Research reveals 79% of adults 50+ stream, are more amenable to advertising than the general population

DeepIntent, the leading healthcare advertising technology company built to influence better patient health and business outcomes, revealed new research that illuminates the streaming habits and impact of pharmaceutical advertising on adults over the age of 50. In partnership with Roku, Inc., DeepIntent shared the research at the company’s second annual Innovating with Intent event focused on the future of connected TV (CTV) in the pharmaceutical industry.

Because people are more likely to be diagnosed with conditions as they age, older patients are naturally an important demographic for pharmaceutical advertisers. Surveying more than 3,000 U.S. adults across every age group, DeepIntent and Roku dispelled the common misconception that older patients aren’t as easy to reach on CTV as younger audiences.

Marking the fourth time DeepIntent has surveyed patients to better understand their feelings toward pharmaceutical advertising and how it factors into their health and wellness journeys, the research found that 79% of adults 50 and over use streaming services. The research also found that 66% prefer advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) services, which means that these so-called “silver streamers” are even more amenable to advertising than the general population.

Continuing to grow in popularity, CTV enables pharmaceutical brands to reach this demographic with messaging that’s both relevant and privacy-safe. However, just 23% of patients 50 and over find the pharmaceutical ads they see on streaming services relevant to their lives, compared with 40% of patients under 50.

“Pharma advertisers don’t always use data-driven programmatic targeting on CTV to its full potential. As a result, silver streamers feel ads aren’t relevant, which in turn makes them less likely to inspire action,” said Marcella Milliet Sciorra, Chief Marketing Officer at DeepIntent. “DeepIntent was founded with the core belief that advertising technology can measurably improve patient outcomes, and our research highlights a massive opportunity for pharmaceutical brands to do that by reaching their most coveted demographic with relevant messaging on CTV.”

“People 50 and over are the primary audience for many pharma brands, who may not realize that this demographic is really driving streaming growth,” said Eric Lloyd, Head of Industry, Health, at Roku. “There is a tremendous opportunity to reach people over 50 in streaming environments, which offer much more than traditional TV in terms of impacting the patient journey and driving script lift. The survey results only confirmed that it’s paramount for pharma advertisers to capitalize on this paradigm shift.”

Conducted between March 9 and 16, the survey also found:

• 77% of patients 50 and over have a diagnosed condition
• 49% of patients 50 and over view relevant advertising positively
• 7% of patients 50 and over have made an appointment to see a healthcare provider (HCP) after seeing a pharmaceutical ad, compared with 21% of patients under 50
• 96% of cord-cutters 50 and over are happy with their decision to cancel their cable/satellite TV service
• and more

BCS Bureau