NBC Universal and GE have jointly invested in Healthline, a health-specific vertical search engine, reports AdAge.

The $25 million investment is the latest by the Peacock Equity Fund, a joint VC operation from NBCU and GE Commercial. NBC exec Beth Comstock says the investment was made in part because of long-term relationship potential with NBC.

The search site, it's pointed out, has some natural integration opportunities with other NBCU operations such as iVillage.

Vertical search is a heavy interest area of late, with Meredith acquiring Healia, which runs a search operation similar to Healthline's. Such vertical searches are, as a Healthline exec points out, better than general search engines like Google since they have devoted all their resources to cultivating a niche instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

The niche search market - especially healthcare search - is also ripe for growth in terms of ad income. Healthline boasts major drug manufacturers as existing advertisers.

One person points out, however, that spending by pharmaceutical operations online is still very low.