Advertising spend in the gay and lesbian press has grown almost three times as fast as that in consumer magazines over the past ten years, according to a survey produced by Prime Access and Rivendell Media.
Ad spending in gay and lesbian publications in 2006 reached a record $223.3 million, representing a 5.2% increase on 2005 figures and an increase of 205% since 1996. According to the 2006 edition of the Gay Press Report, the compound annual growth rate for ad spend in cosumer magazines was 4% over the last ten-years, whereas ad spend in the gay press grew 11.8% compounded annually for the same period.
Gay media spend, though, is still only a fraction of overall ad spend on consumer magazines. In 2006, overall magazine ad sales grew 4.1% to $13,251 million. Advertising in the LGBT press accounted for only 1.69% of the total.
Within the gay press, ad spending was distributed as follows:
| Product Category | % Of All Ads |
|---|---|
| Eat and Drink | 15.4% |
| Real estate | 11.6% |
| Services / Non-medical | 10.0% |
| Health / Fitness / Grooming | 7.1% |
| Arts and Entertainment | 6.6% |
| Professiona Services | 6.4% |
| Retail | 6.3% |
| Travel | 6.2% |
| Phone Services / Personals | 6.2% |
| Medical / Health Related | 5.3% |
Read the full Gay Press report for 2006 (pdf)
