Online Video Big Draw on Health Sites for Marketers & Consumers.

Online video is usage is increasing in the healthcare industry, among both consumers and physicians alike.

Date released in September 2010 by Manhattan Research found that 48% of the 102.3 million US adults who went online for prescription drug information in 2009 viewed online video to learn more about these medications. This was up from 21% of this population in 2007.

In their quest for health-related video content, online health seekers most often turned to health information portals, video-sharing websites and pharmaceutical company sites, according to a 2010 study by Rodale.

Healthcare professionals are also turning to online video for information and education. A 2009 study by Hall & Partners and Google found that 11% of physicians accessed video sites when they were seeking specific health, medical or prescription drug information.

And a separate study by Manhattan Research found that promotion of prescription medications via live video, also known as edetailing, has bounced back after a bumpy start a decade ago. Not only has adoption more than doubled in the past two years, but a significant number of healthcare providers who participated in video detailing said it had also influenced their prescribing behavior, the research found.

User-generated videos posted on the internet are also growing in number. In September 2010, there were 5,000 live surgeries available on YouTube alone.

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