• by June 28, 2007

In a move that could put iVillage back ahead of Glam Media in the bragging rights to top U.S. women's Web property (see "Glam Media vs. iVillage: Who's #1?", OnlineMediaDaily, June 19, 2007), NBC Universal Digital Media has taken on ad sales responsibilities for the year-old Sugar Network, publisher of PopSugar and nine other young women's-oriented sites.

The Sugar Network said it has 4.5 million monthly unique visitors, citing Google Analytics figures. In the comScore MediaMetrix Top 10 Women's Web Properties for May, where Sugar did not appear at all, iVillage trailed Glam by about 200,000 visitors.

The ad rep deal was part of an agreement announced Wednesday in which NBC Universal Digital Media also took a minority stake in Sugar, and iVillage and Sugar agreed to share popular entertainment content.

With the addition of Sugar, iVillage President Deborah Fine said in a statement, iVillage's ad inventory now includes "young, trendsetting women who go online daily for gossip, advice and fashion."

"We can now connect with women at even more life stages than before," added Peter Naylor, senior vice president, NBC Universal Digital Media Sales.

In addition to PopSugar, the San Francisco-based Sugar Network's ten lifestyle and entertainment sites include FabSugar, BellaSugar, BuzzSugar, YumSugar, FitSugar, GeekSugar, GiggleSugar, DearSugar and TeamSugar. They cover topics ranging from celebrity, fashion and entertainment to food, fitness and technology.