News

Health Media Network buys pediatric and women's health DOOH networks

May 13, 2013

Health Media Network, a point-of-care digital out-of-home media company in the U.S., has acquired the ad-supported digital signage screen assets of KidsCare TV and Women's Healthcare TV in doctors' offices throughout the country, according to an announcement from HMN.

According to the announcement, HMN is now the largest POC Women's Health Network and Pediatric Network in the country with more than 6,400 women's health doctors and 4,511 children's specialists. With this acquisition, HMN adds substantial scale and market share to its arsenal of IP addressable point-of-care networks.

According to industry data published by consulting company DTC Perspectives Inc., POC will be at least 10 percent of direct-to-consumer budget allocations in the next five years. That equates to $400-500 million in advertising spending.

In addition to the acquisition, HMN has signed a long-term licensing agreement with Care Media Holdings for its proprietary specialty content. Care Media places screens and delivers exclusive medical education content to doctors' waiting rooms nationwide. Content is delivered via broadband and is advertiser supported. This medium of communicating with patients is an increasingly powerful connecting point between the consumers, marketers and advertisers.

Philip M. Cohen is president and CEO of Care Media Holdings, and the primary content developer for these networks. Formerly director of special markets with Twentieth Century Fox, Cohen has been producing educational content for patients, doctors and health care providers for decades, the company said.

"Phil has a great reputation as a healthcare content producer and a tremendous following with doctors, physician office staff and patients who rely on Care Media's content to educate, inform and entertain at the point-of care," said Christopher Culver, HMN's president and CEO. "The acquisition of Care Media's digital assets continues our quest to become the largest IP addressable digital media company in the point-of-care space."

Research proves that a majority of consumers find advertising to be more credible when seen in a doctor's office than when seen on broadcast television. "We leverage the implied endorsement of the consumer's trusted healthcare provider with Care Media's place-based networks in pediatric and OB/GYN waiting rooms," Cohen said. "Year after year, multiple studies of our networks have shown that contextually relevant ads generate high recall levels."

WHC TV boosts HMN's network reach to more than 5,300 OB/GYN doctors in more than 3,000 offices, generating more than 5 million monthly impressions against an influential female consumer and family decision maker.

Pediatric reach for HMN is equally strong. The numbers propel HMN to be the largest pediatric network in the country with more 4,000 pediatricians in network, generating 7.1 million monthly impressions with a dwell-time of 23 minutes, according to the announcment.

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