The Impact of Physicians’ Short Video Posts on Consumers’ Virtual Visits

Abstract

Amid fierce competition in the telemedicine industry, physicians increasingly post short videos and online health care content to attract new consumers. However, the effectiveness of this approach remains unclear. To address this, the authors examined short video posts from 679 physicians in China alongside corresponding consumer virtual visits over 32 weeks. Findings indicate that the quantity of short video posts and the medical jargon used in the videos positively impact consumers’ virtual visits. Notably, the effect of video quantity is more pronounced for physicians with more followers and those specializing in chronic diseases. However, a higher follower count weakens the effect of medical jargon, and videos with more medical jargon serve as substitutes for telemedicine channels, resulting in a nonsignificant effect for physicians specializing in chronic (vs. acute) diseases. The authors draw on information processing theory to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Empirical evidence suggests that video quantity has an informative effect, leading to increased virtual visits via home page traffic on telemedicine platforms, while medical jargon yields a persuasive effect, enhancing virtual visits through consumer likes.