Oxygen Media, the online network which
will be paired with a cable channel aimed at women, this week struck an
advertising deal with MSN Hotmail to
promote its teen and fitness properties.
The agreement calls for Oxygen to get premier placement in the Hotmail
Women’s newsletter and be an anchor tenant within its Health and Fitness
and Teen categories.
In addition, Oxygen Media’s online properties — Girls On, Moms Online, Breakup Girl, Oprah.com, Thriveonline, and the
soon-to-be-launched sports site We
Sweat — will supply content for the Hotmail Web Courier, which
distributes free e-mail newsletters to 45 million Hotmail subscribers.
Hotmail has been one of the most popular ways for online publishers to
reach teens, since young people without their own Internet accounts are
thought to migrate in great numbers to free Web-based e-mail services.
Teen
sites like Bolt.com and Alloy Online have marketing and
distribution agreements with Hotmail. Girls On, Trackers and We Sweat all
will provide content for the teen audience.
The agreement also calls for Oxygen Media to advertise on additional MSN
properties, including MSN.com and MSNBC.
Oxygen Media is expected to launch its cable network, with programming
aimed at women, next month. At the same time, it will open the doors on
four additional sites: We Sweat, a sports site; Trackers, an online place that knows
what girls like; Womenshands, an
Internet showcase for handcrafted works by women; and Picky, which offers ideas, resources and
answers for fashion, beauty and home.
The company is well-funded, with
investors including Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures and luxury goods company
LVMH each throwing in more than $100 million.