A new deal between Sugar Publishing and NBC Universal will make NBCU the exclusive online ad seller for Sugar's websites, reports ClickZ.

The Sugar Network is comprised of ten female-focused blogs and sites, including PopSugar and others. Sales will run through NBCU's Digital Media unit.

The deal brings Sugar sites together with NBCU's iVillage property and, while an NBC exec admits the audience demographics are a bit different for the two outlets, that difference is not great enough to cause problems. That means Sugar and iVillage ad runs will be sold together to achieve a greater audience reach.

iVillage has other, similar arrangements to sell ads on sites not owned by NBCU. But the shared focus between the two women-targeting properties gives it much more reach within one demographic vertical to present to advertisers.

As with other such deals, this is being played up as one that allows Sugar, the smaller publisher, to focus on content and not have to devote staff and time to ad sales, where it doesn't have the expertise of a larger company.