Gay site eyes older users with revamp

The city's oldest gay portal, Sgboy.com, is undergoing an "extreme makeover", with plans to relaunch its site as Trevvy.com as part of efforts to strengthen its appeal.

The new site aims to attract a slightly older set from its predecessor- the 25 to 30-year-old affluent, trendsetting gay consumer- as well as expand its audience base regionally. "(For Sgboy), our target audience was mainly (gays) just coming out. With Trevvy, we would like to stay relevant to our audiences, many of whom would have already been with us for several years," said Dominic Yeo, Sgboy.com CEO.

Yeo called the S$200,000 (US$126,200) development an "extreme makeover", citing a shift in editorial direction to focus more on sports, fitness and fashion. The exercise also includes an overhaul of its technological back-end. Ann Siang Media and Bleed Creator handled the redesign.

But perhaps more significant to the revamp will be Trevvy's added offerings for advertisers, a list that includes Nike, British Airways and L'Oreal. Trevvy will add blogs to its content, allowing advertisers to engage target consumers. As well as traditional banner ad placement, Trevvy will offer over-the-page (OTP) space and expandable skyscrapers on its website.

According to Nielsen//Net Ratings, the current www. sgboy.com site captures almost 125,000 unique users a month, each of whom spends almost 13 minutes per session at the site, compared to an average of just six minutes spent on other local sites.