The U.S. andChina accounted for 86 percent of 2018 spending with the U.S.contributing $15.9 billion and China $14.4 billion. (Photo:Shutterstock)

Make no mistake about it: health care is a for-profit industry.And like any for-profit business, health care companies are bankingon advertising to earn consumers' dollars. Globally, companiesspent $36 billion on health care advertising in 2018.

According to Zenith Media's Healthcare Advertising Expenditure Forecasts,advertising overall is expected to log a growth rate of 4.8 percentin 2019 and 4.3 percent in 2020 across 13 key global markets.Health care advertising globally isn't hitting the same breakneckpace, though. Health care brands are expected to boost spending by3.6 percent this year and match that pace in 2020.Research costs and the current battle over the cost of health careare depressing advertising spending by health care firms. But newtechnology, new OTC products and new services, as well as anaging population needing more care, areexpected to fuel increased spending in the years to come.

Related: Hospitals turn to advertising to compete forwealthy patients

The U.S. and China accounted for 86 percent of 2018 spendingwith the U.S. contributing $15.9 billion and China $14.4 billion tohealth care ad spending. Health care advertising spending in allother markets combined totaled less than $1 billion. Othercountries can't spend as liberally as the U.S. and China, withregulations reining in what they can and can't do and whichproducts they're allowed to promote.

Between 2013 and 2018, ad spending on health care in the U.S.grew at an average rate of 6 percent a year. But thanks to thespotlight focused on prescription care costs, as well as industryconsolidations and the expenses of bringing new prescription drugsto market, the report predicts "only a mild slowdown in U.S. healthcare ad-spend, with 6 percent growth in 2019 followed by 5 percentgrowth in 2020 and 2021, as strong expansion in internetadvertising compensates for a slow erosion in television."

Spending on TV ads accounts for the largest chunk of theU.S. health care ad budget, at 54.7 percent in 2018. But that'sshifting to out-of-home and online, says the report, andsurprisingly enough, newspapers. That last is due to a heavy adpresence in India, which the report says is the fastest-growingmarket, growing at an average of 26 percent a year between 2018 and2021. Not counting India's contribution, newsprint's share is"actually expected to drop from 2.1 percent in 2018 to just 1.6percent in 2021."

The growth of telemedicine, AI and e-commerce are all expectedto contribute to future ad growth, as populations focused onimproving or maintaining their health age and need or want moreproducts.

Read more: 

• What does the FDA think of Instagram influencersand medical promotions?
• How does TV advertising affect health insuranceenrollment?
• Consumer research, focus groups part of healthsystems' improvement plan