UK pink pound now worth £70bn

Research by Out Now Consulting has revealed that Britain's 3 million gay and lesbian population last year earned over £70 billion. This income - along with fewer children in gay households - leads to higher disposable gay incomes that are now attracting the marketing attention of some of the UK's biggest companies.

The research showed that, on average, are very well-employed, well-paid and are out spending their incomes on a range of lifestyle product categories.

"This is not necessarily news to us, as we have been working with companies to help them understand how to reach gay customers for over 15 years now," says Ian Johnson, managing director of Out Now Consulting.

"What is new, however, in the UK market, is that because of this research, and for the first time, the value of gay consumers' expenditure on so many product categories can now be accurately measured."

Importantly, these new figures include both gay men and lesbians. Other gay research in Britain has focused almost exclusively on men, and has not accurately captured simultaneous data from the lesbian segment of the gay market. This new research does this for the first time."

The research reveals that last year gays and lesbians in the UK spent more than £800m buying CDs, and even more (£843m) on DVDs. Similar amounts were spent buying books and magazines. Leisure travel features very highly in gay and lesbian spending patterns with total expenditure of more than £3bn being spent on tourism during 2005. Mobile phone bills accounted for more than £1bn of gay market spending whilst clothing accounted for a further £1.9bn.

Out Now 2005 Diva and Gay Times Readers Surveys