The number of U.S. adults who watch online video for information about prescription drugs more than doubled from 2007 to 2009, a new study says. Nearly half the 102.3 million people looking for data about medications surfed health information sites, video sites and pharmaceutical sites, said the report from Manhattan Research.
The study of 6,575 adults in 4Q09 found that significantly more consumers watch online health video on general health and news websites, for example, than on YouTube.
"Consumers tend to watch health video where they are already getting health information and don't necessarily go online intending to find health video, suggesting a distributed video strategy is best," said Monique Levy, Senior Director of Research at Manhattan Research and lead author of the report. "However, this approach is often more costly than investing in a single channel."
An earlier study found that health care professionals also are turning increasingly to online video for information.
A Hall & Partners study, in partnership with Google in 2009, found that 11 percent of physicians looked to online video for specific information relating to medical or prescription drug information, reports eMarketer, which also said more than 5,000 live surgeries could be found on YouTube alone.
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