Online video viewing accelerates – where is Pharma?
In December 2009, 86% of the total US online population, or 178 million people, viewed video content, compared to 150 million people in December 2008. Americans also viewed a significantly higher number of videos in 2009 compared to the prior year, due to both increased content consumption and a growing number of video ads being delivered. The average online viewer consumed 187 videos in December 2009, up 95% from 96 videos in December 2008.
The number of videos viewed grew almost 150%, from 14.3 billion to 33.2 billion, while the duration of the average video viewed grew 28%, from 3.2 to 4.1 minutes.
Increasing use of video was something that came up at the ePharma conference the other week, which left me wondering:
"Despite the high volume of video use online, the views of Pharma videos are relatively low. What are patient needs in this space?"
Of course, for health information most people would probably prefer to read rather than watch it, but given the popularity of YouTube as shown in the ComScore Digital Year in Review, perhaps it's more a question of understanding more about what people, in this case, consumers and patients actually want.
At the the moment, the available Pharma videos tend to be rather corporate and bland. What if they were used as an education tool to help explain more about the science, the disease, how treatments work or practical, sensible advice on side effect management or how to use the drug if given as an injection?
Mind you, Pharma still has a ways to go in addressing more basic functions, as my buddy Xavier Petit pointed out very succinctly here.
Thoughts?
Source: ComScore Report
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8 Responses to “Online video viewing accelerates – where is Pharma?”
I think videos that pharma has created for patients have missed the mark. Patients are not looking for stories and testimonials. They want health information. Visual content that explains their disease or shows them what is going to happen is extremely valuable. Physicians and patients a like are looking for educational information to increase the comfort level of patients understanding of their disease or condition. This YouTube channel is a great example of what quality, medically accurate, visual content can do in building a community and providing education.
http://www.youtube.com/user/nucleusanimation
Corrie, thank you for you comment.
What an awesome video, thanks for sharing it!
I totally agree about the need for more and better education to help physicians and patients feel more comfortable. Video is a great medium for visual and audio display to simplify and teach.
One site I’ve enjoyed videos from lately is:
http://www.healthination.com/
The inherent underlying problem is that many old school marketers are more interested in the bottom line and ask how is a video going to directly increase ROI or sales. Sad but true.
We certainly agree that video animations are ideal for helping patients easily understand difficult medical conditions and treatments. What is especially exciting in the current patient education environment is the rapidly growing range of options in mobile devices that can bring this rich digital media content directly to the patient at the point of care with a provider. Whether smartphones or the rapidly emerging “tablets”, we are going to see more and more 3D medical animations viewed right in the office or exam room.
Our 16 Blausen Human Atlas iPhone apps (http://www.youtube.com/user/blausenmedia) are already providing “aha” moments in patient understanding, alleviating much of their anxiety and saving caregivers’ time.
Blausen Group
http:/www.twitter.com/blausengroup
http://www.blausen.com/iphone
I should add that not all Pharma videos are promotional; they do provide educational ones too, as these examples from Roche on anemia, rheumatoid arthritis and influenza demonstrate:
http://www.health-kiosk.ch/
Funny, I was just playing with your iPhone app after downloading it. Showing biology in pictures or in motion really helps people understand the science behind health and disease.
As they say, a picture tells a thousand words may be clichéd, but sometimes it really is true.
I love clicking on a link on my iPhone and going straight to YouTube to view something, then being able to embed it in a post or share it with others from the phone.
You can see the utility for physicians explaining complex things simply to people on an iPad via a short video. Exciting times!
I agree with Corrie that patients are seeking health information and details about their condition and treatment. And medical animations is probably the most perfect way of visually communicating what is going on inside the human body.
However, I don’t believe that patient stories and health information are mutually exclusive characters. Certainly, a 60-second testimonial that is simply applauds a specific drug is likely viewed as marketing fluff. But personal stories can be a valuable conduit for health information when the characters and storytelling are combined with sought-after health information provided at the appropriate level depth and health literacy.
Different patients are will want different video content based on their information needs, as well as their attention-span or available time to watch. Some want top-level or very light information in a 30-second clip and some are able to sit down for a 10-minute “medical conversation” video.
For example, someone very motivated to learn about YAZ may watch the entire 9 minutes of this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h319cSg1Jbo – even though may not be very captivating to someone just looking around at different birth control options.
In another case, some searching for information on Asthma on Google, might click on video search result for http://www.youtube.com/user/myasthmastory and be drawn in by the patient stories and then learn more about the specific brand.
Online video is never going to be one size fits all. Keeping audience attention, whether through informative animation or cinematic storytelling or whatever else the audience needs, remains the most important.
I agree with Corrie that patients are seeking health information and details about their condition and treatment. And medical animations is probably the most perfect way of visually communicating what is going on inside the human body.
However, I don’t believe that patient stories and health information are mutually exclusive characters. Certainly, a 60-second testimonial that is simply applauds a specific drug is likely viewed as marketing fluff. But personal stories can be a valuable conduit for health information when the characters and storytelling are combined with sought-after health information provided at the appropriate level depth and health literacy.
The YouTube link is borked yet oddly, if you cut/paste the link to the browser it delivers the channel correctly. Odd!
http://www.youtube.com/user/blausenmedia
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