get the branded version at this point unless there’s a pathway back through insurance or Eli Lilly drops the price,” Skala said. “I just paid off my student loans. I don’t want to start my medical debt problem here.”

Jill Skala has been taking branded Zepbound since March, but will soon lose insurance coverage for it.
Courtesy: Jill Skala

Other patients may turn to an underground community Reddit users call “the gray market”: People directly purchase powdered tirzepatide or semaglutide peptides for as little as $50 per month from certain vendors, including Chinese manufacturers, and mix that with sterile water at home, creating a solution they can inject under their skin. 
Reddit users say the community establishes protocols for third-party lab testing of peptides to verify their purity and promotes safe mixing and dosing practices. 
But Tulane’s Levy said the method “seems very dangerous,” noting that mixing homemade medications without proper training “could potentially have real consequences.” 
She said it “highlights people’s desperation to treat the disease of obesity, which is being inadequately met by our current insurance status” for drugs such as Zepbound. 

Continuing care

Some compounding pharmacies such as Strive Pharmacy are operating as usual pending more updates to the legal fight. Strive operates nine 503A pharmacies across the U.S., which offer compounded GLP-1s and other services. 
But Strive will largely stop making compounded tirzepatide by the February deadline if nothing further happens, according to Matthew Montes de Oca, the company’s chief clinical officer. He acknowledged that Strive could create compounded versions of the drug for specific prescriptions, such as adding glycine to help prevent muscle deterioration in a patient. 
Compounded tirzepatide with glycine is what Gina Wright’s doctor will prescribe for her so she can continue taking the unbranded version, which she gets from a different pharmacy. Wright, 58, a self-employed business consultant in Colorado who is prediabetic, said she is paying $225 for a five-milligram dose, which she began taking earlier this month. 
She is on her state Medicaid plan, which does not cover Zepbound, so she does not qualify for Eli Lilly’s savings card program. But Wright said she also has sleep apnea, so she is trying to get insurance to cover Zepbound for that purpose.

Gina Wright began taking compounded tirzepatide earlier this month.
Courtesy: Gina Wright

De Oca said compounding individual prescriptions for specific patients will make it harder for Strive to ensure that all of its safety procedures are still in place. Strive typically tests its tirzepatide and semaglutide with a third-party analytical company and conducts a months-long “stability study” to guarantee the quality and safety of the product before creating batches of up to 250 vials, he noted. 
Dr. Mace Scott, the owner and medical director of Chronos Body Health Wellness, said the fate of compounded tirzepatide at his Louisiana-based medical spa will depend on the pharmacies he sources it from and “how they decide to move forward.” His spa relies on both 503A and 503B pharmacies, he said, so some patients may be able to continue compounded tirzepatide with a specialized prescription. 
Scott said he is trying to help some patients get insurance approval for branded tirzepatide. He is recommending that others switch to compounded semaglutide, which is what roughly 75% of Chronos patients are taking, he said. The spa has treated more than 10,000 patients with branded or compounded GLP-1 medications, according to its website.
“It’s kind of a tough road to traverse right now, so we’re trying to figure out what’s best on a patient-by-patient basis,” Scott told CNBC. 
The American Diabetes Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes diabetes research and advocacy, told CNBC it recommends against the use of compounded GLP-1s due to “ongoing concerns” about their safety, quality and efficacy.
It is difficult to discern the quality of the product and its distributor, which poses a potential risk to patients, Joshua Neumiller, the association’s president-elect for health care and education, said in a statement.
Neumiller also pointed to an FDA alert in July about cases of patients measuring and administering incorrect doses of compounded GLP-1s, some of which resulted in adverse events that required hospitalization. 
But Molly B., an interior designer based in New York who asked CNBC to omit her full last name, said compounded GLP-1s are her only option.
She said her insurance denied coverage for brand-name semaglutide twice before she started taking compounded tirzepatide in September. It has helped her lose 23 pounds, she said, and eliminated constant thoughts about food — a game changer for a patient suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder that makes it difficult to lose weight. 
“I have never been able to lose this much weight on my own, and I’ve tried 100 times,” she said. “This has really changed my life, so I would hope that I can continue to get it the way I am now.” More

There’s growing concern that a 25% potential tariff on Canadian imports to the U.S. could be an existential threat to the country’s recovering automotive industry.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he will impose an additional 10% tariff on goods from China and a 25% levy for Canada and Mexico.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told CNBC any tariffs would be harmful to both sides of the border.

