• by Gavin O'Malley , March 15, 2011

In partnership with some like-minded entertainment sites, New York publisher New York Media on Tuesday debuted a vertical content network anchored by entertainment and culture site Vulture.com.

The Vulture Network will target advertisers looking to extend their reach to a larger number of industry insiders and entertainment enthusiasts.

In addition to Vulture.com, the Vulture Network will feature entertainment destinations, including Seat 42F, Art Critical, Brokelyn, MORE, and Futon Critic.

"We understand that clients need to work quickly and with teams that they trust to generate the fastest possible tipping point," explained Ron Stokes, executive director of digital ad sales at New York Media. "By applying the same high editorial standards that attracted the current Vulture audience, we are able to expand our clients' reach and generate results."

Advertisers that have already signed on to the Vulture Network include Target, AMC, HBO, The Lion King and Samuel Goldwyn.

Thanks to the breadth of the network, advertisers will be able to target campaigns to audiences of various sizes and interests.

Seat 42F, for example, offers TV ratings and box office results, while Brokelyn features art listings and reviews. ArtCritical has essays on fine arts and reviews of gallery shows and performances, whereas MRQE features aggregated movie review scores and user-generated reviews. Futon Critic shares interviews, news, and reviews of TV shows and movies.

The addition of these sites will add approximately 2.5 million unique visitors each month to the nearly 3 million that Vulture.com already attracts, according to New York Media, citing data from Omniture SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics and Quantcast.

At launch time, the Vulture Network features traditional display advertising. There are plans to evolve the network to include more integrated content deals and high-impact units.

Advertisers are able to target within the network, as they currently do on Vulture.com, including geographically for limited-release openings or in key markets, by date with home page takeovers across partner sites.

Vulture debuted as New York's culture blog in April 2007 and has since grown into a standalone entertainment site.

Since January 2010, page views and unique visitors have roughly doubled, according to New York Media. In January 2011, unique visitors hit 2.9 million and page views reached 18 million, according to Omniture SiteCatalyst.