A rising tide for gay media

According to an article by Billboard's Michael Paoletta, gay-oriented media is on the rise. The article notes that growth of ad sales for LGBT publications outpaced the rest of the industry, and that Logo has seen its reach expand with its ad sales also increasing. The article also points out that gay musical artists are having an easier time finding their audience, and notes the success of the True Colors tour.

For musicians, the internet is credited for democratizing the industry. Thanks to MySpace and YouTube a musical act can get the word out more effectively and less expensively than before. Fans, meanwhile, can easily spread the word about their favorite acts.

Out musician Darren Hayes (formerly of Savage Garden) says, "A consumer revolution is taking place. They are saying, 'This is the music we want.' Years ago, artists had to fit into certain molds created by the labels. But no longer. Napster really changed the landscape - in more ways than anyone could have predicted." (Along those lines, I'm surprised that the article barely mentions Here!TV, which has done a great job using the internet to reach its audience.)

Meanwhile, Paoletta finds the True Colors tour noteworthy for being the first national tour to openly target the LGBT market and succeed. Others have attempted a LGBT-aimed tours in the past but True Colors is the largest one to succeed.

Some of the statistics mentioned leave me wondering, however. If gay advertising is up, why is the Commercial Closet Association seeing less visibility? I would expect that if advertisers are spending more money to target an audience they'd get a better idea of how to speak to that audience, but I get the feeling the two are not connecting.

I wish Paoletta took a moment to ask why Logo's ad sales are up, because there could be an interesting story there. Is this simply due to the network's expanded reach, since being available to a bigger audience is bound to increase ratings? Are advertisers who were initially hesitant to financially support Logo now willing to buy advertising since it hasn't generated any protest?

Overall, though, I'm feeling encouraged. These efforts, which increase gay visibility, need to see commercial success in order to justify the creation of more gay media. Even more encouraging is that gay artists are finding success, empowering people who have a personal stake in fair gay representation. Of course, the main thing is that gay customers have more media choices and are, based on sales, making good use of the increased choice.