How Are Baby Boomers Using the Internet for Health Information?

by Jayne Krahn

About 195 million U.S. adults used the Internet in the last 30 days. Almost 90% of these adults say they used the Internet for health research in the last year, according to Kantar Media’s Online Behavior Study.

While younger adults make up a large chunk of the respondents who use the Internet, Baby Boomers also use the web for health and wellness information. Of the 73 million adults over the age of 50 that use the Internet, 86% (64 million) say they used the Internet for health research in the past year.

Other data points about the over 50-year-old population of Internet users:

1. 78% say that the Internet is somewhat/very important as a health information source.
2. 41% of these adults access the Internet daily.
3. About half spend 2 hours or less online every day.
4. They are 24% more likely to say that their reason for online health research in the past year was to research a medication after receiving a prescription.
5. About 62% used social media on the Internet for health and wellness with 37% responding that they watched informational video clips about health and wellness.
6. This group of adults is 47% more likely to click on interactive Internet advertisements about medications, products or services.

Using data from this study can help agencies and marketers understand ailment sufferers, treatment and how to best reach them. For more information about accessing full study results, contact us here.

The MARS 2013 Online Behavior Study is a valuable tool in assisting healthcare marketers and agencies make better decisions on how to incorporate online into traditional Rx & OTC marketing and media strategies. The MARS Online Behavior Study is fielded as a re-contact among the MARS OTC/DTC Study respondents who access the Internet.