Nielsen Working Towards Understanding Gay & Lesbian Market Demographics.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praised Nielsen Media Research, the television ratings company, for its commitment to explore ways of better understanding gay and lesbian market demographics.

Representatives from GLAAD and Nielsen Media Research have held a series of meetings in Los Angeles and New York to discuss ways of including gay and lesbian demographic information in Nielsen’s television research. Nielsen and GLAAD said in a joint statement that they will continue to meet and discuss ways to better understand media usage among gay and lesbian TV audiences.

“Nielsen Media Research welcomes the opportunity to learn more about media usage among gay and lesbian audiences,” said Susan D. Whiting, President and CEO of Nielsen Media Research. “We are pleased that GLAAD approached us to search for ideas that will provide media companies with more information so they can make more informed programming and advertising decisions.”

“Nielsen’s commitment to exploring and understanding the gay and lesbian demographic sends an incredibly powerful message that gay people and families count,” said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. “We look forward to our continued relationship with Nielsen as they work to paint a more inclusive portrait of American media consumers.”

“This is a first step toward inclusion not only for our community, but for advertisers, networks and the Hollywood creative community as well,” said GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Stephen Macias. “This kind of information has the potential not only to transform outreach to the gay and lesbian market, but also to help shape the accuracy and inclusiveness of the images we see in the media.”

For more information at http://www.glaad.org