• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 25, 2010

The owner of Mediabistro, a town square for media world insiders, is expanding its lineup of targeted blogs with the debut of SportsNewser, an outlet dedicated to the business of sports media. It's a crowded field; there are a slew of successful blogs and established players focused on networks' sports coverage and where star columnists are headed. 

But parent WebMediaBrands' CEO Alan Meckler stated, somewhat blandly, that the new unit will be unique in its devotion to "exclusively" covering sports media and entertainment, adding: "SportsNewser is a natural extension of our blog media network."

In its announcement, however, it said it intends to offer interviews with broadcasters and industry executives, signaling that SportsNewser may take a less contentious approach than Deadspin.com and other potential competitors.

WebMediaBrands operates various blogs, such as TVNewser, PRNewser and AgencySpy. The publicly traded entity -- perhaps helped by acquisitions -- saw revenue grow 72% to $2.5 million in the second quarter, while its loss narrowed to $968,000.

Ad revenues for its Web properties soared from $156,000 to $422,000 this year. Online job postings accounted for the bulk of the revenue -- $911,000 in the April-June quarter, compared to $434,000 in the period a year ago.

In the sports media field, companies with technology broadcasters could benefit from a ripe advertising avenue.