The consumerisation of health: Wellness influencers and the new front door to care

For many patients, a wellness influencer, podcaster, or AI chatbot is the modern front door to care, the first voice they hear on prevention, longevity, or treatment. 

Many of these voices are running a business, converting audience trust into revenue through products, subscriptions, and brand partnerships. This session examines the economics of consumer health and what it means for evidence and trust. How do creators, credentialed or not, build their audiences, and what can healthcare leaders learn from that playbook?

Where is the line between well-meaning engagement and trading authority for unproven claims? And what is the cost, in the clinic, when monetised messaging outruns the evidence (misinformation)?