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Record $223.3MM in Gay Media Ad Spend in 2006

Ad spending in gay and lesbian publications in 2006 reached a record $223.3 million, an increase of 5.2 percent over 2005 - and an increase of 205 percent since 1996 - according to the 2006 edition of the Gay Press Report, reports MarketingCharts.

In the past 10 years, ad spend in the gay and lesbian press has grown at almost three times the rate of consumer magazines’, according to the annual survey produced by advertising agency Prime Access Inc. and gay media representative firm Rivendell Media.

Among Fortune 500 brands, more than 183 were active in the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) consumer market in 2006, up from only 19 in 1994.

Among other findings in the 2006 Gay Press Report:

• Despite a general leveling off of the housing market, the Real Estate category accounted for the second-highest number of advertisements in 2006 (11.6 percent of total ads), up from the number three spot in 2005.
• The combined circulation of all publications constituting the gay and lesbian press reached 3,777,488, a 10.4 percent increase over the previous year.
• Some 93.4 percent of all ads are in local publications: Local newspapers account for most (52.4 percent) of all ads, followed by local magazines (21.7 percent) and entertainment guides (19.3 percent).

MarketingCharts offers up other findings here.