The trend: Pharma and healthcare marketing should reflect how digital channels influence the way patients discover and assess drugs and treatments, according to panelists at Advertising Week New York 2026 on Tuesday.

At AdWeek, brands and agencies stressed that digital content’s growing influence on patients shouldn’t diminish healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) role in establishing efficacy, safety, and clinical confidence in treatment plans and prescription drugs. But the “traditional hierarchy” of doctors over patients needs to better account for patients’ growing role in their own care decisions, said Emma Maria Calleja, managing director of healthcare storytelling and behavioral change at Von Peach.

Why it matters: Patients are encountering more health information through social media platforms, search engines and websites, and AI tools. And these channels are shaping their decisions—everything from researching or purchasing products to assessing their own health. For instance, 61% of consumers say they’ve followed health advice on social media even when it contradicted a doctor’s guidance, while 43% (with higher rates among younger generations) say they’ve diagnosed a condition based on health information found online, per our January 2026 US Digital Health survey.

Consumers are also bringing online health information into the doctor’s office to sway prescribing decisions. Some 52% of US patients now ask their physicians for specific medications, while 68% of clinicians say such requests have increased over the past three years, per ZS’ 2026 Future of Health report. Much of this likely stems from greater exposure to medication information across digital channels.

Implications for healthcare and pharma marketers: Marketing shouldn’t devalue HCPs. Clinicians should be viewed as one part of a broader information ecosystem, with their influence on which treatments patients ultimately use varying by drug category. Categories like GLP-1s can be more patient-focused, with marketers investing in consumer education across digital channels to reach people already researching weight loss drugs. More specialized therapies will remain clinician-led, particularly when an HCP must first identify the condition or diagnosis.

Patient and HCP marketing should also be more in sync. “You do all this research on HCPs, and then you run consumer campaigns that are completely disconnected from that research,” said Andrew Stark, chief commercial officer at PulsePoint, during a separate AdWeek New York panel. That disconnect could drive a patient to request one medication while their doctor favors a competitor. Aligning both strategies around the same patient-HCP conversations can help: If doctors are fielding questions about side effects or long-term use, consumer campaigns can address those issues while HCP materials prepare doctors for the questions patients may bring in.