Gay titles enjoy 36 percent ad growth

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov 15, 1997 by Neil Cassidy

* Ad spending for seven national magazines tracked in the fourth annual Gay Press Report by Manhattan agency Mulryan/Nash rose 36 percent--from $16 million to $21.8 million--between 1996 and 1997, despite a 20 percent circulation decline. That increase was almost identical to the 35.9 percent gain in overall ad spending--from $73.7 million to $100.2 million--for all 138 publications charted.

According to the Publishers Information Bureau, the seven national books (The Advocate, Curve, Genre, Girlfriends, Out, Venus and XY) brought in $21.8 million worth of ads, while local newspapers generated $56.2 million, up nearly 24 percent from $45.5 million in 1996. Mulryan/Nash president Dave Mulryan, who supervised the research, says he was "somewhat" surprised by the 36 percent ad gain for the gay press as a whole--it was the fastest-growing print ad market for the third year in a row, according to the report--and he doesn't expect as big a percentage increase in 1998. "What'll be interesting," Mulryan says, "is whether this [sustained growth] will lead big media companies like Time Inc. to say, `There's a market here' and get out their own gay magazines or other gay products." He'll also be keeping an eye on the advertisers, and in particular pharmaceutical companies, to see if they'll spend more heavily on ads for over-the-counter drugs in gay publications than on HIV-related treatments.