When MTV Networks launched Logo, a cable channel for gay and lesbian viewers, in 2005, it expected a backlash from the right-wing religious fringe. Many cable operators were reluctant to carry the
channel, and only three advertisers signed up as charter sponsors: the travel Web site Orbitz, Subaru and the Paramount film studio, the last already owned by Viacom.
But the anticipated
backlash never really happened. Instead, Logo has brought gay media out of the closet. The channel will soon reach almost 25 million homes, and MTV Networks has made distribution deals with every
major cable operator. And it has an impressive stable of some 80 advertisers, including top-tier brands like American Express, Intel, Kodak, Lexus, Pepsi and Sears.
"It was like, hey,
what's the big deal." says Brian Graden, president of Logo, who is also a top programming executive for MTV's music networks. He says one advertiser received some negative e-mails generated by a
conservative group, but that was about it. But there have been complaints: Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers were so hungry for their own network that they tune in for hours at a time,
only to find out that as a startup with a limited programming budget, Logo was re-running programs again and again.
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"You have a very loyal audience, but people are screaming for more
content," says Howard Buford, founder and CEO of Prime Access, an ad agency that specializes in black, Hispanic and GLBT audiences.
Read the whole story at Fortune via CNNMoney.com »