The trend: Nearly all of healthcare professionals' (HCPs) medical content consumption is happening via digital channels and sources, according to a July 2025 M3 MI study.

Unpacking the trend: On average, HCPs spend 84% of their weekly time consuming medical information with digital resources.

• Dedicated online sources for medical professionals, such as UptoDate or Medscape, account for 26% of HCPs’ time spent with healthcare content.
• Clinical journal websites account for 14%.
• That’s followed by social networks for physicians, such as Doximity or Sermo (13%)
• Print resources like medical publications combine to make up 16%.

Zooming in: Preferences for digital medical information resources vary by speciality.

For example, surgical and procedural specialties prefer hands-on, visual, and peer-based learning, per CMI Media Group Media Vitals 2024/2025 research shared with EMARKETER.

• 55% of orthopedic surgeons rated clinical education videos as very/extremely important as a way to keep informed of medical developments and treatment options, overindexing by 42% compared with HCPs on average.

Meanwhile, emergency medicine doctors prioritize speed and accessibility, and are the heaviest users of mobile apps and digital drug reference tools for fast answers at the point of care.

• 63% rate medical mobile apps as an extremely/very important information source. That’s 46% higher than the average HCP, per CMI.
• 56% highly value online drug reference tools, overindexing by 9% compared with all HCPs.

Why it matters: Healthcare and pharma brands have recognized that they must meet time-strapped HCPs on online channels, many of which allow drug advertising. Physicians are less available for in-person meetings with pharma reps and now increasingly learn about medications and treatments through digital resources instead. Accordingly, we project healthcare and pharma’s outlay on B2B digital advertising will eclipse $2 billion for the first time this year, up nearly 11% YoY.

Our take: Drug and medical device marketers can deliver more effective and personalized information to clinicians once they gain a better understanding of their preferences for consuming online medical content.

For example, promotional outreach tailored by specialty could include a medical device brand partnering with a surgeon key opinion leader (KOL) to co-create educational videos discussing the KOL’s experience with a surgical product.