• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 5, 2012

Healthline Networks has struck a deal with Drugs.com to exclusively sell targeted display advertising on the drug information site as part of the company’s network of health-related content properties.

The partnership expands the reach of Healthline’s HealthWeb to nearly 55 million unique monthly visitors, or roughly half the audience seeking health information online.

Under the agreement, Healthline will sell direct response and brand advertising on behalf of Drugs.com, as well as create sponsored content areas on the site and enhance ad opportunities on Drugs.com’s mobile properties.

David Kopp, senior vice president for consumer media at Healthline, called the alliance "a big improvement for advertisers." Healthine spans 34 major sites, including Yahoo Health and Ask Health.

Much of the current advertising on Drugs.com, which has a monthly audience of 8.8 million, is text-based AdSense ads. In addition to selling contextual IAB-standard ads, Kopp said Healthline would offer sponsored content that combines video, animations and text to provide users with a “visually engaging way” to understand a particular topic or treatment.

The site will tap Healthline semantic search technology, which allows advertisers to reach a particular audience researching specific symptoms and conditions -- such as depressive disorder versus bipolar disorder -- or looking up doctors.

For example, Healthline.com has already created customized sections on living with depression sponsored by Cymbalta, and on understanding an asthma attack, sponsored by Advair.

For its part, Drugs.com aims to ramp up its ad revenue by leveraging Healthline’s approximately 20-person ad marketing team and online ad tools. “Healthline give us ... original, engaging content and visual learning solutions that can help marketers reach consumers and healthcare providers at a crucial point of decision,” stated Drugs.com CEO Philip Thornton.

The site provides articles, data and interactive features on drugs and treatment therapies for both consumers and healthcare professionals, including a pill identification “wizard,” a drugs interaction checker and personal medication records.