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Industry watchers have for years predicted the arrival of a digital convergence of sorts between medical and consumer marketing. Judging by findings in this year’s MM+M/Swoop Healthcare Marketers Trend Survey (HCMS), that confluence may already be at hand. In fact, to borrow a boating metaphor, marketers seem to view it as their best route through the choppy waters of smaller launch budgets and the new Trump administration.

The closely watched push-pull between linear and advanced TV is considered one gauge of this. Although linear TV usage appears to have retreated in 2024, video and non-linear TV (e.g., addressable, programmatic and connected TV) gave up some of the historic gains they made in 2023, too. What’s more, two old standbys in the promotional toolbox — sales representatives and meetings/events — rebounded following their 2023 declines.

Those results are a demonstration of the aforementioned convergence, and of an adaptive, follow-the-consumer mindset, says Kristen Vayda-Dreitlein, head of omnichannel, type 1 diabetes, at Sanofi.

“Better targeting results in a need for less in the way of mass-marketing channels, and refinement in moveable/responsive targets reduces the need for as much money in non-linear,” she points out.

Tightening the targets

The HCMS has long been a barometer for how well healthcare marketers are meeting constituents’ modern engagement preferences. This year’s study attracted some 113 director-level or above respondents with visibility into their biopharma or medtech companies’ promotional budgets.

Results show the mean overall budget tally for 2024 skidding to its lowest level — $7.2 million — in five years. Most analysts would caution against reading too much into the magnitude of that decline (-21.1%), though.

The size of the 2024 study sample, which was roughly half of 2023’s, coupled with a change in the methodology — eliminating backward-looking questions, which forced a reliance solely on information supplied the prior year — means that any big movements up or down could have been due to a select few respondents.

That said, the results hold directional significance, especially following last year’s 19.7% increase in mean marketing budgets. Marketers see the downshift first and foremost not as a response to some external stimulus but more the result of a deliberate internal decision to prioritize optimization over sheer scale.

“There’s an increasing focus on doing less things but doing the things that you’re doing at a truly optimized and effective level,” notes Derrick Gastineau, head of marketing for Currax Pharmaceuticals.

As Vayda-Dreitlein points out, harnessing the requisite amount of data to deliver optimal frequency normally would require a flat budget at minimum. So businesses are slimming down their outlays by making what she calls “optimization trade-offs” in how they prioritize tactics, channels and messaging frequency.

She perceives the downward investment shift as “correlating with the belief that most businesses are tightening up their targets and really using data to identify the highest propensity audiences to motivate action,” she explains.

Shrinking spend

Caught in the undertow of the receding marketing spend were both physician and patient budgets, which fell to 36.9% and 21.3%, from 47.5% and 26.4%, respectively. Another important decision maker — payers — also saw a universal deprioritization of investment, from 18.5% of the budget in 2023 to just 5.4% in 2024.

Vayda-Dreitlein chalks the latter up to an “anticipation of what could happen with the new administration and on Capitol Hill, probably with many considering adjustments in how much control payers will maintain in the short term, and may be seen impacting long term.”

Other stakeholders — from NPs and PAs to pharmacists — picked up the slack, yet gained incrementally.

It appears that marketers may remain in this period of more disciplined investment for at least another year. When asked to estimate 2025 mean budgets, all three groups (pharma, biotech and devices/diagnostics) appeared to be level-to-slightly-up at $7.4 million, rather than significantly throttling up or down.

“One of the things that surprised me the most was not seeing a greater percentage indicating that they were planning to increase their budget,” acknowledges Gastineau.

Unsurprisingly, then, dealing with “smaller launch budgets” qualified as respondents’ top-ranked challenge, with 60.7% scoring it highly, followed closely by others such as the economy in general (58.9%) and clinical development (57.1%).

The former, says Vayda-Dreitlein, is “a required mindshift” from the pharma of old. “Let’s face it,” she adds, “pharma is a consistent top-three spending industry. [While] we think of ourselves like CPG, retail or tech, we aren’t. We’re finally not following the rules started by old marketers from other places, [and instead] being innovative and using data to guide decisions.”