Canadian and American flags fly near the base of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Canada to the U.S. in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.
Cole Burston | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — There’s growing concern that President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian imports would be an existential threat to the country’s recovering automotive industry.
Potential tariffs on vehicles and automotive parts are particularly alarming for the province of Ontario, the epicenter of Canada’s auto industry. Five automakers — Ford Motor, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota Motor and Honda Motor — produced 1.54 million light-duty vehicles last year in the province, largely for U.S. consumers.

“It’d be terrible. It’d not only devastate Canadian jobs, it’d devastate American jobs,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told CNBC during a phone interview.
A tariff is a tax on imports, or foreign goods, brought into the U.S. They are paid for by companies, which some fear would simply pass any additional costs on to consumers.
Ford, who said he has not spoken with Trump directly, argued that any tariffs would be harmful to both sides of the border.
He said raw materials and parts routinely pass across the border multiple times before being used in the final assembly of a vehicle. Tariffs, he warned, would increase prices, which could then slow production and eliminate jobs.
“We have a trade agreement right now. Things have been working,” Ford said. “I’ve said it publicly: I’d love to do a bilateral trade deal with the U.S. And Mexico wants a trade deal, we’ll do a bilateral trade deal with Mexico. But Mexico, if they want a seat at the table, they have to follow the rules.”

Ontario premier Doug Ford answers questions from reporters as he hosts the Fall meeting of Canada’s premiers in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada December 16, 2024.
Carlos Osorio | Reuters

Trump has said he will impose an additional 10% tariff on goods from China and a 25% levy for Canada and Mexico, though he has offered few details, such as if there would be exceptions. He has he said plans to invoke “national security” concerns to enact such hikes, rather than seeking congressional approval, saying illegal immigration and the illicit drug trade are causing concerns on the border, justifying the tariffs.
Putting tariffs on components could add $600 to $2,500 per vehicle on parts from Mexico, Canada and China, according to estimates in a Wells Fargo analyst note. Prices on vehicles assembled in Mexico and Canada — which account for about 23% of vehicles sold in the U.S. — could rise $1,750 to $10,000.
Such tariffs and increased costs would add to problems for embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as he fends off calls for his resignation.

Ontario: Canada’s auto capitol

Ontario recently launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in the U.S. to promote its role as a key trading partner and “ally to the North.”
Ontario, as a province, is the third-largest trading partner for the U.S., including the top foreign trade partner for 17 states, according to Ford, the premier. He points out that trade between Ontario — as well as broader Canada with the U.S. — is much more evenly split than it is with Mexico, especially when removing the oil Canada sends to the U.S.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the Liberal party caucus meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada December 16, 2024. 
Blair Gable | Reuters

Canadian exports of auto parts came in at $23.5 billion in 2023, while exports of light vehicles totaled $53.5 billion. Imports totaled $47.5 billion and $70.4 billion, respectively, according to Canada-based DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. Of those, the U.S. accounts for 95.3% of Canada’s total auto exports and 57.7% of its overall auto imports.
“Anything that kind of disrupts that balance is going to affect both sides of the border,” said Flavio Volpe, head of the Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association. “The best tariff level for Canadian and American auto parts suppliers is zero.”
Volpe argues a double-digit tariff would be “existential,” with ripple effects into the U.S. automotive industry. As an example, he pointed to 2022, when Canadian truck drivers blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, in Canada — the busiest border bridge between the countries — disrupting manufacturing for several automakers in the U.S.
Toyota is the top-producing automaker in Canada, at roughly 526,000 units in 2023, followed by Honda at nearly 378,500 vehicles. GM, once the largest producer in Canada at more than 1 million vehicles, is now one of the smallest manufacturers of light-duty vehicles in the region.

