Many LGBTQ+ publishers noticed a slowdown in advert spend earlier this yr, however one writer is rising as an outlier, because of new possession, extra gross sales sources and its deal with sports activities protection.
Vox Media bought Outsports, which covers LGBTQ+ athletes, to Q.Digital final March in an “acqui-hire” deal (a non-cash transaction the place Q.Digital took over Outsports’ operations and income prices whereas preserving the crew intact). It was a part of Vox Media’s reorganization to deal with its core manufacturers final yr.
Beneath its new homeowners – which produce other LGBTQ+ targeted titles like Queerty and Homosexual Cities in its portfolio – Outsports has grown income by about 50% yr over yr, and distinctive guests are up over 60% because it was acquired, based on Scott Gatz, CEO of Q.Digital, a privately-owned firm primarily based in San Francisco. He declined to share uncooked income figures.
That income progress is primarily because of the improve in digital readership, in addition to promoting extra advertisements round Outsports’ protection, similar to sponsored video collection like “Ballin Out,” (which follows LGBTQ athletes on the USA Ladies’s Wheelchair Basketball crew), new verticals and the Olympics final yr. Most of Outsports’s show advertisements are being bought at $15 CPMs, Gatz mentioned.
“It’s a novel market proposition to people who find themselves already comfy with sports activities and fascinated with reaching this group, [and] it’s new [in our portfolio],” Gatz mentioned. “I feel that’s recipe to interrupt by the malaise that may in any other case be [around LGBTQ+ sponsorships].”
Outsports didn’t have any sponsors below Vox Media, however was monetized with run-of-network programmatic advertisements, he mentioned. Outsports has since signed sponsorships with manufacturers like Xfinity, Cadillac, Planet Health, Nissan, Chevy and Ally, amongst others.
“They introduced a brand new type of consideration to element… that Q.Digital can present as a smaller LGBTQ-focused publication firm,” mentioned Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler. “[Q.Digital has] gross sales sources and sponsor and monetary sources that aren’t a blip on the radar of a billion-dollar firm… At Q.Digital, we’re flourishing.”
A media purchaser at a big company holding firm – who requested to talk anonymously – mentioned they had been seeing extra advert spend going to the sports activities class, which was more and more increasing into extra subcategories. The customer was additionally seeing extra funding and a rise in manufacturers spending in opposition to LGBTQ+ protection on the identical time.
“Shoppers are seeing the worth of those audiences,” the customer mentioned. “Company DEI is separate from advertising and marketing to numerous audiences, and these are an enormous enterprise alternative for purchasers.”
The worldwide buying energy of the LGBTQ+ group is estimated to be about $4.7 trillion, based on LGBTQ Capital, a UK-based monetary providers and advisory agency.
Sports activities is a neater promote to advertisers, setting Outsports other than different LGBTQ+ publishers, based on Zeigler. “We just about by no means discuss Donald Trump [and] politics. We don’t get into divisive points,” he mentioned.
Within the second quarter, Outsport’s common month-to-month pageviews had been up 64% in comparison with pre-acquisition site visitors ranges, Gatz mentioned. Outsports’ web site had 216,800 desktop and cellular guests in July 2025, up 60% yr to this point, based on Comscore knowledge.
Zeigler mentioned the broader distribution technique at Q.Digital has additionally helped Outsports develop its readership. Content material is shared throughout social media, and platforms like Smartnews, Apple Information and Yahoo, he famous.
Outsports’ freelancer contributor community has additionally doubled, serving to gasoline new editorial initiatives, similar to a ladies’s sports activities vertical and a hub for LGBTQ+ Olympic and Paralympic athlete tales. Outsports has a complete employees of about 10 full-time workers. Outsports’ total editorial price range at Q.Digital is larger than it was at Vox, Zeigler mentioned, declining to share figures.
“Whenever you’re targeted on one thing, it results in higher efficiency. They moved away from a really basic sort [parent company like Vox Media,] the place they actually had no clear imaginative and prescient for this product,” the media purchaser mentioned. “Q.Digital can provide [Outsports] a much bigger precedence. It’s a distinctive match inside its portfolio, however aligns with the general LGBTQ+ viewers, after which exponentially it helps or not it’s a progress driver for the general class,” they added.
