Exposure to online media increases treatment's awareness and favorability: Study

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results from its third annual study Online Marketing Effectiveness Benchmarks for the Pharmaceutical Industry, which found that exposure to online media, including a brand's website and online ads, had a significant positive lift on a treatment's awareness and favorability. The results also showed that visitation to a brand's website generated significant levels of incremental new patient starts and refills. The study, performed in conjunction with pharmaceutical marketing consultancy Evolution Road, LLC, is designed to help pharmaceutical marketers better assess the success of their online marketing activities.

The study evaluated the impact of various online marketing activities including banner ads, rich media, search marketing and visits to a brand website on a pharmaceutical brand's awareness, favorability and sales results among both patients and prospects. The study was based on comScore's one million person U.S. panel, for which online activity is passively observed, and survey data collected throughout the past several years.

Branded Websites Play a Critical Role in Pharmaceutical Marketing

The study found that branded websites were the most effective form of online pharmaceutical marketing, with existing patients increasing their refill rate nearly 25 percentage points compared to those who did not visit the site. Patients who were new to a treatment increased an incremental 11.9 percentage points higher than the control. Exposure and interaction with rich media advertisements also improved refill rate among existing patients with a 14.0-point lift versus the control group.