Rising Costs and Complexity in Healthcare Will Spur Consumer Demand For Online Health Media

JupiterResearch: Consumer demand for online health-related media and services will increase as changes in healthcare shift more decisions and costs to consumers. .

Those online consumers who have become more proactive about managing their health benefits in the last year are significantly more likely to access various online health-related media and products-such as pharma sites, prescription drug ads, email newsletters, content sites and health assessment and management tools-than average online health users.

. These consumers are becoming more engaged with everything that has to do with health online, including advertisements.

In addition to stronger motivation, new or improved health-related products that have a stronger value proposition for consumers than ones in the past, such as improved search capabilities, cost and treatment-comparison tools, and community-related products, will drive consumer reliance on online health resources.

We expect overall demand of online health media to increase as more consumers are pushed to take greater control of their health decisions and spending. This growth provides a significant opportunity for online health publishers and advertisers, especially those that have been developing more sophisticated capabilities during the last year. US Health Consumer Survey, 2006: Online Health Media Consumption and the Impact of Increasing Health Consumerism Publ 20061003