• by Laurie Petersen , August 2, 2007

In a wave of things to come, MSNBC.com has launched online vertical advertising networks for its TODAYshow.com and politics sections that give small publishers access to its content while increasing the amount of inventory it can sell to advertisers.

A challenge for large online publishers is competing for greater share of inventory with the major ad networks, like Google AdSense, Gorilla Nation, or Glam.com, which in any vertical market segment are the largest single holders of ad inventory.

MSNBC.com's new approach is powered by Publisher's Vertical Network, and seeks to help it monetize verticals where it already has market expertise.

"We'll be rolling out more this year," said Mark Josephson, president of Seevast, parent company of provider Pulse 360, which offers the PVN platform. "Big publishers are understanding the opportunity. We have a very robust pipeline. This is a real trend."

"These networks provide us with an innovative way to capitalize on our leadership position and focus our ad sales efforts," said Kyoo Kim, vice president of advertising for msnbc.com. "The result is substantive value to members and increased inventory for msnbc.com."

Member sites joining the two new msnbc.com networks will increase their ad revenue through display advertising and sponsored links, get access to msnbc.com video feeds and story headlines for their site, and increase their search engine visibility.

"Our users are already using the sites we are targeting," said Kim. "We are trying to follow the natural audience flow. We think we can do it better [than the ad networks]. And we're sold out on our site."

As publishers seek to go after the long tail of the Internet and capitalize on fragmentation, other vertical networks are springing up all over.

Adify Corp. this week also announced it has more than 35 expert vertical advertising networks in place, with 100 more in the works. Media partners range from giants such as NBC Universal and the Washington Post to veteran Internet entrepreneur-powered efforts like the Gay Ad Network and Good Health Advertising.