New research on healthcare media provides marketers with clarity on consumer preferences—and challenges assumptions on how and what your community wants to hear from you.

1. Healthcare Media
Research Report
2012

2. Introduction
• The findings cited in this report are based on
research conducted by True North Custom Media
om Q2 2011 through Q4 2012. The data is
aggregated om more than 30 markets comprised
of 6,060 households nationwide.
• These findings were gained through
administration of direct mail surveys distributed to
randomly selected samples of households that
receive hospital-sponsored magazines.
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Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

3. Executive Summary
• Print is the most preferred channel for receiving
health & wellness information.
• Over half (52.3%) of households spend 10 minutes
or more reading a hospital magazine.
• Over half (52.0%) of readers have taken one or
more actions as a result of reading a hospital
publication.
• Hospital magazines are effective at strengthening
positive perceptions within the community.
• Readers have distinct opinions on preferred topics
in hospital magazines.
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Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

4. Print is the dominant preference for receiving
health & wellness information among consumers.
45.5%
20.2%
13.3% 12.3%
9.1% 8.0% 7.3%
4.6%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Print Websites Television Email Postcards Events Radio Billboards
Media Preference
% Marked Most Preferred
4
N = 3,618 – 4,731 How do you prefer to receive health & wellness information?
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

5. Readers favor reading health & wellness topics
over hospital-centric content.
64.9% 63.7% 63.5% 61.8% 61.8% 59.0% 56.6%
47.0% 44.2%
40.4%
30.1% 27.1%
Aging &
Health
Food &
Nutrition
Advances
in
Medicine
Fitness &
Exercise
Women's
Health
Heart
Health
Men's
Health
Mental
Health
Physician
Profiles
Children's
Health
Patient
Stories
Hospital
News &
Awards
Topic Preference
% Marked Most Interested or Highly Interested
5
N = 1,646 – 3,102
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
How interested are you in reading about each of the following types of health and wellness information?
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

6. Recipients spend a significant amount of time
reading hospital magazines.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Time Spent Reading
Don’t Read Magazine, 23.4%
Fewer than 10 Minutes, 24.2%
10 – 14 Minutes, 15.5%
15 - 29 Minutes, 20.8%
30 - 59 Minutes, 11.9%
1 Hour or More, 4.1%
6
Depth of Reading
Don’t Read Magazine, 20.9%
Read Articles of Interest, 22.5%
Skim the Issue, 23.2%
Read Most of the Issue, 21.7%
Read Cover to Cover, 11.7%
How much time do you generally spend reading [publication]?
Which of the following best describes how you read [publication]?
Time Spent Reading N = 2,336
Depth of Reading N = 2,570
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

7. Over half (52.0%) of readers have taken one or
more actions due to reading a hospital publication.
19.9% 19.8%
24.2%
7.2%
4.3%
1.3% 2.7%
8.3%
5.0%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Action Taken
(Multiples Responses Allowed)
7
In the last 12 months, which of the following actions have you taken as a result of reading [publication]?N = 1,682
According
to
the
Direct
Marke>ng
Associa>on,
typical
direct
mail
response
rates
are
between
1.3%
and
3.4%.
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

8. Conclusion
• Hospital magazines offer the greatest reach into
a local market community.
– Print is the most preferred medium for receiving
health & wellness information.
– People are willing to spend a large amount of time
(15+ minutes) reading a hospital magazine.
– People are very likely to take some form of action as
a result of reading a hospital magazine.
– Hospital magazines are effective at strengthening
positive perceptions in the community.
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Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

9. APPENDIX
11
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

10. Demographics
Male;
63.2%
Female;
36.0%
N/A; 0.9%
Gender
<30; 7.5%
30-39;
22.1%
40-49;
21.5%
50-59;
21.8%
60-69;
16.4%
70+; 10.4%
N/A; 0.3%
Age
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Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012

11. Demographics, Cont.
14.2% 15.5% 14.1% 15.3%
10.7%
7.3%
12.7%
3.8% 6.1%
0.3%
< $20k $20k -
$29k
$30k -
$39k
$40k -
$49k
$50k -
$74k
$75k -
$99k
$100k -
$124k
$125k -
$144k
$145k+ N/A
Income
13
Healthcare
Media
Research
Report
2012