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Dear Reader,
There is much controversy and discussion this month
regarding the FDA, so let’s get to it. The FDA issued several warning
letters to high profile pharmaceutical companies that could have positive
impact on display ad spending levels for online promotion. Warnings were
issued to several high profile companies in which the FDA claimed that
DDMAC rules are being broken on Google sponsored links (search
advertising) because the copy is not providing fair balance relative to
claims and benefits VS side effects and risk. The FDA indicates that lack
of space is not a valid excuse for regulatory compliance of promotion.
These standards will make it difficult for a company to use search for branding
purposes because a link out to fair balance will not suffice. The product
claims and benefits must be directly adjacent to side effects and risk.
The impact will be one of two things.
- Pharma
adapts and shifts search usage to reminder ads, unbranded ads, or
“coming soon” in which no claims are offered within the text of
search.(This approach will defeat the contextual value of the search
model)
- Search
dollars (currently at 46% of total online) shift to Display. Hope springs eternal!
You can read more about this, including linking to the FDA
warning letters, on our blog.
An FDA representative has also voiced an opinion on Pharma’s
participation in UGC through a recent interview by Mark Senak of
Fleishman Hilliard. Pharma has been slow to participate in social media
due to possible user discussion of off label use and mandatory reporting
of adverse events. Few companies have wanted to take the associated risk
of using this medium as a promotion channel but the interview does in
fact provide a bit of guidance if not comfort in the right direction.
“The upshot is that the FDA doesn't categorically prohibit
pharmaceutical companies from engaging in social media. It's not the
medium, it's the message," explained Dr. Jean Ah Kang, special
assistant to Tom Abrams at the FDA's Division for Drug Marketing,
Advertising and Communications, in charge of Web 2.0 policy development.
Although Pharma is still not expected to fully embrace the
possibilities of social media in the short term, the interview continues
to stir the pot and subsequent interest by clients that want to engage in
the realm of 2.0. You can read
more about this, including a link to the FDA podcast interview, on our blog.
Lastly, after a slow start to the year we are seeing new
activity and client buzz that indicates the second half of the year will
pick up smartly. We are cautiously optimistic that 3rd and 4th
quarter will track closer to ”normal”.
2009 began slower than expected due to an unprecedented number of
late campaign launches.
As always, feel free to reach out to us with questions or
comments.
Cheers,
Ray Thibodeau, Vice President
Network News
Online Ad Growth Slowed to 11% in
2008
Source: Mediapost.com
Online advertising growth was cut by more
than half last year to 10.6% as the recession put the brakes on Internet
ad spending after years of eye-popping gains.
According to the latest figures released
Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers,
online advertising last year reached $23.4 billion, with the
fourth-quarter total of $6.1 billion virtually unchanged from each of the
four previous quarters.
The 2.6% increase in fourth-quarter ad
revenue compared to a year ago was the smallest since 2002 as the usual
holiday season surge in ad spending failed to materialize. The 51% of
total online ad dollars spent during the second half of 2008 was also the
lowest percentage for the last six months of any year since 2002.
Click
here for more...
eMarketer: Web's Cut of Ad Dollars to
pass 15%
by 2013
Source: Mediaweek
The longstanding complaint in online
advertising circles is that the Web has yet to receive its fair of ad
spending, considering the amount of time most Americans spend online
these days.
Conventional wisdom has been that online
advertising still pulls in less than 10 percent of all media dollars,
while more and more users spend as much as 20 and 30 percent of their
media time surfing the Internet.
Yet according to a new report issued by
eMarketer, online industry executives may soon have less to complain
about. The researcher predicts that the Web’s share of ad dollars will
approach 10 percent this year and will exceed 15 percent by 2013. Those
projections are based on recent trending, as the Internet’s share of
total spending has been gradually increasing by a rate of one percent
each year, found eMarketer.
Click
here for more...
What Sells
Lotame: Size Matters In Online
Advertising
Source: Adotas.com
ADOTAS — Medium rectangle ads have an
advantage over the leaderboard format, according to a new study that
compared the impact of different online ads.
Conducted by Lotame, a platform that
enables targeted advertising to customizable audiences through social
data, the study showed that 300 x 250 “medium rectangle” ads were view
longer than the 728 x 90 “leaderboard” format typically found at the top
of a page, and 160 x 600 “skyscraper” ads. The study was based on 148.3
million ads served in 2009.
While relative advertising rates for the
three ad sizes vary according to the Website, page position and other
factors, few if any reflect the distinct differences in the average time
spent viewing each ad size. Of the ads studied by Lotame, internet users
spent an average of 13 seconds viewing each medium rectangle, 5.4 seconds
viewing each leaderboard, and 1.9 seconds viewing each skyscraper. More...
Connecting the Dot Coms
As the EHS network expands so does your advertising
revenue potential. The e-Healthcare Solutions referral program provides
cash awards to existing partners for helping to spread the word. To
qualify for your referral award you simply need to refer a new website to
join the e-Healthcare Solutions Network of Healthcare Websites, by
contacting Craig with
their details.
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e-Healthcare Solutions Blog
Rants and Raves about Online Advertising
www.e-healthcaresolutions.com/blog
Feedback?
If you have feedback or ideas on what you
would like to see featured in an upcoming newsletter, send us an email.
e-healthinsider@e-healthcaresolutions.com
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