Industry on the mend

The Canadian automotive industry is on an upswing following a decades-long decline that escalated during the coronavirus pandemic.
Light-duty vehicle production in Canada hit 1.54 million vehicles last year, up from a recent low of 1.1 million in 2021, but still a 47% decline from the country’s peak of 2.9 million in 2000, according to industry data provided by the Global Automakers of Canada trade association.
“The industry, like the American industry, has been challenged recovering from the pandemic. We’re still not there from a sales and production point of view, but we have been recovering,” said David Adams, president of the Global Automakers of Canada, which represents the interest of 16 non-U.S. based automakers.
The uptick comes despite two large assembly plants in Ontario, owned by Ford and Stellantis, existing in limbo, as the factories don’t currently have vehicles to produce. Thousands of workers have been laid off as a result of the lack of production.
Much of the uncertainty was caused by the automotive industry’s transition to all-electric vehicles, as adoption of EVs has not occurred as quickly as expected. Trump also has vowed to remove subsidies for purchasing EVs, which have assisted in spurring sales while federal benefits still exist.
“There is profound concern about the Canadian automobile industry as much because it’s not clear what direction to go,” said Charlotte Yates, president of the Automotive Policy Research Centre and professor emeritus at McMaster University. “There’s a series of public policy changes as well as political attitudinal changes, and, of course, the threat of tariffs really rattling the industry in Canada.”
Ford, Ontario’s premier, said the U.S. and Canada should be working together, as they have been for decades.
“We should be focusing on China and Mexico, not on its closest ally in the entire world,” Ford said. “Let’s build a fortress, an American–Canadian fortress against the rest of the world. We can’t be stopped if we if we stick together.”

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday sued Walmart and work-scheduling platform Branch Messenger for allegedly forcing delivery drivers to use poorly managed and costly deposit accounts in order to get paid.
The lawsuit alleges that, since 2021, Walmart and Branch opened Branch accounts for drivers and then deposited drivers’ pay into these accounts without the drivers’ consent.
The lawsuit is the latest in a slew of actions by the CFPB against companies for mishandling consumer and worker financial accounts.

A Walmart truck pulls out of a Walmart Distribution Center in Hurricane, Utah, on May 30, 2024.
George Frey | Afp | Getty Images

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a complaint Monday against Walmart and work-scheduling platform Branch Messenger for allegedly forcing delivery drivers to use poorly managed and costly deposit accounts in order to get paid.
“Walmart made false promises, illegally opened accounts, and took advantage of more than a million delivery drivers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release. “Companies cannot force workers into getting paid through accounts that drain their earnings with junk fees.”

The lawsuit alleges that, since 2021, Walmart and Branch opened Branch accounts for more than one million drivers part of the Spark Driver Program, Walmart’s platform for gig economy workers to accept and schedule “last mile” deliveries, and then deposited drivers’ pay into these accounts without their consent.
The company allegedly told drivers that they would be fired if they did not want to use the Branch accounts and misled drivers about when they could access their earnings. When drivers did use the platform, they allegedly faced numerous delays or fees if they needed to transfer the money into a different account, which resulted in more than $10 million in “junk fees.”
Walmart disputed the agency’s allegations.
“The CFPB’s rushed lawsuit is riddled with factual errors and contains exaggerations and blatant misstatements of settled principles of law,” a Walmart spokesperson wrote in a statement to CNBC. “The CFPB never allowed Walmart a fair opportunity to present its case during their rushed investigation.”
The CFPB also accused Branch of failing to investigate alleged errors, failing to provide certain disclosures, failing to maintain records, failing to follow through on stop payment requests and illegally requiring consumers to waive their rights under the law.

“Branch strongly disagrees with the lawsuit filed today by the CFPB, which misstates the law and facts, and includes intentional omissions to mask the Bureau’s clear overreach,” a representative from Branch wrote in a statement to CNBC.
The lawsuit is the latest in a slew of actions the CFPB has taken against companies for mishandling consumer and worker financial accounts. The bureau previously sued Comerica Bank over allegations that it failed to administer a federal benefits program and charged illegal fees on prepaid debit cards.
Most recently, the CFPB filed a complaint against the operator of the Zelle payments network, as well as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, alleging that the firms failed to properly investigate fraud complaints or give victims reimbursement. The lawsuit claims customers have lost more than $870 million since the launch of Zelle in 2017.

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