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MTV’s Logo Purchases Social Network for Multicultural Gays

MTV Networks has been attempting to serve up more targeted audiences to advertisers, and its most recent move in that direction is the agreement by its Logo channel to purchase DowneLink.com, a social network for the multicultural lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. DowneLink.com, with 400,000 users, makes a substantial addition to Logo.

Logo is MTVN’s cable channel for gays and lesbians, and the purchase is intended to boost the channel’s “role as the leading online and on-air source of entertainment for the LGBT community as well as the best way for advertisers to reach them,” according to Lisa Sherman, svp and general manager of the network (via MediaPost).

Logo launched in 2005, and was considered a gamble at the time. Only three advertisers - Subaru, Obitz and Paramount - signed on, and some cable distributors were hesitant to carry the channel. The channel now has distribution deals with every major cable operator and boasts over 80 advertisers.
As advertisers push for ways to reach niche audiences, the media world is undergoing segmentation and specialization. Earlier this week, another way to reach the LGBT audience was announced, with the formation of the Gay Ad Network. The network is a group of over 200 websites representing more than two dozen online publishers.

A new study released yesterday suggests that the gay and lesbian market is a juicy one to grab hold of: the median household income for gay men is almost 80 percent above the median U.S. household income, and the median household income for lesbians is nearly as high.