Study: Women choose the Net for health information

Health information is big business, especially for women. According to a recent comScore study, 60% of women said they preferred getting health information from the Internet. Comparatively only about 51% chose to get information from friends or family members.

by Kristina Knight

Doctors are still the number one resource (81% of women choose doctors). However it is interesting to note that the Internet has surpassed friends and family.

While the difference isn't huge between friends/family and online resources, it is clear that online health information websites are a good investment for advertisers. Because women choose to gain information about illnesses - from the common cold to cancer information - advertisers are likely to attract this highly-sought-after demographic by using contextual targeting in their ad campaign.

Carolina Petrini, comScore senior vice president said, "(T)oday. . .more and more women are turning to the Internet to sort through the clutter and organize their findings. As is true in many other areas of healthcare, the consumer has become much more proactive. She wants to be informed of all of her choices, and she is relying on the Internet for answers.”

In addition to choosing online resources, women are increasingly turning to user-generated content websites - blogs or video-sharing sites - rather than medical or pharmaceutical websites.