If you’ve tuned in to primetime TV at any time in the past few decades, you have surely run across a healthcare ad or two! From COVID awareness to Urgent Care Services, or fresh takes on insurance, healthcare is a large portion of ad spend across all global marketing.
Healthcare budgets historically reflect heavy investments in marketing. On average, nearly 8% of the healthcare industry’s budget is allocated for marketing. In fact, TV ad spending in the pharmaceutical industry accounted for 75% of the total ad spend in 2020. This emphasizes the large push for healthcare marketing in a post-COVID world.
However, you don’t need a primetime TV budget to make a difference in visibility for your healthcare company. Recent marketing trends show that healthcare advertising dollars continue to shift to digital. One area in particular is the move from linear TV to streaming TV. This movement to streaming TV is making for more accessible TV ad inventory –– as consumers continue to move to streaming apps, the inventory moves with them. Case in point: more than 109 million U.S. households have access to streaming. More than half of the population no longer has access to cable/satellite TV. This makes streaming TV an essential component to successful healthcare advertising.
In addition to streaming TV, we have monitored an uptick in streaming audio. This digital tactic reaches 70% of U.S. consumers every week. As an avid podcast listener, I can attest to the fact that well over 90% of the ad spots I hear daily are healthcare related. Streaming is unique in its ability to reach the consumer, as it allows people to be more intentional with what they watch and listen to. Rather than passively tuning into generic cable TV, the consumer is now able to select a channel aligned with the exact niche of interest to them. This makes the ads spots more tailored to the household they are streamed in. This, in turn, garners greater buyer intent and higher quality engagement.
Where streaming TV and audio are seeing a large uptick as of late, search engine marketing (SEM) still accounts for the majority of digital spend in the healthcare vertical. The healthcare industry is estimated to spend more than $9 billion in search in 2022.
To reach consumers in this saturated healthcare market, digital marketing is central to success. At Brkthru, we are committed to daily check-ups on your digital ad dollars. We pivot with your best investment in mind, at any budget level. Reach out if you’re ready for a new provider –– your Brkthru doctor is always in!