Globally, Pharma's Digital Spend is (Still) Only 6% of Total Promotional Budget

According to Cegedim Strategic Data (CSD) -- a provider of healthcare promotional audits -- in the last 6 months of 2013, the global pharma industry spent nearly $2.5 billion on all digital channels  including pharma company websites, social media, web banner advertising in professional online journals and mobile apps.That works out to be approximately 6% of the total audited marketing expenditure, which includes "traditional, personal promotional channels;" i.e., sales reps.NOTE: I am uncertain if this CSD audit includes direct-to-consumer (DTC) promotional spending, which is only legal in the U.S. Also, keep in mind how CSD estimates these numbers; i..e., by polling thousands of physicians.While the total expenditure remained flat, spending on some digital channels -- i.e., e-detailing, e-mailing and e-meetings -- was up over 14% in 2013 versus 2012. The total spend for these channels in 2013 was $1.9 billion (see "Pharma's Flat Global Marketing Spend").Every year, audits like this one claim that digital spending by the pharmaceutical industry is increasing in absolute dollars (see, for example, "Will 2013 Be the Year of 'Digital Pharma?'"). Yet expressed as a percentage of the total promotional spend, digital's share always hovers around 5% or 6% -- even when spending as a whole remains flat as in this case! How can that be? [See comments to this post from Christopher Wooden, VP Global Promotion Audits, Cegedim, for his explan...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Cegedim Digital Pharma ePromotion marketing mix Source Type: blogs