Happy September! As brands shift budgets into Q4 planning, we wanted to share a reminder worth keeping top of mind as we head into the busiest season of the year.
Beyond Pride: New LGBTQ+ Spending Data
Your customers don’t have just one identity.
They’re travelers. Sports fans. Moviegoers. Streamers. Foodies. Shoppers. Car buyers. Cocktail enthusiasts. Culture seekers. And increasingly, they’re LGBTQ+.
New HRC research estimates that 12% of U.S. adults now identify as LGBTQ+; that’s 25.6 million people and larger than the State of Florida. Yet too often, even smart brands that value reaching this demo remove this audience from media plans sometime after June.
The spending data says that’s a missed opportunity.
• Travel: LGBTQ+ travelers average 3+ trips and $3,775 in travel spending annually, with 30% spending more than $5,000
• Automotive: $103 billion spent on new vehicles since 2020, S&P
• Shopping & Dining: 41% prioritize restaurants and bars while traveling and 36% shopping
• Entertainment: 67% of LGBTQ+ adults use free ad-supported streaming, versus 55% of all adults
• Advertising: 88% of Q.Digital users agree: “Brands that show up for Pride earn my loyalty year-round, not just in June.”
• Proof of Impact: Nielsen studies with Q.Digital find LGBTQ+ purchase intent increases by 15% due to advertising programs, with positives on brand attributes skyrocketing to above 30% in select categories.
So why are we still treating LGBTQ+ consumers as an optional audience? We’re a travel audience. An entertainment audience. A sports audience. A shopping audience. A dining audience. And your Q4 audience.
Q.Digital Q4 Programming
Q.Digital focuses on the home stretch of 2026 by showcasing multiple brand-safe programs aligned with audience passion points. These programs drive affinity with LGBTQ+ consumers, centered on key cultural moments, from travel to entertainment to community and sports.
Sports
• Outsports: Campus Courage (Sept./Oct.): Through dynamic profiles, interviews and photo galleries of out College Athletes. We celebrate athletes who are driving performance on the field and influence on social media.
• Outsports: Year in Review (Nov./Dec.: NEW first-to-market opportunity): Outsports honors the best of 2026 in a special year-end content hub featuring editorial and athlete video of the best sports moments of 2026. Video: A “Personal Best Panel” will count down the top-ranked lists of each of the hero categories in a 2-minute video to be distributed across audiences and platforms.
Entertainment
• All That Glitters, Queerty (Aug.-Mar. ’27): Awards season officially kicks off with Emmy nominations in July, so Queerty will roll out the red carpet for a content series that previews the films & stars everyone’s going to be talking about from the 2026 Emmys through the 2027 Oscars & Queerties.
• Queerty Holiday Edit, Creator Videos (Dec: NEW first-to-market opportunity): This holiday season, Queerty’s ELEGANZA section will host our first annual “Holiday Edit,” a creator-led holiday shopping destination featuring the products, brands, experiences, and causes LGBTQ+ creators genuinely love.
• Queerty Yearbook, Creator Video (Nov./Dec.: NEW first-to-market opportunity):
As 2026 comes to a close, Queerty looks back at the people, pop culture moments, series, movies, music, and trends we couldn’t stop talking about.
This immersive content hub features creator-led video and a rich editorial and social look back.
Community, LGBTQ+ October
• Out For Good, Queerty (Oct.): Coming Out is an experience unique to LGBTQ+ and today people are coming out in so many ways – their gender identity, sexual orientation, health status, and more. Out for Good features special coverage of recent coming out stories of LGBTQ+ folks who have utilized their platform for positive change.
• LGBTQ Nation History Month (Oct.): As the leading voice in current events and social change, LGBTQ+ Nation is uniquely positioned to honor our shared history, while showcasing those who are charting a course for the future. The channel features in-depth content that inspires contemplation & celebration with compelling, uplifting LGBTQ+ stories.
Across GayCities, Queerty, Outsports, LGBTQ Nation and INTO, Q.Digital connects brands with consumers through those passions—and extends them across premium editorial programming, video, display, custom branded content, creators, social, CTV and first-party data audience targeting.
Let’s connect your brand authentically to an audience and market representing 12% of the US population.