About.com adds doc-generated video with pharma sponsorship opps
| About.com adds doc-generated video with pharma sponsorship opps | |||
| More than 1,000 physician-generated health videos will be available on About.com Health due to a deal between About.com and Healthology, a distributor of physician-generated health and medical information online. According to Marjorie Martin, general manager of About.com Health, the deal is part of a huge expansion of health content on the site, which will not only add depth to the content available to consumers, but also increase sponsorship opportunities for pharma. See below to read more about About.com's new content and ePharm5's conversation with Marjorie Martin. ----------
As online video becomes more popular, everyone in the industry, including pharma, is trying to determine the best format to present branded messages within it, Martin tells ePharm5. With the Healthology relationship, About.com will experiment with different formats, including short pre-roll ads and follow-up post-roll ads. It will also experiment with mid-roll ads to get users engaged in the video content and entice them to watch until the end. Martin says research indicates that shorter is better received when it comes to branded ads in video. "Online users tend to be fairly impatient," she says, adding that with the Internet, consumers are in control, so they can quickly leave one place and go to another if they don’t find the information they need. Consumer control plays a part in About.com’s expansion. Unlike traditional TV, which presents content in a static schedule and format, the Internet offers the opportunity to deliver more customized solutions for people. Martin says About.com Health is aiming to provide content in every area that consumers need it, including answering their questions about specific topics. For example, a video could allay anxiety about getting a colonoscopy by answering patient questions about the procedure and providing a step-by-step guide with tips for coping with the procedure. The proliferation of online health video also brings with it increased consumer choice, highlighting the need for differentiation in content. For example the physician-generated Healthology content library brings with it depth, credibility, and accuracy. Martin says trust is one of the most important issues when it comes to delivering health information, often because health can be a very emotional topic. "If [consumers] can’t trust the information they’re reading, they’ll never come back," she says. In addition to adding video from Healthology, Martin says that About.com Health will be expanding from its current 70 "guide sites" to roughly 120 in the next six months. She says the company is assessing the areas in which it needs to add content. Women’s Health is one section that will be expanding at great depth, with plans to add information for women at every stage of life. The Mental Health section will also expand to include more content about conditions such as anxiety, obsessive compulsive, post traumatic stress, and borderline personality disorders. Pharmas will continue to have opportunities to sponsor content, including creating custom content, such as podcasts, or customized landing pages about a particular health topic. For example, AstraZeneca (AZ) is sponsoring a six-part podcast series on About.com to educate consumers on coping with heartburn and acid reflux disease. AZ makes the acid reflux drug Nexium. According to About.com, the podcast series was the first of its kind on the site (ePharm5, 8/17/06). |
0 comments:
Post a Comment