Despite shifting regulatory hurdles, U.S. healthcare and pharmaceutical online advertising spending will reach $1 billion this year, up 10.6 percent from last year, according to a new report from eMarketer.
By 2014, online ad spending in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, which includes DTC and over-the-counter remedies, is expected to reach $1.52 billion.
The Internet is helping over 175 million US healthcare consumers become more involved in managing their personal health. Increasingly, they are turning to online sources to gather information, seek care, compare diagnoses and find treatments. As consumer discussions of prescription drugs increasingly move online, the opportunity for pharmaceutical players to reach consumers in more targeted ways is growing exponentially.
Despite robust annual growth rates through 2014, pharma’s share accounts for only about 4 percent of overall U.S. online ad spending.
