Pharma is Spending More on DTC Advertising But Its Effectiveness is Decreasing, Says New Survey

“The DTC Attitudes, Behaviors, and Preferences Survey” conducted by Health Stories Project – Insights (HSPi) and published within the eyeforpharma Whitepaper “The Great DTC Shake-Up: Patient perspectives on direct-to-consumer advertising” in partnership with Health Perspectives Groups shows that as investment in DTC increases its effectiveness is decreasing. Only 22% of patients interviewed liked seeing advertisements for prescription drugs versus 52% in 1999.

What is more, says eyeforpharma, Pharma’s approach to DTC is "decoupling from patient needs causing patients to disengage from traditional tactics. Only 39% of patients interviewed thought that advertisements for prescription drugs helped them have better discussions with [their] doctor versus 62% in 1999."

"These worrying results," says the report, "show that pharma is not just failing to maximize the value from this increasingly expensive investment but that the current approach to DTC is actually undermining industry efforts to reposition itself as an industry focused on patient needs."

What are the reasons for this? Let's look at the data first.

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