Want in on a little secret? Consumers love digital audio. Thanks to a +34% increase in the consumption of digital audio1, 214M Americans are now listening to digital audio monthly1, a number that’s more than doubled since 20121. Translation? 3 out of every 4 Americans (75% of the US 12+ population) is listening to digital audio1. Today’s consumers are hyper-connected. The average U.S. household owns 22 connected devices2. The unbeatable combination of personalized digital music, entertainment, and podcast content plus the ability to listen across a vast array of CES devices has contributed to an all-time high in the amount of time consumers spend listening to digital audio – almost FIVE hours per day1. And that’s at a time when Americans are spending 39% less time with TV and 26% less time with AM/FM radio daily (since 2012)4.
SXM MEDIA AUDIENCE RESEARCH: PHARMA INDUSTRY
As digital audio continues to rise, so do the options for pharma marketers. SXM Media’s dynamic portfolio of streaming (Pandora, SoundCloud), satellite (Sirius XM) and podcasts reaches the important audiences that pharma marketers want.
Our one-of-a-kind audience research study gives valuable insights into our audience’s actions, behaviors, and attitudes across a wide variety of factors, and encompasses all SXM Media platforms across a broad range of audience cohorts. These insights are uniquely valuable and help us inform pharma marketers of specific audiences that can be most intelligently optimized for the best possible campaign outcomes.
Here are just 3 very brief and general takeaways for DTC marketers:
EARBUDS AND HEADPHONES ARE THE NEW POC FOR OUR AUDIENCES:
The connection our listeners have at key moments for pharma is undeniable. 8 in every 10 listeners4 are listening to audio on the way to or from their HCPs, waiting for their HCPs, and/or during their morning and evening routines4 (typically the times when patients are in the habit of taking their RXs). This digital audio connection is significant across a wide spectrum of audience demographics: 78% of our A55+ listeners are listening to audio in these key pharma moments4, while 3 out of 4 listeners aged 65+ are doing the same4 85% of our podcast listeners are leaning into audio content at these significant moments4. Our highest level of audio consumption at these designated times is our older Gen Z female audience: 94% of Women 18-24 are listening to audio at key pharma moments4. Without a doubt, when it comes to digital audio, SXM Media platforms are highly viable channels for pharma brand’s connection with consumers at extremely appropriate moments.
OUR AUDIENCE IS HIGHLY VOCAL WITH THEIR HCPs
What’s extremely significant is the degree to which our audiences are very comfortable expressing their own opinions on prescriptions to their HCPs. This is exactly what DTC marketers hope for, and our research found that regardless of age, we have a an audience that’s very comfortable voicing their opinions about prescription medicines to their doctors (71% of all adult listeners, 70% of Adult 35-54 listeners, and 76% of Adults 55+ and 65+ say they’re comfortable vocalizing their opinions on RXs with their HCPs)4. What’s also worth noting, is that a higher percentage of our African American listeners (80%)4 are comfortable voicing their opinions with their HCPs about RXs. Additionally, this high audience vocality rate with doctors about prescriptions is very consistent across all of our SXM Media platforms: 74% for SoundCloud’s audience, 74% for or Podcast listeners, and Sirius XM’s audience at 73%4.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A TRUSTED SOURCE FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT INFORMATION
Our listeners are self-educators when it comes to pharmaceuticals. Not only are 68% of them researching prescriptions they think they need and reviewing side effects of those RXs, but they’re taking these actions BEFORE they have conversations with their doctors4. It’s also very important to note what our listeners are not doing – which is using social channels for information about treatments for an illness or medical condition. Only 4% of our overall audience uses social media for that purpose, which means a full 96% of our listeners are NOT using social media for that type of information4. This is a huge, scalable audience that doesn’t choose to self-educate on medical conditions or pharma via social media.
A LASTING IMPRESSION FOR PHARMA
A recent study found that digital audio on our platform proved to have a long-lasting impact on memory, with brand impressions lasting up to four months after the initial flight5, which was 36% more of an impression than TV and 49% more than AM/FM radio5. Our audience research illustrates the degree to which our audiences are connected to audio at significant moments for pharma, that our audience is highly vocal with their HCPs regarding prescriptions, and that our listeners cannot be reached or educated on treatments for illnesses or medical conditions via social media. Our pharma research data can help us inform strategy and tactics to help make your pharma campaign success a reality.
We’d love to share our research findings with you as there’s a lot more to it than the highlights in this article, if interested, don’t hesitate to reach out to Lee Ann Longinotti, VP/Head of Industry for Pharma and Healthcare at SXM Media at [email protected]
Sources:
1.Edison Research, The Infinite Dial, Q1, 2023
2.Reuters, 2021
3.Edison Research, The Infinite Dial, Q4, 2022
4.SXM Media, Pharma Audience Research Study, 2023
5.Neuro Insights Study and Pandora Conversion Experiment