Oxygen Media Inks Ad Deal with MSN Hotmail

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 email 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 email 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.