2024 Visibility Perceptions in Advertising

Importance of Featuring LGBTQ People and Budgets to Target us Have Increased Since 2021

90% of advertisers and agencies agree it’s very important to feature LGBTQ people in advertising, up from 84% in 2021. And nearly 70% of advertisers and agencies have funds specifically allocated to target our community, compared to 59% in 2021. With 7.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBTQ in the U.S., 22% of Gen Z adults, and 10% of Millennials, featuring us in advertising and legitimizing LGBTQ consumers is a business growth strategy. The increase in the importance of featuring our community is driven by Advertisers over Agencies (+16% increase among advertisers).

The industry is placing more importance on featuring our community, and allocating more funds to target us

90%* think it’s very important to feature LGBTQ people in advertising (84% in 2021), 69%** have funds specifically allocated targeting the LGBTQ community (59% in 2021)

*statistically significant at 90% confidence **statistically significant at 95% confidence

Compared to 2021, there has been a massive increase in the industry believing that the LGBTQ community is very important to their business. In 2021, 39% of the industry thought this, and 70% believed this in 2023. This means there has been a +79% increase in the industry recognizing that the LGBTQ community is very important to their business. With a purchasing power of $1.4 Trillion in the U.S. and younger generations, specifically Gen Z, being far more likely to be part of the LGBTQ community, the advertising industry sees our community’s critical value to their business.

There has been huge growth in the industry recognizing the importance of the LGBTQ community to their business

The LGBTQ community is very important to my/my client’s business

**statistically significant at 95% confidence

THE PURCHASING POWER OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY IS
$1.4 TRILLION IN THE U.S.

The industry is also placing more importance on featuring transgender, nonbinary, and bisexual people compared to 2021. This change in importance may be due to the rapid increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation in the United States, most of which target the rights of trans people and, more specifically, trans youth. Lawmakers have proposed 527 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. since January 1, 2024, according to the ACLU. Importantly, from our Accelerating Acceptance research, only 26% of non-LGBTQ Americans personally know a transgender person, and only 16% know a nonbinary person, which makes representation even more critical as the majority of consumers will learn about trans and nonbinary people through the media. Meanwhile, though 40% of Americans say they know a bisexual person, bisexual inclusion is difficult in short-form content, as storytelling time is necessary to represent bisexual people adequately. Bisexual representation among LGBTQ characters in primetime scripted media such as film and television is still only at 24% and 21%, according to GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV and Studio Responsibility Index, respectively. Fair and accurate inclusion of our community must occur outside of these forms of opt-in media, such as in advertising, which has an outsized opportunity to change hearts and minds. LGBTQ people need to see more stories, more depictions, and more ads that feature our community, especially those who have been historically underrepresented.

Very Important To Feature In Advertising

**statistically significant at 95% confidence

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