NEW YORK -- Introducing the new series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "Boy Meets Boy" at a press conference this month, Bravo president Jeff Gaspin anticipated an obvious question from reporters.

"Does this mean that Bravo is becoming a gay network? Absolutely not," he said. Quoting from a famous "Seinfeld" episode, he added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

But there is something wrong with the notion that the cable channel caters exclusively to gay viewers. That demographic actually isn't the primary target for "Queer," a makeover series featuring a squad of gay stylists that began July 15, and "Boy," a gay dating show, which debuts Tuesday in the 8-9 p.m. slot before "Queer."

"On the surface (the program block) might seem designed for gay audiences, but it's really not," Gaspin said. "When we discussed our advertising plans for how we are going to promote it, the first group of people we are going to promote it to are women 18-49."

Call it the "Will & Grace" marketing strategy: Bravo has a dual target in mind for what might seem aimed strictly at a gay niche audience. After some internal debate at the channel, gay viewers were classified as a secondary priority to female viewers, who will command three-quarters of the marketing budget allotted for "Queer" and "Boy," according to Vivi Zigler, senior vp marketing and advertising services at the NBC Agency.

"Gay men are not measured by Nielsen (Media Research)," she said. "Women 18-49 is a more salable demo."

After three episodes -- including two on its premiere night -- "Queer" has emerged as a solid performer for Bravo, averaging more than 1.5 million total viewers, a record for the channel. NBC, which acquired Bravo in December, gave a half-hour version of "Queer" a primetime tryout Thursday, where it retained 86% of its "Grace" lead-in, according to a preliminary Nielsen report.

But the early success of "Queer" didn't come without a substantial marketing effort. Bravo won't disclose its budget, but the cost of promoting the launch of "Queer" rivaled that of some of NBC's primetime series, Zigler said. A healthy number of spots ran on NBC detailing day-and-date information, which isn't traditional practice because it risks irritating affiliates.

With a purchasing power estimated at more than $500 billion, the 26 million-strong gay/lesbian market is on the radar at NBC and any sizable media company. But women 18-49 drew the bulk of marketing dollars for "Queer" and "Boy" primarily for the simple reason that the demographic is far more numerous than gay viewers. In addition, despite the fact that women 18-49 watch more TV than any other demographic, Zigler felt they wouldn't gravitate as naturally to "Queer" or "Boy" as gay viewers would.

"Women, as a broader target, are not as easy to convince to see these programs," she said. "Communication in the gay community is such that they would find their way to these shows quickly."

To lure female viewers to "Queer," Bravo resorted to a mostly traditional media mix of TV, radio, print and outdoor, which included airplane-drawn banners to find those summering at the beaches. Two different types of "Queer" TV spots were cut as well: one that explained the premise of the series and another aimed directly at women, tapping into female frustration with straight men who are stylistically challenged.

"Ladies, is your man an embarrassment?" the voice-over intones. "Is his place a pig sty? Meet five gay men out to make over the world one straight guy at a time."

Because gay viewers are difficult to pinpoint through mainstream media buys, Bravo resorted to unconventional marketing tactics to reach them. Street teams were deployed to recent Gay Pride parades in New York and Los Angeles to distribute materials, including 44,000 whistles with the name of the show printed on one side and "Bad style really blows!" on the other.

Straight and gay viewers don't necessarily require separate marketing messages, either. To promote "Boy" this past weekend, nightclubs in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco catering to both sexual orientations were visited by people dressed up as Cupid in full body paint, where they will hand out scorecards with pictures of each "Boy" candidate for patrons to keep track of the action.

"The truth is marketers are still learning the different ways we can talk to the gay community," Zigler said. "That isn't to say women can't respond to the same language."

However, "Boy" also will be promoted with TV spots that speak directly to women. One commercial highlights the show's handsome bachelor, extolling all his virtues before pulling the rug out from under salivating female viewers.

"Ladies, meet this summer's hottest catch," the voice-over says in introducing the bachelor. "Successful, handsome -- and totally unavailable."

Despite the hope that "Boy" will have crossover appeal, Bravo has met some resistance placing the spots. Although the program itself has no graphic depiction of homosexual intimacy, several stations refused to run "Boy" spots during syndicated airings of "Will & Grace," while others included them only in markets where the sitcom runs in late-night.

"Queer" hasn't escaped controversy, either. The NBC affiliate in Augusta, Ga., postponed the broadcast debut of the program until later that evening due to content concerns. The peacock is less likely to try repurposing "Boy."

"This is us pushing the envelope on a small cable network," Gaspin said. "There is no intention of putting 'Boy' on (NBC) right now. Ultimately, maybe."

But the summer experiment could portend more permanent program-sharing for Bravo and NBC, where ratings-starved Saturday night could use fresh blood, for instance.

"It will test the possibility that a show really designed for cable can work on the network," Gaspin said. "I can't promise 'Queer' is the show that will give us that information, but we have to give it a shot."