Gay Ad Network, an online vertical advertising network, launched with support from an influential group of gay and lesbian publishers. Local gay newspapers, national gay magazines, gay content web sites and popular gay social networking services have aligned to create a new online media platform for national advertisers. With more than two dozen independent publisher partners representing over 200 web sites, Gay Ad Network offers advertisers mass reach into the gay market.
“Independent web publishers have been successful in creating great quality content and attracting loyal and passionate audiences, but they have been less effective in attracting national advertisers due to their limited individual size,” said Elderkin. “By developing content-rich marketing programs that span our aggregated audience, we can provide unique marketing vehicles for our advertising partners.”
Gay Ad Network selected Adify’s Build Your Own Network (BYON) platform as the technical foundation for its offering. Adify enables Gay Ad Network to forge relationships between its advertising and publisher partners by delivering the backend infrastructure to build and manage vertical advertising solutions capable of delivering content sponsorships, image and rich media ad delivery. Adify provides the key network management services required to execute successful advertising campaigns, including ad management, tracking, reporting, billing, payment and technical support functions.
Gay Ad Network was founded by Mark Elderkin, a 13-year industry veteran and pioneer in developing gay online advertising and subscription-based businesses. As president of PlanetOut, Inc., Mark 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.
Originally posted on August 16, 2007 @ 2:59 pm