THE STATE OF
PROGRAMMATIC
HEALTHCARE
MARKETING
Market Growth | Advertising Trends | Industry Predictions
The digital era ushered healthcare back into our homes with on-demand health information. Today, we have 24/7 access to information, health resources and records, always with us in our pockets and on our wrists.
Programmatic technology is advancing marketers’ ability to efficiently and effectively make connections with specific individuals, by understanding and actioning their real world digital behaviors.
This personalization has special meaning for healthcare where the right information in the right hands can literally change someone’s life.
Why digital HEALTH marketing works differently
Finding people who suffer from or treat certain acute conditions isn’t easy. Until recently, healthcare marketers cast a wide net through broad reach media to ensure they reached niche audiences with their message. Digital advertising changed the game by facilitating targeting of key audiences and removing the need for this fire hose approach.
Why put up a billboard when you can target the exact doctors and patients you care about?
The opportunity is massive
In 2018, PulsePoint saw this growth firsthand as healthcare marketers shifted digital budgets to programmatic as an efficient and effective way to to connect them with their target consumers. This also presented an open-field opportunity for digital publishers to capture new dollars entering into the programmatic market.
Healthcare is one of the last industries to go digital, and accounts for only 2% of US digital ad spend.
context is everything
With consumers now spending more on healthcare, their demand for engagement and personalization is unavoidable. High-quality and informative native content creates an authentic and impactful digital experience.
As a result, marketers are increasing digital investments in formats that reach their audience in brand-safe and health-specific contexts, that encourage engagement - like native.
Healthcare investments in native increased precipitously in comparison to the top 5 verticals buying native.
INCREASE IN HEALTHCARE CPMS VS OTHER VERTICALS
PEOPLE ENGAGE LONGER with healthcare
When people have questions about their health, they look online for answers and spend more time engaging with health content than any other vertical.
INCREASE IN HEALTHCARE Ad Engagement VS OTHER VERTICALS (2017-2018)
What’s Next: Healthcare Marketing Predictions to Watch For
TV advertising isn’t over. It’s advancing.
The cords may be cut, but we’re still watching. For the healthcare industry, what’s old is new again as innovative digital video formats emerge to solve for the constraints of traditional television spots. Video is the optimal engagement channel for DTC and HCP audiences alike, but rather than jury-rigging voiceover-heavy pharma TV ads to retrofit digital inventory, new formats will guarantee that healthcare brands can effectively deliver a message that resonates with its intended audience at a digitally relevant moment.
Digital will empower feet-on-the-street sales staff.
While the notoriously reserved pharma industry still allocates $30B of its annual healthcare budget on sales force staffing, digital will upend the feet-on-the-street model by amplifying it. Data analytics from digital campaigns will arm sales rep efforts with the insights and information they need to maximize physician touchpoints, deepen engagement, and effect real behavioral change.
Real customer personalization will close the loop between data and conversion.
In 2019, personalization is expected. But when we really cull through and activate accessible campaign data to extract value and deliver relevant, meaningful, and personalized experiences to our health customers current and future, it’s no longer just about marketing. It’s about trust. Harnessing the power of analytics and translating information into insights empowers us to personalize the health customer experience with data-driven strategy and meet patients where they are in a way we never thought possible.
WE SEE MORE.
WE REACH FURTHER.
At PulsePoint, our goal is to get powerful healthcare knowledge to the people who need it most, using the first programmatic technology built for health
Know WHERE and how to reach your audience with pulsepoint
For more healthcare marketing insights, subscribe to our newsletter.
Sources: PulsePoint platform data 2017-2018
PulsePoint analysis based on multiple sources: eMarketer; MM&M reports; Kantar Media
PulsePoint Healthcare Advertising Perceptions: Consumer Survey, 2017