The health information ecosystem has fractured. Your audiences — patients, caregivers, HCPs — are forming opinions about health, about treatments, and about your brand in spaces you don’t control, from voices you didn’t choose, through channels that weren’t built for healthcare.
And here’s the paradox: they’re being influenced by sources they don’t fully trust, while the sources they do trust are losing their grip on influence.
We partnered with The Harris Poll to survey over 1,500 U.S. consumers and 200 primary care physicians to understand what’s really happening, and what healthcare communicators need to do differently.
Why 73% of consumers now use emerging media sometimes or often for health information, and what that means for your channel strategy.
How 92% of consumers say that influencers help them understand current events
Why 61% of consumers prefer “common sense” framing in news over data and science, and what that means for your messaging
The stat that should keep every pharma communicator up at night: 77% of HCPs are already seeing patients’ health suffer because they chose to follow the advice from emerging media over medical experts
Get the full findings from our proprietary study with The Harris Poll — including the trust, influence, and emerging media insights reshaping healthcare communications strategy.
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Conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll, March 2026.
1,510 U.S. consumers and 200 primary care physicians surveyed.