Healthcare Advertising faces upheaval with small share of total online spend.

Outsell, Inc. has released its “Annual Ad Spending Study 2006: Business, Healthcare and Consumer Advertisers.” The study is the first in the information industry to reveal detailed trends about advertisers within these three distinct segments. This is the second report in Outsell’s Ad Spending Study Series and analyzes results of a Web-based survey Outsell fielded to 1,214 advertisers in November 2005.

The report reveals “where, why and how fast” business, healthcare and consumer advertisers are moving online, as well as the impacts of these shifts on print ads, events, and TV/radio. It is the first to make sector-by-sector comparisons of adoption rates for online advertising, budget allocations, and even the effectiveness of Google versus Yahoo! versus MSN. The Outsell research also includes a list of essential actions for companies wanting to navigate the changing advertising marketplace.

AMONG KEY FINDINGS:

– Total healthcare sector is facing the largest upheaval, with the lowest share of online spending but the fastest-growing rate for online advertising, search engines, Webinars, sponsored online content, and e-mail marketing combined.

– Total online ad spending will grow 18.8 percent in 2006, eight times faster than TV/radio and six times faster than print. Outsell estimates that online ad spending growth in business and healthcare will continue near 20 percent through 2008 and will remain higher than consumer markets. Consumer markets were early adopters of online ads, so they have already reached 20.4 percent of total spending, twice the 10 percent online share for healthcare.

– Search engine spending, set to rise 26.3 percent in 2006, is the fastest growing of all major marketing methods. Healthcare search-based ad spending is the runaway growth leader at 66.1 percent.

– Webinars and lead-generation using sponsored content are also surging, with healthcare again growing twice as fast as other markets.

For more information at http://outsellinc.com