As for the No. 1 opportunity, that would be its correlate — “doing more with less,” which garnered 70.1% of top-tier votes. Marketers should read this as “doing more with less customer-facing marketing dollars” via use of content and experience.

“What you see reflected there is just the need for really smart prioritization of how dollars are spent,” says Gastineau. That’s a concept that goes hand-in-hand with better channel and tactical pull-through.

Tactical countercurrents

On the HCP side, use of video moderated to 35.4% in 2024, down from 53.4%. That aligns with a corresponding rebound in the use of sales reps as a channel to 60.2%, up from 56.0%, and professional meetings, which spiked to 73.5% from 59.0% a year ago.

While some may have been looking for HCP marketing to double down on its 2023 digital ways, there was no “running it back.” Instead, what we have is a series of moves that can be described as counterintuitive at best and inconsistent at worst.

That said, multiyear trends in use of connected and addressable video portray a gradual movement away from linear, with high intent to use (60.0%) across both HCP and consumer.

One of the reasons for that slow build, says Gastineau, is because regulatory challenges make video “one of the most investment-heavy mediums for us to pursue as marketers.”

Video ads, he says, take “a very delicate balance” between providing an appropriate level of product information, safety considerations and additional education to consumers and HCPs.

But, as long as video is maintained for consumers, marketers get a “two-for-one benefit,” as Vayda-Dreitlein puts it.

“Consumer marketing works for HCPs,” she points out, particularly the upper-funnel type.

What especially stands out on the HCP side is the observed shift to social media. An impressive 76.1% said they intend to increase it this year, demonstrating more of a focus on pull- versus push-style marketing to clinicians.

“The ability for authenticity and conversation in lockstep, and feeling less ‘brand promo in my face’ on these platforms is where I see business success being propelled,” says Vayda-Dreitlein.

Gastineau adds that video and paid social usually “go hand-in-hand,” with the latter often taking the form of shorter-form videos.

On the consumer/patient side, the direction of the marketing mix wasn’t so clear-cut, either. For context, in 2023, DTC marketers had hiked use of traditional print, TV and radio to 81.6%, from 69.9% in 2022, although linear TV use dipped to 44.0% from 59.6%.

As of this year, though, the use of traditional advertising had fallen to 52.2%, with linear TV sliding further to 28.3%. But use of video/non-linear TV and streaming audio (both of which made marked gains in 2023), have also fallen in 2024 to 39.8% and 20.4%, respectively.

Why have both linear and non-linear fallen in tandem? With recent Beltway rhetoric about a potential ban on TV drug ads, this may not be the most ideal time for a high-profile ad campaign. Nevertheless, TV investment does need to expand at some point.

“Video can do double-duty on the funnel rungs — driving awareness, engagement and action — which is different from what we’ve seen in the past,” explains Vayda-Dreitlein. “Tight, authentic, interesting storytelling is key. While the trend is saying one thing now, you will see that shift even inter-year as more decisions are made post initial shake-out of the new [presidential] administration.”

Charting a course

Unfortunately, being on the optimization bandwagon can leave many exposed to “not thinking full funnel to nurture action long-term and focusing much more on short-term gains,” notes Vayda-Dreitlein.

Thus, while those pricey promotional tactics may be out of sight for now, the coming years may see a return to top-of-the-funnel media buys and with it, perhaps, more patient-centricity.

It’s no shock to learn that HCPs are seen as the main business decision-makers, but when asked to rank audiences in importance, respondents indicated a remarkable drop-off between No. 1 physicians/specialists (59.3%) and No. 2 patients/consumers (14.2%).

“At a time when we feel consumers and patients are at the forefront of decision-making, empowerment and health literacy — and, frankly, they can shoot down any recommendation from providers — we as marketers advocate for patient-centric decisions [but] don’t hold up our side of the bargain,” laments Vayda-Dreitlein.

All told, it appears respondents are not too concerned with settling the binary debate between linear versus connected TV (CTV)/over-the-top (OTT) and instead are more interested in finding the right mix of channels to reach the right audience at scale.

And rightly so. Businesses, says Vayda-Dreitlein, are getting better at mastering their data interpretation and using different cues to guide targeted execution of touchpoints and content.

