Cast of the once-ubiquitous
'Queer Eye for a Straight Guy'

To determine what motivates the purchasing decisions of gays and lesbians, a study by New American Dimensions, LLC and Asterix Group divides the gay and lesbian demographic into five segments, highlighting lifestyles, values and consumption preferences, reports MarketingCharts.

The five segments, according to the study (see chart):

• Super Gays - Educated, sophisticated activists, most likely male: 26 percent
• Habitaters - serious, responsible, older, likely in a stable relationship: 25 percent
• Gay Mainstream - high gay identity, conservative, low profile: 23 percent
• Party People - youthful, cutting edge, risk-takers, residing in big cities: 14 percent
• Closeted - lowest gay identity, older, single: 12 percent

The study cross-references the segments with each segment's preferred ad styles and imagery, resulting in insights for targeting this influential demgoraphic (see chart enumerating the segments' traits).

Among the media preferences of gays and lesbians:

• Magazines: Advocate (23 percent), People (13 percent) and Out (13 percent); 43 percent also read local LGBT publications
• TV Networks: ABC (20 percent), Discovery (18 percent), NBC (17 percent), Logo (16 percent) and Bravo (15 percent)
• Shows: L-Word (15 percent), CSI (15 percent), Grey's Anatomy (14 percent)
• Websites: Yahoo (25 percent), Google (14 percent), MySpace (14 percent)

"We have segmented the LGBT market in all its diversity, providing a more detailed picture of the gay and lesbian customer, providing highly sought-after insights to mainstream advertisers," said David Morse, President of New American Dimensions, LLC.

MarketingCharts has more from the study.