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Fridae.Com, Asia's Largest Gay Web
Site, Marks Third Anniversary
Fridae launches Version 4, the most significant
update to date; new full-featured Chinese website to
be introduced in the second quarter.
March 3, 2004 - Fridae.com announced today the
launch of Fridae Version 4 to mark the third anniversary
of the largest gay and lesbian web site catering to
the Asia-Pacific region.
Fridae Version 4, which is the most significant update
to date, will feature a brand new look and feel, new
and enhanced content sections, forums and Asia’s largest
gay and lesbian Personals database.
Currently, Fridae boasts an average of 20 million page
views per month, up sharply from three million just
a year ago. Fridae’s unique Perks programme, which includes
unlimited access to the Personals, has seen 400% growth
in the past year.
Just three years of age, Fridae has since become the
premiere online resource for gays and lesbians with
almost 150,000 registered members making the site the
largest gay and lesbian portal in Asia. The top 10 countries
include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, China,
Taiwan, and USA, Australia, Canada, UK with their sizeable
Asian populations.
With its Chinese language Personals which was launched
last year and a new full-featured Chinese website to
be introduced in the second quarter, Fridae expects
major growth in the greater China region, which includes
mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as pockets
in SE Asia. Launched in November, the Chinese beta version,
had very quickly signed up almost 10 thousand users.
Fridae, which has been covered by numerous mainstream
and industry publications such as The (Singapore) Straits
Times and Business Times as well as Media Magazine (Hong
Kong), has firmly established its market position as
the primary channel to this fast growing market demographic.
To date, it counts Subaru, Qantas/British Airways, Visit
Britain and L'oreal as its advertisers and/or partners.
This year, Fridae expects to roll out more advertising
campaigns from major companies as marketers rush to
stake their claim as first movers within their industry
to target the gay consumer.
Nation, Fridae’s annual flagship event which would
be in its fourth year this August, is expected to grow
significantly as last year’s event drew accolades from
Time magazine (“3-day festival of international proportions”),
Australia’s DNA magazine, (“top 12 gay events in the
world”) and AFP (Nation: “a signature celebration for
gays in Singapore and elsewhere in the region”). The
event has also broken new ground locally by being the
first ever gay event to be covered by the evening national
TV news in four different languages on August 8, Singapore’s
National Day. Inbound tourism for Nation which was estimated
to be S$4 million last year is expected to double this
year. Nation 04 will be held over four days from August
6 to 9.
In the meantime, the next event, Squirt, to be held
on April 10-11 over Easter Weekend is expected to attract
some 3000 partygoers including numerous visitors from
the region including Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Malaysia.
In the next quarter, Fridae will also conduct the largest
gay and lesbian consumer survey in the region. This
study, a follow-up to a groundbreaking study in 2001
in collaboration with market research company Strategic
Intelligence, will seek to collect important data on
the socio-economic behaviours of the gay and lesbian
community in Asia.
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