LGBTQ+ publishers grapple with a Pride Month ad spend slowdown

Execs at four LGBTQ+-focused publishers Digiday spoke to attributed the slowdowns and pullbacks to the current social and political climate. 

Some blamed the Trump administration’s pushback on diversity, equity and inclusion programs (ad budgets spent with LGBTQ+-focused publishers typically come out of multicultural marketing commitments). Others said advertisers have been more cautious with LGBTQ+ media spending since the 2023 backlash to Bud Light’s Pride campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. And the current economic climate is the cherry on top, they said. Corporate Pride sponsorships overall are shrinking this year, for these same reasons. 

Ad agency Burrell Communications Group is among those struggling to get brands to commit spending with LGBTQ+ publications, and has seen multicultural budgets get shaved, according to chief strategy officer God-Is-Rivera. “I am seeing this mad scramble of, ‘what can we do to keep doing this?’ Or at least, if it was 100% funded, ‘can we keep it at 50% funded?’” she said. 

If a brand’s values align with LGBTQ+ publishers and their audience, it shouldn’t pull ad spend at contentious times like these, stressed God-Is Rivera. “Are you going to be someone else every four years in the U.S.?… Brand values need to be unshakable,” she said. “They need to parse through what that looks like among sentiment shifts… I’m seeing this behavior that’s unsustainable.”

While the outcome is less dire than the dwindling Pride Month brand deals for LGBTQ+ influencers, the slowdown means these publishers are grappling with less revenue than they expected so far this year. 

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One LGBTQ+ publishing company’s Pride Month ad revenue is about a third less than it was last year, with about 30% fewer deals year-over-year, according to its CEO, who asked not to be identified to speak candidly. Ad revenue for Revry, an LGBTQ+-focused connected TV streaming network, is flat this June year over year.

“Several brands that we had been in deep discussions with in early 2025 implied their reticence to be in an LGBTQ+ environment given the political climate — and ultimately passed. One brand in particular actually had a Pride campaign, which got pulled at the last minute,” Mark Tevis, Revry’s evp of sales & partnerships, told Digiday in an email. He declined to name names.

The anonymous CEO told Digiday their company’s advertisers sit in two buckets: one that spends with their publications throughout the year, and another that “pops up like whack-a-mole” around events like Pride. Ad spend from brands in the first bucket has remained consistent this year, they said. 

But the ones in the second bucket have “declined significantly,” the CEO said. Pride Month is typically their company’s single-highest revenue month. This year, their company won’t hit its Q2 revenue goal. The publisher’s ad revenue is 95% direct sold, and the rest programmatic, according to the CEO. 

But their company planned for this, once Trump was elected, they added. They’ve had to be more cautious with spending this year, cutting back on large events around Pride.

“We would’ve happily scrambled and made them bigger… with the right advertisers,” the CEO said. “But we made a guess and we were right.”

Those “pop up” advertisers standing on the sidelines this month are also a lost opportunity, the CEO said. “We might’ve been able to expand [a Pride-related campaign] into something bigger,” they said.

Because of the current economic, political and social volatility, there’s a lot of “trepidation” from advertisers, according to Rivera, who said brands need to commit to the audiences they are trying to reach, instead of being “wishy-washy.”

Rivera, who joined Burrell three months ago, is working on a framework for response strategies when sentiments change. “To watch [advertisers] cower and be still [around Pride]… that is disappointing. As a strategist, it’s my job and the job of others in my position to solve for what is best… We need to work on the solution. This idea of just pulling back and then, what happens in 2026?” Rivera said. 

Tag Warner, the CEO of the U.K.-based Gay Times, said in a TikTok video that the company lost eight of its 10 advertisers in the last 12 months.

Most of Revry’s advertisers are not pulling back this month, “but we are also not seeing many new brands sign on,” Tevis said. In 2024, Revry had 23 total advertisers around Pride, with 19 new brands. This year, the company has 28 advertisers, with 18 new brands. “We have more advertisers in 2025 than in 2024, so budgets have been decreased,” Tevis said.

Going into 2025, Revry was forecasting year-over-year growth in June. With that no longer the case, Revry is figuring out how to make this up elsewhere, Tevis said. Fortunately, most of Revry’s advertisers have bought sponsorships that go beyond Pride, he added. “It is not atypical for Revry to see higher ad revenue in months outside of June,” Tevis said.

A publishing exec at another LGBTQ+ publisher – who requested to speak anonymously – said they were sold through for the month of Pride. However, last year their publication had big, splashy sponsorships from brands around Pride. This year, their publication has sold its June inventory, but not as much is centered around Pride-related content or events, they said.

“Brands are still advertising with us because they see that LGBTQ+ is part of growth marketing,” they said. “But it’s less loud and less proud.”

Even if Pride is not what it has been historically this year, execs remained optimistic.

“We lost 15 deals [in March 2020]. Everybody pulled back [because of the COVID-19 pandemic]. But that Q4 lit up,” the anonymous CEO said. “After six-to-nine months of Trump, and the tariff threats [die down], that’s a possibility for that in the back half of the year.”