Coming Out In Print

American Demographics, Feb 1, 2003

Byline: SANDRA YIN

Last fall, EarthLink distributed 250,000 CDs in five gay and lesbian magazines - including The Advocate, Out and Curves - in hopes of attracting more customers to its Internet service. The Atlanta-based company had learned that gays tend to spend more time online than other Americans, so it decided to test market directly within the gay community. Since the promotion began, the company has noticed a surge in the number of downloads for the software that was included in the gay magazines, according to Elizabeth Halkof, EarthLink's brand manager for the consumer dial-up service. Says Halkof, "Results so far have been very encouraging."

EarthLink is just one advertiser from an increasingly broad array of industries buying ad space in gay and lesbian publications. Although advertisers once shied away from gay publications, over the past few years mainstream businesses have begun to recognize the power of the gay press. As recently as 1997, almost half (49.1 percent) of the gay press's ad space was composed of "personal" ads and telephone-sex services as well as companies and organizations promoting gay events, meetings, fund-raisers and clubs. Today, those ads account for less than a quarter (21.5 percent) of total ad pages, reflecting the growing presence of mainstream companies.

In 2001, advertisements for hotels and resorts accounted for 4.5 percent of the total ad space in gay and lesbian magazines, newspapers and entertainment guides, up from 1.2 percent in 1997. Other sectors with a growing presence in these publications include real estate, which saw ad space grow to 6.3 percent in 2001 from 2.3 percent in 1997, and financial services, where ads surged to 7.8 percent from 5.5 percent in 1997, according to the 2002 Gay Press Report, published annually by New York City-based agency Prime Access, Inc. and Rivendell Marketing Company, a Westfield, N.J., media placement firm that specializes in the gay and lesbian market.

Why the change? Industry insiders point to an increasing awareness that gay magazines and newspapers offer a relatively inexpensive and highly effective way to connect with gay consumers, who, on average, have more disposable income and free time than the general population - not a small consideration in a down market. The gay press is also touted as a way to take advantage of gay consumers' ability to define trends and legitimize new products. Additionally, the gay press has proven to be a more efficient medium for reaching gays than television or radio.

Therefore, advertisers have been flocking to the gay press. Between 1997 and 2001, total ad dollars in gay and lesbian publications doubled - to $208 million from $100 million, according to the Gay Press Report. And despite the recession, ad spending has remained fairly steady in gay publications during the down market: While ad spending in all consumer print media dropped 6.2 percent, to $11.9 billion in 2001 from $12.7 billion in 2000, gay publications saw a far smaller decline of only 1.7 percent, to $208 million from $212 million.

Circulation numbers for the gay press are relatively small, though growing: Gay publications reached 3.7 million readers in 2001, up from 3.5 million in 1997, according to the Gay Press Report. But advertisers generally believe that they can reach a greater share of the gay market through niche media than through mass-market publications. And although mainstream titles such as Vanity Fair and Men's Health attract a sizable share of gay readers, targeting gays through mainstream magazines is not nearly as cost-effective as using the gay press. For example, a one-page, four-color ad in Men's Health can run $109,625, while the same ad could cost just $9,500 in The Advocate and reach a more consistently upscale audience, albeit fewer individuals.

Although it's unclear what share of the 13 million to 15 million gay and lesbian population over the age of 18 reads gay publications, there's a strong incentive for advertisers to reach even a small portion of this $450 billion market. After all, gays and lesbians present an attractive demographic profile: They are early adopters who spend more than average on discretionary goods and services, such as travel and entertainment.

Because gays and lesbians are geographically concentrated, they're also relatively easy to reach through local gay newspapers. Gays can be found in 99 percent of the counties, but 1 in 5 hails from New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Roughly 45 percent of same-sex unmarried couples are living in just 15 major metro areas, according to New York City-based market research firm Packaged Facts.

In 2002, when tire company Bridgestone/Firestone reached out to the gay market, it ran ads in gay newspapers in the top 12 gay markets as well as in top-tier national gay and lesbian magazines.

"To get overall national awareness and be efficient with our dollars, gay publications were our best option," says Laramey Lawson, senior vice president and media director at Bridgestone/Firestone's Nash-ville, Tenn.-based advertising agency, Gish, Sherwood & Friends. "Local gay publications complement the national exposure by speaking directly to gay consumers in their local market at the local level."