Is YouTube the new destination for health and pharmaceutical information?
When I think about online health information sources, WebMD.com, Healthline.com, RealAge.com and a few other well-established sites come to mind. YouTube.com, however, was not on the list. That is, until now. After reading numerous blogs and articles about pharmaceutical companies introducing "health channels" and pharmaceutical ads on YouTube.com. I had to check it out.
According to Cliff Mintz's BioJobBlog, King Pharmaceuticals was the first of the pharmaceutical companies to post on YouTube with an unbranded blood pressure video back in early 2007. More recently Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline have added a variety of health related videos on Youtube. What Cliff did not mention was the multitude of other medical-, health- and pharma-related videos that make YouTube an interesting place to look for health info.
Big Pharma
Johnson & Johnson's Health Channel currently includes 13 health-related videos including topics such as yoga for kids, diet, exercise, sexually transmitted diseases, and gastric bypass surgery, to name a few. Other than the J&J brand, no product advertising is present.
J&J may be making a great strategic decision by using YouTube.com as host for their health channel, rather than building their own destination site.
- They have created their own space, away from the standard YouTube page
- YouTube.com already has high traffic numbers, so they are guaranteed traffic
- They are taking little risk since they are currently providing health information only, and no ads
- YouTube allows them to control whether users can comment on videos
If J&J is able to turn their space on YouTube into a credible health information destination they may be able to introduce ads for their own products later on without much negative sentiment.
GSK has taken a different approach, using YouTube.com as a place to show corporate videos that make GSK look like a sexy place to work. Other videos, also related to recruitment, are meant to answer questions for people looking at GSK as an employer.
To GSK's likely dismay, there are also many videos using product names for products like Avandia (type 2 diabetes) that are unflattering, inflammatory, and most definitely not put out by GSK. I found no less than ten with titles such as "Avandia Lawyer" or "Avandia Attorney."
Smaller Health Channels
To promote health education, some smaller clinics and hospitals are using YouTube to promote themselves and to provide health advice to their patients. According to Bio-Medicine.org the Builth and Llanwrtyd Medical Practice in rural Wales has begun using the site to teach patients about the correct use of medicine, medical tests, etc.
Related Videos
When playing a video, YouTube also includes a list of "related" videos on the right side of the page. Sometimes these are very similar to the selected video. However, just as often the other videos listed are quite distracting, and not so related. For example, the Canadian Erectile Difficulties Resource Centre has posted a Viagra commercial as a traffic driver to their website. A video listed in the "Related Videos" includes an image of two tapirs mating. Funny? Yes. Appropriate for business? Probably not.
What I expect from YouTube.com
But health videos on YouTube get even better. For example, when you search for "Prozac" the results provide a slew of videos with titles such as "Prozac and Windows Media Player" (nice music and fun to watch); "The Prozac Buddha" (a short film), and my personal favorite, "Prozac in the Drinking Water – Nutrition by Natalie" (things you never new were in your drinking water – Prozac and a whole lot more). Are there any actual Prozac ads? None that I found. And I am not sure that an actual ad would stand out well with the hundreds of other videos already using the Prozac name.
Is YouTube.com a good place to find health Info?
YouTube is still a hodge-podge of videos of just about every kind. If you want health information, it may or may not be a good place to get it. But if you are willing to wade through a wide array of silly, educational, gross, wacky, and very serious videos, you may find what you are looking for.
Should markets use YouTube.com? I think yes. But make sure there is a clear strategy before going in. Posting videos without giving them a home, like the J&J Health Channel, may be less than productive.
Comments
Another interesting discussion on this emerging topic can be found in this Forrester teleconference on Health 2.0 linked below. I think it supplements your blog post nicely.
http://www.forrester.com/rb/teleconference/what_you_need_to_know_about_health/q/id/5080/t/1
Posted by: Beth | August 11, 2008 01:51 PM
Beth - Thank you for the comment and link to Forrester's presentation.
Posted by: Ed Feather | August 11, 2008 03:43 PM
As "proprietor" of the jnjhealth channel, I appreciate your thoughtful article, and the many relevant links. Our goal was to make this an unbranded site with useful consumer health information, though as you point out, there is certainly a potential for advertising. Another goal was the very unscientific one of "let's see what happens if we do this!" So far, we've learned a lot, and are still learning.
Posted by: Rob Halper | August 11, 2008 04:11 PM
Rob - Thank you. I look forward to seeing where your experiment goes. I really think it is a great start, and sets an excellent example for the rest of the industry.
Posted by: Ed Feather | August 11, 2008 04:26 PM
thanks for the interesting post!
I bookmarked your page and revisit it now regularly!
Thanks and have a nice day!
Marc
Posted by: marc | August 20, 2008 04:26 PM
Thank you Marc. Hope you enjoy my future posts.
Posted by: Ed Feather | August 20, 2008 07:13 PM