IN SEARCH OF THE PINK RAND IN SOUTH AFRICA

The revealing results of a new survey of the LGBTI community in South Africa have been released.

TheMarketingSite.com worked with Mr. Gay South Africa, Pink Loerie Festivals SA and Mambaonline.com to conduct the research survey in late 2011.

The objective was to gather data that could be used to better understand the vibrant LGBT community and to supply businesses, advertisers and sponsors who support LGBTI events, media and activities with statistical information on the size, make-up and importance of this valuable niche market.

“The results of this survey will assist to understand the LGBTI community better and to provide it with information about products and services that will enhance their lifestyles and careers,” said Winnifred Knight, Managing Director of TheMarketingSite.com.

“It will also help to motivate sponsors and advertisers to support the LGBTI community and its events and projects more and to give marketers an insight into how valuable the LGBTI community is as a target market and the economic impact it has.

“Our challenge for the future is to collect better and enhanced information through consistently asking the right questions and probe more in depth about the LGBTI community and review these year-on-year findings to establish trends and insights for marketers and other interested parties,” explained Knight.

Some of the results from the survey include:

• 23% of respondents have a university degree and 18% have a postgraduate degree

• 51% have pets; 76% owning dogs and 48% owning cats

• 90% of the respondents surf the web often, listen to the radio (58%) and watch TV (50%) often

• The top four LGBTI media are Facebook (55%), Mambaonline.com (29%), Twitter (21%) and Gay Pages (20%)

• Red wine is the most popular alcoholic drink (37%), followed by white wine (29%)

• Lesbians prefer staying in self-catering accommodation (45%) while gay men prefer hotels (40%)

• The most-owned car brands are Volkswagen (19%), BMW (8%), Ford (8%) and Opel (8%)

The LGBTI survey ran during the month of November 2011 and over 1,000 respondents completed it; the most comprehensive in the LGBTI market so far.

As a very small number of people who identify as bisexual, transsexual and intersex completed the survey, meaningful distinctions with regards to gender identity could only be made between gay men and lesbians.