Makovsky Health and Kelton Research asked which online resources consumers used to accessåÊHealth information, and just 8% of U.S. Internet users ages 66 and older cited pharmaceutical company websitesÛÓthe lowest response rate across all age groups. Instead, seniors were most likely to turn to WebMD, cited by 48%.
Of the 80% of Americans willing to visit a Pharma-sponsored website, those 66 and older were more likely to visit the site if a health-care professional recommended it (52%).
This is "the highest response rateÛÓmeaning that to get to seniors, pharmaceutical companies need to get to doctors first. One way to do so is through mobile. In a January 2015 study by MedData Group, 53% of U.S. doctors said pharmaceutical information was a leading type of health-related content they viewed via mobileÛÓthe No. 2 response," eMarketer reports.
Doctor recommendation matters less to Millennials, with 41% visiting a site based on physician suggestion, and Millennials are also 23% more likely to be motivated by an advertisement to visit a pharma-sponsored website than those 66 and older.
"Advertisements in magazines, TV, and the like, played a much smaller role in swaying site visits, as fewer than 1/4th of seniors said ads would motivate them to visit a pharma-sponsored site, vs. a total average of 41%," eMarketer reports.
When it comes to social media, Millennials are 25% more likely to trust a pharma-sponsored platform than those 66 and older (31% vs. 6%). Social media lacks authority with the general population as 79% of respondents reported they trust these channels either "a little bit" or "not at all."åÊPatients with a diagnosed chronic medical condition, however, report "complete trust" in these channels at nearly double the rate of the average population.
According to AudienceSCAN data, 24.1% of U.S. adults said seeing/hearing an ad for a prescription drug led them to research it on the drug's website. 54% of these pharma ad responders are men.
AudienceSCAN also points out that direct mail should be an effective way to reach drug-website researchers, since 19% of them started online searches after receiving direct mailings.
Pharma-ad responders also think the best sources for health/medical information are: TV (17.4%); magazines (11.2%); and newspapers (8.9%).
AudienceSCAN data is available as part of a subscription to AdMall for Agencies. Media companies can access AudienceSCAN data through the Audience Intelligence Reports inåÊAdMall.