The founder of the newly launched Gay Ad Network tells us why reaching this lucrative audience within its chosen media is vital for success.
Vertical ad networks have been gaining in favor, promising marketers reach to specific audiences, as well as transparency. Among the categories currently being offered are automotive, Spanish-language sites, technology and travel (see What Kind of Ad Network is Right for You?: Verticals).
Following suit, Adify launched Gay Ad Network in August, an online vertical advertising network targeting the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) audience. The network has partnerships with more than two dozen independent publishers representing more than 200 websites, offering advertisers mass reach into the gay market.
The gay online advertising business has grown by an average of 33 percent annually over the past five years. Once concentrated on a few gay portals, this audience is now fragmented across mainstream social networking sites and a large number of smaller gay information, news, community and niche social networking sites designed for the various segments of the gay market. Gay Ad Network aggregates these fragmented communities under one umbrella, providing online media planners an easy, efficient way to reach a large segment of the gay and lesbian market.
Mark Elderkin, a 13-year industry veteran and pioneer in developing gay online advertising and subscription-based businesses, founded the network. As president of PlanetOut, Inc., Elderkin was responsible for global advertising sales, online editorial and business partnerships. Prior to his role with PlanetOut, he was CEO and founder of Gay.com, which he built into the largest gay online community.
Mark Elderkin is the CEO and founder of Gay Ad Network. In 1994, he founded Gay.com and served as the company's president for over a decade. Dawn Anfuso: What was the impetus to create this network?
Mark Elderkin: The driving force behind creating Gay Ad Network was to fill a major market void by bringing together independent publishers with national advertisers. Advertisers have been looking for greater reach, better pricing and more flexibility in deploying online marketing campaigns that reach the LGBT market. Independent publishers have been unable to make their valuable inventory available to national advertisers because, as stand-alone entities, they lacked the scale to win national online ad campaigns. There is a power in numbers, and by working together as Gay Ad Network, the publishers have national representation and are now able to attract the attention of top agencies and advertisers.
Anfuso: How lucrative is this market? How large is it?
Elderkin: Gays and lesbians' buying power is expected to grow to $835 billion by 2011, according to Packaged Facts and Witeck-Combs. During this period, the number of gays and lesbians in the United States is also expected to grow from an estimated 15.3 million to a projected 16.3 million.
Anfuso: What are some of the brand categories most interested in this category?
Elderkin: Some of the largest brand categories targeting the gay consumer market are Travel, Automotive, Pharmaceuticals and Entertainment. Some of the brands that have been successful in the market include Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Travelocity, Orbitz, Toyota, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline. Hundreds of companies and brands have identified the gay market as an attractive target audience.
Anfuso: What are some of the media properties that are in this network?
Elderkin: We represent many of the online media properties produced by the local gay and lesbian newspapers in the top markets, including Washington Blade, Southern Voice, Express News, Bay Windows, Philadelphia Gay News, Windy City Times, PrideSource, OutandAboutNews and David Atlanta. Our network offers extensive reach provided by large sites and networks including Out In America Cities Network, Connexion.org and Realjock. Other sites include GayCities, DataLounge, BGay.com, Genre Magazine and dozens of others. Our reach is growing each day as new publishers are accepted onto the network.
Anfuso: Most of the people who would be targeted with this network fall into other categories as well. Is the idea here for marketers to create special messaging, or just have additional reach?
Elderkin: By being aware of the contextual environment and the audience, an advertiser can create a much more efficient campaign. Sixty-four percent of gay Americans are more likely to purchase everyday household products from companies that market directly to them in gay media according to Harris Interactive/Witeck Combs polls. They also report that gay Americans are more likely to consider purchasing a product from a company that is tailored to the consumer and includes images of gays and lesbians in the ad. Gay Ad Network enables advertisers to run across the network to maximize reach, or choose any individual site, or any of our pre-defined categories, including travel, news, entertainment, health & fitness, style, women and parenting.
Dawn Anfuso is senior editor, iMedia Connection. Read full bio.