Health and pharmaceutical marketing budgets are rapidly shifting towards online advertising. In 2010, eMarketer released a report forecasting that online spending on pharmaceutical ads would climb to $1.52 billion by 2014. The Food and Drug Administration’s marketing guidelines caused a hold-up for the industry in social media and digital ads. However, pharma marketers became inventive, leading to a surge in online ad spending, which rose 23.3% to $1.58 billion since 2011. With patents about to expire, the healthcare and pharmaceutical marketing sector must once again meet the challenge. eMarketer’s latest report suggests that it will; by 2016, online pharmaceutical ad spending is projected to hit $2.48 billion.
The expiration of patents for popular products will cause a big change in the health and pharmaceutical marketing industry. Specialized medications targeting specific diseases will become more common. However, these niche drugs will need different marketing approaches compared to larger brands. This has pharma marketers looking for cheaper, more effective ways to promote their specialized products – which leads to digital advertising.
National Analysts Worldwide researched executives in the United States and Europe to see how this change will alter plans for pharmaceutical advertising spending. 58% will shift their focus toward social media, 55% will increase spending for mobile technologies, and 49% will increase SEO budgets. Through various digital media channels and technologies, pharmaceutical marketers can now produce highly customizable campaigns, targeting a specific audience for these up-and-coming niche drugs.