Advertisers seen welcoming gay-oriented TV network

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By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Ellen" who?

Just four years after shunning the first prime-time TV show starring an openly gay character, some of the nation's top advertisers could soon be lining up to sponsor an entire network aimed at gays and lesbians, who are increasingly seen as a lucrative niche market, according to industry analysts.

MTV Networks and Showtime, both units of media giant Viacom Inc, have been developing the gay- and lesbian-oriented network since last summer, though programming details are still in the works and no timetable has been set for the channel's debut.

News of the project led some analysts to predict that such a channel will be welcomed by advertisers looking for new niche markets to tap.

"Everyone who wants a new market will jump on the bandwagon," predicted Jeff Garber, president of OpusComm Group Inc., an advertising and public relations firm that targets the gay and lesbian audience for mainstream advertisers.

Demographers said the channel will have an audience with deeper pockets than the average American.

In a 2000 study, Kalorama Information market research firm estimated a total gay and lesbian purchasing power in the United States of $340 billion in 1999.

A recent consumer online survey found the median combined household income of gay couples to be $65,000, nearly 60 percent higher than the 1999 U.S. median income of $40,800.

In the survey conducted last summer by OpusComm and GSociety Inc., in conjunction with the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University, more than 20 percent of the 6,351 respondents reported a total combined income of $100,000 or more -- figures likely to have advertisers scrambling for a share of the gay dollar, analysts said.

Garber said he expects to see clear changes in the way the gay population is courted, "as the gay and lesbian economic power base becomes more widely recognized."

In 1997, major advertisers such as Domino's Pizza, Burger King Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, temporarily withdrew their sponsorship of ABC's "Ellen" when, in a groundbreaking episode, the main character played by openly gay actress Ellen DeGeneres revealed she was a lesbian.

Since then, however, gay and lesbian characters have cropped up on numerous shows on both broadcast and cable networks, with little or no backlash from major sponsors.

"Over the last 10 years we've seen a dramatic increase in the desire of advertisers to market to this audience," said Howard Buford, founder and CEO of Prime Access Inc., an advertising and marketing company specializing in gay and lesbian and other defined audiences.

"They're finding out that there is a large amount of disposable income out there."

SAME-SEX SELLS

When the new network debuts, it will join Toronto-based PrideVision TV, the world's first 24-hour gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender television network, which was launched last Sept. 7.

Jason Hughes, director of sales for PrideVision TV, said most sponsors the network approaches are receptive.

Diet Pepsi, Microsoft, Warner Music, Polar Ice Vodka and Rogers AT&T Canada are already running their existing advertising on the groundbreaking station.

But Hughes said a company that makes herbal products and a clothing company were in process of producing commercials designed specifically for the gay audience, a trend he expects to increase. He declined to name the companies.

"When they see two men holding hands or two women kissing in a commercial, the community is going to respond to that," Hughes said. "The community knows who supports them."

Cathy Renna, news media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said the gay community is well informed about companies deemed friendly to gays.

"We support corporations that support the community," Renna said, citing American Airlines as a prime example of a company that has helped the gay community.

"It's the right thing to do, and it's a really smart business decision."

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