• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 9, 2011

Good Health Media plans to announce this week the acquisition of BeWell.com to support a new online video network that aggregates and distributes videos from medical experts. The topics aim to educate consumers on specific health conditions, Bill Jennings, CEO of Good Health Media, told MediaPost.

The BeWell TV network will aggregate 162 sites with approximately 41 million unique visitors and 350 million monthly impressions, allowing advertisers to tap specific audiences on sites across the Web.

Advertisers will have two choices to advertise across the network, such as pre-roll videos or custom sponsorships. Pfizer, for example, created a series of videos with a doctor called "Maximize Your Minutes with the Doctor." It explains how to ask doctors questions depending on the condition.

BeWell.com, cofounded by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, chief medical editor of NBC News, and Dr. Susan Love, a breast cancer surgeon, researcher and author, provides credible health information from medical authorities directly to the public.

Another BeWell.com cofounder, Elizabeth Browning, says the network will create high-quality health programming that doesn't exist today. The informational videos will support people with specific health conditions or illnesses with information from more than 30 recognized medical professionals, many of whom are authors and media commentators.

Credible content isn't always easy to find.

German researchers suggest that free medical journals filled with glossy ads could sway doctors to prescribe new expensive drugs with unknown long-term risks or side effects, according to Reuters. Some estimate that drugmakers generate between $2 and $5 for each dollar spent on advertising in medical journals, making it more important than ever for consumers to have credible destinations when searching for information on specific illnesses online.

"Many smaller sites are not able to create their own video content, so BeWell TV will provide high-quality content," Jennings says. He believes it's all about the content and supporting niche communities such as Dementia Weekly or Alzheimer's Weekly. "We focus on content for diagnosed patients."

Marketers realize that consumers need to find information on illnesses and have begun doing a better job optimizing content for search engines, Jennings says. It also helps people find more condition specific niche Web sites.

Good Health Media is also in the process of considering other distribution options, such as widgets or channels accessible through Internet television such as Google TV and Apple TV. Mobile also provides an option, which likely will come first.

Good Health Media ConditionMatch technology tracks and targets the frequent site visitors to niche health networks, often at half the CPM of the major health portals, according to the company. Advertisers include Merck, J&J, Wyeth, Shire, Takeda, Walmart Pharmacy, and Amgen. Financial backers include Metamorphic Ventures and several individual investors, including Mike Perlis, Forbes CEO; Rick Thompson and Larry Braitman, founders of Adify and Flycast; Joe Apprendi, Collective founder.