Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Canadian Health Media Network is an Out-of-Home Digital network serving high traffic medical waiting rooms across Canada.

These include waiting rooms in multi-practice medical centres, primary care facilities, Family Health Centres, Group Health Centres, hospitals as well as medical laboratory, x-ray and ultrasound clinics.

CHMN is jointly controlled and owned by a number of independent Affiliates including Canal Santé, Creative Display Technologies, Cruise Media Group Inc., The Community Network, Medical News Network, Hearing News Network, Medik-TV, Mommentum Health Media, ONN, PHSN Ltd. and QuickCast Media.

CHMN currently serves over 1,000 high-traffic medical centres from Nova Scotia to B.C. The average reach of the network is over 1 Million patients (and accompaniment) weekly.

The patient data is given to us by the sites themselves. To ensure credibility, we load 'clinic hours' and 'attending physician hours' into our data base to asses if the patient load quoted by the clinic is credible.

In addition, through its association with CODACAN (Canadian Out of Home Digital Association), CHMN will be securing quotes to verify its audience metrics from accredited audience measurement firms (target completion December 2010).

As well, CHMN Audience metrics are quoted in compliance with CODACAN's Recommended Guidelines released in September 2009. Download a copy of the guidelines here.

Meanwhile, the viewer data which includes a +30% load factor to allow for accompaniment is supported by ongoing third party research conducted over a 6 year period by Global Target Marketing.

In terms of CHMN's share of actual medical waiting rooms that are currently served by an Out of Home Digital Network, CHMN Affiliates represent approximately 80% of these waiting rooms.

Why are the other 20% not Affiliates of CHMN?

They do not currently meet our proof-of-performance or compliance standards.

Exactly what do you mean by that?

CHMN Affiliates are required to demonstrate ad spot compliance - proof that spots have run as scheduled and that the system is fully operational when the spots do run. This requires an investment in smart box technology as well as some form of communication device (such as an RS232) with the screen. These items add significant costs to the running of the network.

Silent creative is required for a spot to run seamlessly across the entire CHMN network. That said, over 50% of the network is sound-equipped, so if you have TV creative ready to go we can run it as is where we are able, plus we will custom adapt the creative at our cost for the sites that are not sound-enabled.

Moving forward, we are conducting research as to the most effective method of delivering highly compelling, creative media in medical waiting rooms.

Our proprietary research indicates that the average wait times are approximately 30 minutes (of course, anecdotal experience would suggest that the wait times are actually quite a bit longer) but that said, we run ad messages at least once per 30 minutes (equal to the wait or dwell time) so as to ensure the opportunity to reach 100% of the viewers.

You should know however, that we can run the spots with less frequency so as to work within your budget.

The content loop varies between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on the Affiliate.

While we are moving towards a seamless and homogeneous content loop across the entire network, currently about 50% of the content is identical and that content is all 'silent'.

Our objective is to move as quickly as possible towards a loop that is primarily composed of contextually relevant value added content. As an example: a 60-120 second vignette that provides tips on avoiding 'migraines', sponsored by an acetaminophen or ibuprofen brand.

Our research over the last 8 years has shown a dramatic shift in viewer preferences with the vast majority of respondents now indicating a preference for relevant and informative content ('infotainment' as opposed to entertainment).

CHMN and its Affiliates are represented exclusively (nationally and regionally) by:

• CHMN in Quebec & Ontario
• QuickCast Media in Atlantic Canada
• Distinctive Sales in Western Canada

General media and marketing inquiries can also be made here.

For clarity, neither CHMN nor its affiliates are represented directly or indirectly by firms commonly referred to as DOOH aggregators.

All paperwork for CHMN will be 'single source' regardless of the number of Affiliates involved:

• One contract
• One invoice
• Single, aggregated compliance reports

We control all communications vehicles within our sites, allowing us to provide a fully integrated turn-key strategies tailored to your needs. This includes static posters as well as brochures.