Voice is quietly becoming a go-to medium for pharma. Talk Health, held at Le Meridien, Philadelphia on September 11, 2023, brought the channel’s emerging thought leaders together to turn up the volume.
Evan Johnson, Chief of Staff at Watzan, moderated the Success panel in which Dr. Dillard Elmore, podcaster Miranda Schmalfuhs, and Robert Dougherty, President of Dougherty Media, talked about what HCPs want to hear and successes to date. The key takeaway was Dr. Elmore’s point, “Audio is not selfish. I can get updates while I mow the lawn or do laundry.” The two hours a day he spends with audio is cutting into his video time. Schmalfuhs explained how easy it is to produce. Dougherty said, “It’s a different type of media. You can use it to put branded messaging into market that you really can’t do with a banner.”
Querida Anderson hosted the Publishing panel that featured: Matt Lewis, Chief AI Officer at Inizio; Noah Gorsky, Head of Publisher Partnerships at IQVIA; and Chirag Patel who works on the R-Discovery platform at Cactus. Patel noted that, “Audio opens up huge opportunities for publishers. Especially for non-English speakers.” Lewis’ comment explains why 72% of publishers plan to put more resources into audio: “People will find that digital audio leads to more script lift than print.” Gorsky said, “It’s early days for audio. When we show advertisers how to tell their stories, it will be massive.”
Charles Benaiah, Founder of Medspoke, moderated a panel with Brooke Fleming, Senior Director, Orchestrated Customer Engagement at Sage Therapeutics and Denise Myers, Senior Vice President of Media at CMI. CMI pioneered HCP audio with Medspoke. Myers had all the stats. “Nearly 50% of HCPs say podcasts are important to their professional development. 20% of HCPs listen to 15-30 minutes of medically relevant podcasts per week.” Fleming said, “Our customers want the channel. It’s short, KOL-driven, and ideal for busy people. It’s time to do more than run pilots with HCP audio.”
The incomparable Calvin Butts, Jr. opened and closed the event. He said, “Audio is here now. Pfizer spends more than McDonald’s on radio!” He also thanked the sponsors: CMI Media Group, Intervid, IQVIA, Medspoke, and PM360.
