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Gray Jones Media operates on a simple premise: that the queer community is far more diverse than LGBTQ+ media has historically suggested.
On Wednesday, the holding company responsible for the titles Bear World, Gayming Magazine and Queer Forty launched its fourth title, Vacationer, aimed at capturing the “pink dollar” of the travel industry, which a 2016 estimate valued at $211 billion.
Helmed by veteran travel journalist Kwin Mosby, the publication aims to explore the world of LGBTQ+ travel that other media in the space, which often centers white, young, thin figures, has traditionally ignored. In six months, Vacationer hopes to attract 60,000 readers monthly, said co-founder Robin Gray.
Although Gray Jones reaches a relatively small audience of 1.2 million readers monthly, it has enjoyed outsized financial success due to its ability to tap into underserved segments of the LGBTQ+ market. The holding company, which only recently expanded from three to five full-time employees in October, is on track to net a seven-figure revenue this year, according to documents reviewed by Adweek. It generates revenue exclusively through advertising, and the company has no immediate plans to paywall its content.
“In the LGBTQ+ travel world, the media can often be like, ‘this is what you have to look like to go traveling.’ The content might extol how wonderfully diverse a destination is, but they’re still going to slap a white guy with a six pack and a Speedo on the cover,” Gray told Adweek. “We never really connected with that world, so the goal with Vacationer is to be the most diverse LGBTQ+ travel magazine.”
The nascent success of Gray Jones reflects the relative lack of media dedicated to the queer community, while the launch of Vacationer also suggests the return of travel media, which has remained stagnant due to the pandemic. The queer community has long held a reputation as particularly prone to travel––a recent IGLTA found that 73% of people who identify as LGBTQ+ plan to take a major vacation before the end of 2021––a reality Gray attributes to its higher levels of disposable income, notions of “found family” and other lifestyle factors.
“The LGBTQ+ community has emerged as the first group that wants to be back out there traveling,” Gray said. “The second the vaccine was in their arm, they were on the way to the plane.”
Launch details
To accompany the launch of Vacationer, Gray Jones will also premiere its third television series, a six-episode production called Check Your Luggage hosted by former Fire Island personality Justin T. Russo, Friday on YouTube. The series follows on the heels of its two predecessors, a cooking show hosted on Revry called Jonathan’s Kitchen: Seasons to Taste and Stan the Mechanic, which airs on Here TV.
Vacationer will not have any dedicated staff at launch, in part because Gray Jones has been slow to introduce full-time roles; the publisher has yet to take any outside investment and considers its financial conservatism a key component to its sustainable growth.
As a result, only one of its titles, Gayming Magazine, has any dedicated staff. Mosby, the editor in chief of Vacationer, holds the position in a freelance role, though the publisher anticipates converting more of its part-time employees into full-time roles in 2022, Gray said.
To produce its content, Gray Jones employs a stable of between 25-30 freelance writers.
Underrepresented readers = sponsorship success
Gray Jones Media was created in 2019, but its origins lie in 2012, when co-founder Richard Jones launched Bear World Magazine. In 2018, Jones and Gray launched Queer Forty, which targets a more mature readership, and the year following the two officially merged into Gray Jones Media ahead of the launch of Gayming Magazine.
Gayming Magazine, which caters to the queer videogaming community, has proven the most successful brand in the Gray Jones portfolio. It attracts 1 million monthly visitors to its site, and its authority in the space has helped Gray Jones land sponsorship deals with partners like Xbox and PlayStation.
In February, its Gayming Awards became the first-ever awards show dedicated to showcasing queer excellence in the videogame world, and Gayming is also the only LGBTQ+ media platform to stream on Twitch.
By targeting underserved tranches of the queer community––mature readers, gamers and now diverse travelers––Gray Jones has been able to secure sponsorship deals with major brands in industries including airlines, hospitality, dating apps and tourism.
“The LGBTQ+ community loves to travel, and it spends a ton of money on travel,” Gray said. “Brands know this, so if we can be in the middle of that by connecting them with readers, I think that really hits all the goals for us.”
