Chemistry.com Sponsors Lesbian Ad Network

Mark Elderkin found of Lesibian Ad Network Industry veteran Mark Elderkin, the founder/CEO of Gay Ad Network, today is launching Lesbian Ad Network. Chemistry.com and Switzerland Tourism are on board as the vertical online ad network's inaugural partners.

> Lesbian Ad Network comprises the world's leading lesbian brands and offers a unique platform for reaching the lesbian market across branded content sites and blogs, with custom editorial sponsorships, viral widget syndication and video advertising, Elderkin said. It is composed of some sites that were originally part of Gay Ad Network--which Elderkin founded in 2007--as well as some new lesbian sites, he said.

Best-selling lesbian magazine Curve, Wolfe Video and lesbian-travel oriented company Olivia have joined TheLWordOnline, GaydarGirls, TheDinah, and more than two dozen other online publishers to create the first major advertising network targeting the lesbian market, Elderkin said.

Elderkin, who will also serve as CEO of Lesbian Ad Network, is a 15-year industry veteran and pioneer in developing gay online advertising and subscription-based businesses. As president of PlanetOut, Inc. he was responsible for global advertising sales, online editorial and business partnerships. Prior to his role with PlanetOut, he was CEO and founder of Gay.com, which he built into the largest gay online community.

If Gay Ad Network's track record is any indication, Elderkin knows what he is doing in launching a new entity in the currently peevish market. Gay Ad Network set new traffic records in December, according to comScore Media Metrix, which reports that its U.S. reach surpassed 1.18 million unique users--greater than the unduplicated reach of PlanetOut, Gay.com, Logo Online and Regent Media sites combined.

Moreover, Quantcast tracked 4.2 million unique monthly users worldwide on Gay Ad Network sites during this period.

Traffic trend analysis shows that the gay and lesbian online audience is shifting away from gay portals to niche LGBT sites and mainstream social networking services.

The lesbian market is attracting increased attention from advertisers as more market research and qualified media reach has become available, Elderkin said. Consumer Marketing Inc.'s Lesbian Consumer Index reports that lesbians have a median annual household income of $80,000, with 80% of those households being childless. Lesbians' higher disposable income relative to the general population is especially relevant in the current economic climate.

"We are replicating our successful gay online advertising model and expanding it to the lesbian market," added Scott Mazer, Gay Ad Network's sales VP. "We intend to leverage behavioral targeting, geo-targeting, content targeting and campaign optimization from our technology partner, Adify, to drive successful brand metrics and performance-based results within this vertical niche."

Combined, Gay Ad Network and Lesbian Ad Network reach over 4 million unique users per month. Both are divisions of Family Powered Networks LLC, a privately held company that provides advertising and marketing services to publishers and companies targeting the LGBT market.

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