Treato Finds That 30% of Consumers Take Action After Viewing Prescription Ads

77% of Respondents Would Like Erectile Dysfunction Ads to Air Later or Not at All

 

PRINCETON, New Jersey and OR YEHUDA, Israel, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

According to a new survey by Treato.com, nearly 30% of consumers have been prompted into action by direct to consumer (DTC) advertising for an Rx (prescription) medication.  As healthcare marketers gather in Washington DC for this week’s DTC National conference, Treato™ released the results of its online survey regarding consumer attitudes on pharmaceutical advertising.  In an effort to promote the voice of patients and caregivers, Treato gathers big data from billions of online conversations and uses analytics to translate them into meaningful insights.  

Treato conducted the online survey of visitors to its site.  Of the 475 respondents:

  • 30% have either spoken to a doctor about specific medications or recommended that friends or family do the same, as the result of watching or reading an ad.
  • When asked about the conditions treated by top Rx advertisers, Viagra and Cialis (erectile dysfunction) scored highest for recognition of symptoms treated, at 90% and 80% respectively, while Humira (arthritis) scored lowest at 47%.
  • 77% of respondents would prefer that erectile dysfunction ads either run after 9 PM, or not run at all.

In further results, consumer verbatim comments regarding Rx advertising included the following:

  • ” The doctor needs to suggest your meds not you”
  • “Extremely bad to self-diagnose a condition and request medication”
  • “Learning all the side effects of the medicine is a turn-off”
  • “Makes me feel like everyone is going to DIE that takes these prescriptions!!”
  • “Very embarrassing when they come on TV and you are with your children or company! It should be stopped immediately. I know “a lot” of people who feel the same.”

“The voice of today’s health consumer is ever more critical to major pharmaceutical companies, especially given the volume of DTC advertising they are investing in,” explained Ido Hadari, CEO of Treato.  “By uncovering what they are thinking and what they are experiencing, we are committed to making the patients’ voice a respected component of healthcare decisions.”

About Treato 

Treato™, the leading source of real health insights from millions of real health consumers, uses patented analytics and big data technology to turn billions of disparate online conversations into meaningful social intelligence.  With 2 billion posts analyzed and continuously expanding, Treato is partnered with 13 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies and is its consumer desktop and mobile sites see millions of visitors each month.

Treato is privately held with offices in Israel and Princeton, NJ. Investors include Reed Elsevier Ventures, OrbiMed Partners and New Leaf Venture Partners, among others. For more information please visit http://treato.com and corp.treato.com.

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Ronit Eliav    
Manager, Marketing    
+972-54-286-6663    
[email protected]  

Alicia Libucha
Media Relations
+1-857-205-0919
[email protected]

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