Independent channel analysis and 90-day implementation roadmap for Connecticut's largest integrated health system.
Prepared for Hartford HealthCare Leadership · April 2026
Each channel scored on a 100-point scale based on 4 factors: audience reach within your service area, cost efficiency per patient acquisition, attribution clarity, and competitive saturation in the Connecticut healthcare market.
Still the highest-reach channel in CT for 45+ demographics, but linear viewership is declining 8 to 12 percent year-over-year. Heavy spend here without a shift toward addressable TV leaves dollars on the table.
Reduce linear broadcast allocation by 20 percent. Redirect savings into addressable TV segments targeting high-value service lines like cardiac, orthopedics, and oncology.
Programmatic display is saturated across healthcare in the Hartford-New Haven DMA. Click-through rates for health system display average 0.08 percent, well below the 0.35 percent benchmark for search-driven placements.
Cut generic display by 40 percent. Reallocate to retargeting-only display campaigns tied to specific service line landing pages where intent is already established.
CTV ad spend in healthcare grew 42 percent in 2025. Over 90 percent of CTV inventory is now transacted programmatically, giving you precision that broadcast cannot match. 51 percent of US consumers now recall seeing healthcare ads while streaming.
Double CTV allocation. Target by zip code clusters around each of your 9 hospitals. CTV allows frequency capping that prevents ad fatigue, a persistent problem with linear spots.
Digital out-of-home along I-91 and I-84 corridors delivers strong impressions for brand awareness. Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury transit routes cover your core service areas. Attribution remains the weak point.
Maintain current DOOH spend but add QR-code call-to-action on all placements linked to service line microsites. This creates a measurable conversion path from an otherwise awareness-only channel.
Podcast and streaming audio listenership in CT skews toward employed adults 25 to 54, a demographic that makes household healthcare decisions. Most CT health systems are not buying this channel yet, creating a low-competition window.
Launch a programmatic audio pilot targeting commuters in the Hartford metro. Audio ads for urgent care, primary care access, and wellness screenings perform well in this format due to high completion rates above 95 percent.
The Hartford Courant and regional weeklies still carry healthcare ads, but readership has declined sharply. Cost per impression is 4 to 6 times higher than digital alternatives. Attribution is near zero.
Reduce print to community health event sponsorships only. Eliminate recurring display ads in print publications. Redirect budget to CTV and programmatic audio.
Recommended monthly distribution for a quarterly media budget. Allocations are weighted toward channels with the highest score-to-spend efficiency in the Connecticut healthcare market.
| Channel | Monthly Spend | Percent of Budget | Change vs. Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTV / Streaming | $186,000 | 28 percent | +12 pts |
| TV / Broadcast (Addressable) | $146,000 | 22 percent | -8 pts |
| Programmatic Audio | $100,000 | 15 percent | +15 pts (new) |
| Out-of-Home (Digital) | $93,000 | 14 percent | No change |
| Digital Display (Retargeting Only) | $80,000 | 12 percent | -10 pts |
| Print (Community Events Only) | $20,000 | 3 percent | -9 pts |
| Measurement and Attribution Tools | $40,000 | 6 percent | +6 pts (new) |
| Total Monthly | $665,000 | 100 percent |
A phased rollout that minimizes disruption to active campaigns while progressively shifting spend toward higher-performing channels.
Baseline figures estimated from Connecticut healthcare market benchmarks and publicly available performance data. 90-day targets reflect achievable improvements from the channel mix shift described above.
| Channel | Metric | Current Baseline | 90-Day Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTV / Streaming | Video completion rate | 82 percent | 90 percent |
| CTV / Streaming | Cost per completed view | $0.04 | $0.03 |
| TV / Broadcast | Reach (Hartford DMA, 45+) | 68 percent | 72 percent (addressable) |
| Digital Display | Click-through rate | 0.08 percent | 0.32 percent (retargeting) |
| Programmatic Audio | Listen-through rate | N/A (new channel) | 95 percent |
| Out-of-Home | QR scan rate | N/A (no QR currently) | 0.4 percent of impressions |
| All Channels | Blended patient acquisition cost | $285 | $210 |
| All Channels | Attribution coverage | 35 percent of spend | 80 percent of spend |
Most large health systems work with media agencies that also sell inventory. That creates a structural conflict. The agency recommending your channel mix is the same entity that profits from placing buys on specific channels. Recommendations skew toward whatever generates the highest commission, not the highest patient volume.
Meridian does not sell media inventory. We do not take placement commissions. Our fee is flat, tied to the planning and optimization work, not the volume of media purchased. That means our recommendations are driven by one thing: which channels actually move patients into your system.
We have planned media for Connecticut healthcare organizations for 30 years. We know the Hartford-New Haven DMA, the local broadcast landscape, the commuter patterns, and the community media habits that national agencies miss. That local knowledge, combined with channel-agnostic planning, is what makes this approach different.
Your media budget should work for patient acquisition, not for agency commissions. Independent planning ensures every dollar is measured against outcomes, not impressions.
3 Connecticut healthcare leaders on what changed after moving to independent media planning.
We are holding time next week for a 45-minute working session to walk through these numbers with your team and answer questions about implementation.
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Prepared exclusively for Hartford HealthCare · April 2026