(27 January 2009 7:30 pm)

MUMBAI: US broadcaster MTV has expanded its Tribes vertical ad network initiative with the launch of the humor-focused Comedy Tribe, anchored by ComedyCentral.com.

Among the launch publishers in the new vertical ad network is JibJab.com, which produces video content and digital greetings. It has signed an ad repping agreement with MTV.

Tribes senior VP, GM Heather Hopkins says, "With the launch of the Comedy Tribe and the partnership with JibJab, we're able to offer advertisers access to even more consumers as well as high levels of targetability, accountability, and deep brand integrations across some of the most popular and premium comedy sites on the web."

Under its agreement with JibJab, MTVN will serve as the exclusive sales force for all advertising inventory on the site, as well as JibJab's popular brand integrations and custom sponsorships. During 2008, JibJab.com received 105 million visits and the company currently has over 6.3 million registered members.

"JibJab has extensive reach but has always struggled to get mindshare with a large number of big brands," said JibJab's CEO, Gregg Spiridellis. "We believe working with the best comedy ad sales team in the world at MTV Networks will give us an opportunity to educate brands about our audience and premium content offerings at a scale that was never before possible."

"We knew that JibJab's proven ability to create highly engaging, viral branded entertainment would be of enormous value to our advertisers," said Hopkins.

MTV's Tribes are demographic-focussed vertical ad networks anchored by the company's core digital properties and extend to sites beyond its online portfolio. The Tribes are intended to offer advertisers extensions of the same audiences and content they find on MTVN sites, while offering greater scale and efficiency.

The newly-launched Comedy Tribe joins MTV's Parenting Tribe, anchored by ParentsConnect.com, MTV Generation Tribe and Tribes from CMT, Spike and VH1. Through the Tribes initiative, MTVN currently sells inventory across more than 220 partner sites and offers 17 vertical targeting categories.