“Everyone is trying a different combination, because there is no more ‘playbook for good pharma marketing,’” she observes.

Gastineau says he and colleagues face a “moving target” with regard to gauging how consumers want to engage with their healthcare options. Marketers have little choice but to follow the whims of consumer sentiment, no matter how mercurial.

“We’re going to see the market continue to move in a direction where we’re meeting customers where they are,” he predicts, “because at the end of the day, the most critical thing for us is to get patients and HCPs the resources and education they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare options. Understanding where they are going for  — and making sure we have a presence there — is really what’s going to drive us.”

Swoop’s Peter Kane on How Results Show Pharma Is Pushing Peak Omni

By Marc Iskowitz

Last year’s budget growth among pharma respondents to the MM+M/Swoop Healthcare Marketers Trend Survey is the main reason outlays avoided across-the-board declines into correction territory. But with those same respondents vowing to hold the line for 2025, a “stay the course” trajectory seems more likely than a boomerang back to growth, predicts Swoop’s Peter Kane, VP of growth marketing. “This year’s findings point to a normalization, rather than making major adjustments,” he opines.

This move toward stability follows several years of post-pandemic shifting. Marketers have found a more stable balance between sales representatives and digital engagement, as well in their integrated approach to personal and non-personal promotion (NPP), for example.

For one, pharma’s use of reps to engage HCPs rebounded to about 69.8% in 2024, from 48.1% in 2023. In turn, drugmakers’ digital composite (a barometer encompassing all digital channels) appears to have moderated, sliding to 92.5% from 95.4% the year prior.

Meanwhile, the yes:no ratio of all respondents saying they reallocated monies between the sales force and NPP has flipped, to 30:70 from 65:35.

The aforementioned equilibrium augurs well for marketers’ ongoing efforts to engage with, and sync up, messaging to health audiences across multiple media channels and touchpoints, Kane notes. “It’s almost as if we’ve finally hit the point of the reality of omnichannel,” he says.

Several signs support that notion. Consider the shift toward patient engagement, evidenced by opportunities cited in responses like increasing consumer health literacy and connecting medical to omnichannel media, both registering a 60.4%, and breaking down silos to patient access, which reached 54.6%. To Kane, these three opportunities suggest a theme of unification. Marketers, he says, are coming around to the need for seamlessness in their messaging across patients and their associated physicians.

People certainly seem willing to talk about or learn from their own and others’ disease experience. This year’s acquisition of the MyHealthTeam patient communities by Swoop, which is integrating those insights into its omnichannel offering, was a huge validation in that regard.

Another sign of omnichannel’s maturation is the continued importance of television advertising via multiple screens. About 60% of marketers say they plan to up investment in video and non-linear TV as a function of the total media mix, versus 42.6% who intend to boost their paid traditional advertising (print, TV, radio).

That suggests the accessibility of streaming and connected TV (CTV)/over-the-top (OTT) solutions, which accelerated during the pandemic, has broadened access for advertisers, notes Kane. This has made it easier for companies to participate in TV marketing, including smaller firms that may have less budget or non-traditional TV advertisers such as medical device companies.

“The biggest screen in the house  is still here and more accessible than ever,” he quips.

Among several other hints of pharma’s “omnichannel reality” are the greater role of social media for HCP engagement, with 77.4% of respondents planning an increase. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also taking on a greater role in facilitating personalized interactions with clinicians, with 65.0% eyeing an opportunity to leverage advanced analytics.

Privacy concerns and compliance — always a factor for healthcare marketers — do influence how budgets are allocated. Yet, while there’s a “high sensitivity” for marketers to ensure their advertising supply chain is 100% privacy compliant, Kane doesn’t expect changes in these regulations to move the budget needle in a significant way.

All of which suggests that the omnichannel mindset has, at long last, sunk in. Indeed, 60.4% reference a digital culture shift.

“What we’ll see going forward from healthcare marketers is that it’s less about, ‘What is omnichannel?’ We’re way beyond that now,” Kane concludes. “It’s more about, ‘How do I take advantage of omnichannel in a way that’s most fitting for my brand?’”

From the April 01, 2025 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media