SAN FRANCISCO: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) consumers are highly engaged with mainstream media but their leading media activity is visiting LGBT sites and blogs, a survey has found.
Reporting the results of the 2013 LGBT Community Survey report from Community Market & Insights (CMI), which polled over 30,000 people from LBGT communities in more than 100 countries, including more than 13,000 from the US, eMarketer noted that 67% of gay men and 58% of lesbian women had visited such sites and blogs in the seven days preceding the survey.
In addition, more than one-third of LGBT web users said they had increased their visits to these sites in the past year.
Mainstream media, however, was well represented, with network and cable TV a close second to LGBT sites (65% of gay men and 57% of lesbians), followed by mainstream sites and blogs (57% and 46%) and mainstream newspapers (55% and 46%).
LGBT email newsletters (41% and 45%) and local LGBT pubs (50% and 42%) were the next most frequently mentioned.
Interaction with advertising was quite high, with 40% of gay men and 42% of lesbians having “liked” a business on Facebook, while 34% and 27% respectively had clicked on a Facebook ad. In addition, gay men were almost twice as likely as lesbians to click on a banner ad.
A write-in section of the survey highlighted Starbucks as the brand perceived as most supportive of the LGBT community, with JCPenney, Target, Apple and Amazon also cited. But 75% of LGBTs were actively boycotting Chick-fil-A, following comments by the company's president in opposition to gay marriage.
Earlier this year an overview of this market by the Advertising Research Foundation, noted that LGBTs overindexed on brand loyalty and were more likely than average to tell friends about brands and companies they liked.
It also quoted research showing that sponsoring LGBT charities could be more effective for brands than advertising in LGBT media.
Reporting the results of the 2013 LGBT Community Survey report from Community Market & Insights (CMI), which polled over 30,000 people from LBGT communities in more than 100 countries, including more than 13,000 from the US, eMarketer noted that 67% of gay men and 58% of lesbian women had visited such sites and blogs in the seven days preceding the survey.
In addition, more than one-third of LGBT web users said they had increased their visits to these sites in the past year.
Mainstream media, however, was well represented, with network and cable TV a close second to LGBT sites (65% of gay men and 57% of lesbians), followed by mainstream sites and blogs (57% and 46%) and mainstream newspapers (55% and 46%).
LGBT email newsletters (41% and 45%) and local LGBT pubs (50% and 42%) were the next most frequently mentioned.
Interaction with advertising was quite high, with 40% of gay men and 42% of lesbians having “liked” a business on Facebook, while 34% and 27% respectively had clicked on a Facebook ad. In addition, gay men were almost twice as likely as lesbians to click on a banner ad.
A write-in section of the survey highlighted Starbucks as the brand perceived as most supportive of the LGBT community, with JCPenney, Target, Apple and Amazon also cited. But 75% of LGBTs were actively boycotting Chick-fil-A, following comments by the company's president in opposition to gay marriage.
Earlier this year an overview of this market by the Advertising Research Foundation, noted that LGBTs overindexed on brand loyalty and were more likely than average to tell friends about brands and companies they liked.
It also quoted research showing that sponsoring LGBT charities could be more effective for brands than advertising in LGBT media.
Data sourced from eMarketer, Community Market & Insights; additional content by Warc staff
