Gay media companies join forces to revolutionise the gay market
Two gay media companies are combining forces to produce a strong traditional news content publication currently lacking in the gay market place.
The PinkNews will be produced by
PinkNews.co.uk in association with 3SIXTY. Both companies are relatively new in the market place but both have already made their mark.
PinkNews.co.uk is the website behind most of the gay news stories that have reached national attention over the past year. Launched last July, it has already attained a loyal on-line reader base of 350,000 unique users per month.
It has been responsible for a number of exclusives, most recently the Ruth Kelly/Opus Dei story. Others include an exclusive interview with Conservative party chairman Francis Maude where he condemned the policies he once voted for and blamed Tory homophobia for the death of his brother. The website was the first publication to name Ashley Cole as the player at the centre of an alleged “gay orgy” and carried exclusive interviews with Mr Cole’s legal team.
With the advent of The PinkNews many of these great stories will reach a bigger audience as The PinkNews will piggy back on 3SIXTY from July 1st (it will hit the streets on Thursday 29th June). 3SIXTY is the fastest growing gay glossy delivered free across the South of the UK and Wales. It has more than quadrupled its reader base to at least 40,000 in last eighteen months under new
ownership.
The two largest urban gay communities in the UK, London and Brighton, are covered by the associations of the two companies with editorial offices in the two cities.
Both organisations share the ethos of creating work safe content. Both publications pride themselves on being accessible to both the gay and straight communities by refusing to carry pornography both in terms of content and advertising.
A launch on Wednesday 28th June at the Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL at 7pm will be addressed by Francis Maude, Chairman of the Conservative party, Simon Hughes, President of the Liberal Democrats and Meg Hillier, the Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch. Other key dignitaries from both London and Brighton are also attending.
Welcoming the launch, founder and editor of The PinkNews, Benjamin Cohen said: “PinkNews.co.uk as an online publication had broken the mould in terms of gay news reporting, turning the recent trend towards sex and pornography prevalent in the existing gay media sphere on its head.
“Our guest speakers are a testament to the excellent political reporting that we have pioneered over the past year, breaking important news stories and having a crucial impact on the mainstream news agenda.”
David Harvey, editorial director of 3Sixty said: “Diversity is the key word in the corridors of power and in board rooms across the land. Companies want to reach the LGBT market on customer messaging and recruitment and a ‘no adult content’ product is the medium they wish to work with.
“We have proved this is our first year having attracted large mainstream brands, Hilton, Honda, Marwell, Red Driving School. We have worked with the Hilton Group as ‘gay consultants’.
“The association of PinkNews.co.uk and 3SIXTY and the production of The PinkNews means a much wider and more diverse market will be reached by both companies.”
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Press contacts:
Benjamin Cohen/ Marc Shoffman 020 7613 7231/ 020 7613 7233
