Pharma: TV Advertising | Tool | Reach | Target Audience

Consistently, pharma organizations burn through billions of dollars in the U.S. on TV publicizing. However, the business' media arranging and purchasing are still grounded in conventional linear TV, despite the fact that TV utilization has become progressively divided across platforms and devices.

Today, advertisements served on web-connected devices, also known as CTV advertising, present an undiscovered opportunity for pharma advertisers. To exploit these, pharma must reevaluate its media strategy and gain a deeper understanding of the role CTV can play in connecting with audiences across devices and formats.

To uncover key insights driving these communications, MM+M collaborated with Pulse-Point on a study entitled "CTV Advertising: An Undiscovered Opportunity for Pharma Advertisers." The study results presented here will help those in pharma marketing and brand management understand emerging CTV trends across the industry and how they can leverage these trends to reach customers in a more targeted manner.

Philosophy

The review was conducted in September 2021 and sent to a list of experts from healthcare and related industries. About half were from agencies (52%) and half identified as being from "non-agencies" (48%). Among the non-agency respondents, 72% were involved in pharma (including Biotech, Device/Diagnostics, and CPG), and 22% said they were associated with Hospital/Health System/Medical Care agencies. Most respondents were either at the VP/SVP/EVP level (37%) or directors (25%), with fewer being administrators (17%) and C-level leaders (16%).

Findings

The numbers are comparable for TV and CTV advertising: Half the survey respondents reported that their brand is currently using TV advertising (50%). Around one-tenth are not currently running TV advertisements for their brand but did so within the last two years (11%). Similarly, half of the respondents are doing CTV advertising, while more than one-tenth (12%) previously used CTV advertising but are not currently doing so.

It's important to note that twice as many agency respondents currently run CTV advertisements compared to non-agency respondents (63% versus 36%). Among those who currently run TV advertising, around four out of five are also using CTV advertising (79%).

When asked how they differentiate their TV and CTV advertising budgets, respondents reported allocating comparable budgets for both, with an average of 49.8% for their TV budget versus 50.2% for the CTV budget.

The study also examined how the respondents purchased CTV advertising. The results show that nearly half of those currently using CTV utilize a digital media agency (48%), while almost a quarter use a TV media agency (23%). Smaller percentages reported using a cross-channel buying platform (15%) or a CTV buying platform (12%).

In terms of timing for purchasing CTV advertising, nearly all reported doing it "consistently" (88%). Other options included "once a year, during upfront," and "once a year during newfront."

The survey investigated how respondents define their audiences for CTV advertising. The majority of those currently purchasing CTV advertising reported using geo-segment targeting (54%). Almost one in five use contingent populations (17%), and one in ten use prior condition content usage (10%). Only 4% reported that they coordinated their CTV purchase with their linear TV purchase.

When asked about the targeted audiences in CTV purchases, nearly six out of ten respondents (58%) reported targeting both healthcare professionals (HCP) and direct-to-consumer (DTC). However, more than one-third are focusing on DTC only (37%), with just 6% targeting HCP only.

No single digital resource stands out in usage by current CTV clients. The survey results show that 33% generally use 30-second ads (preferred by 24% of agency respondents compared to 52% of non-agency respondents). A video resource specifically created for the CTV purchase is used by 31% overall (44% of agency respondents versus 26% of non-agency respondents), and 27% use a 60-second TV ad. Only 8% reported using 90-second TV advertisements.

The top perceived advantage by CTV users for using continuous versus linear TV was "better targeting data" at 60%, followed by an increase in reach (17%), real-time measurement, buying flexibility, and 1:1 measurement, all at 6%, with cross-channel coordination at just 4%.

The final survey questions aimed to reveal the perceived effectiveness of CTV advertising. Most respondents report that they utilize post-exposure impact (measured through offline studies) to determine the effectiveness of their CTV purchase (42%).

Other measures were used less frequently: video completion rate (19%), NRx lift (17%), and audience quality (13%).

Finally, respondents were asked to describe how their CTV advertising performed compared to their TV purchase. Seven out of ten respondents who currently use CTV ads feel that their CTV purchase outperforms their TV purchase (70%), with only 2% of non-agency respondents feeling their CTV purchase performs "worse" than TV, while 6% chose "significantly worse." Notably, no agency respondents reported that their CTV purchases performed worse than TV.

Respondents provided comments regarding their perceptions of CTV performance versus TV, including:

• "Better metrics with CTV, more data is available for ROI analysis."
• "Better and more efficient in terms of cost, but also not as effective in terms of broad reach."
• "Each serves a different purpose. TV for broad branding and awareness; CTV for more specific messaging/action."
• "We get better data with CTV, allowing us to truly see the impact of ad spend."

Brief answers included:

• "Better reach,"
• "Higher response,"
• "Better coverage ratio over broader audiences,"
• "More targeted reach,"
• "More data,"
• "Greater engagement,"
• "More measurable for Rx lift."

One of the few negative remarks received was, "The link zones and broadcast signals are not specific enough geographically for our local advertisers." Another stated, "Better audiences but worse pricing."

Several respondents felt they lacked sufficient experience with CTV to provide input, but one remarked, "Still early in our CTV journey, but we love the reporting transparency, real-time measurements, and more creative options with this platform." Another stated, "We get better data with CTV, allowing us to truly see the impact of ad spend."

As advertising rebounded in 2021, CTV emerged as the fastest-growing video advertising platform across all verticals. Given this trend, it's expected that 2022 will mark the first annual cycle where CTV ads capture a significant market share of life science advertising away from traditional TV, partly due to the decline of linear TV.