New York Times Digital (NYTD), the gray lady's interactive arm, is about to launch the DealBook, an ad-supported, e-mail newsletter version of a Web log about financial news and information.

Media watchers seem shocked about the launch of anything ad-supported right now; but by banking on the popularity of blogs in general, the pub is launching with ad space sold out through the end of the year.

NYTD spokeswoman Christine Mohan told atNewYork the DealBook newsletter is part of a shift to target niche audiences within its database of free readers.

Similar to the weekly "In Advertising" newsletter edited by New York Times columnist Stuart Elliott, Mohan said daily DealBook would aggregate headlines and URLs from the most relevant news sources of the day and sent out to subscribers before the market's opening bell.

The first issue, in plain text format, is expected to hit e-mail inboxes next Monday.

DealBook is to be edited by the newspaper's mergers and acquisitions reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin. It promises to collate the latest news about market-moving mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, private equity transactions, venture capital deals and Wall Street maneuverings.

Mohan said the New York Times has no problem forwarding URLs from its major competitors, which would include the dozens of other international, national and local publications like The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times.

"We are targeting that specific market segment -- the financial, legal and business communities. It is the latest in step in our e-mail product launches. We already have advertisers booked through December," Mohan said, including Brooks Brothers and financial services firm Europe Investor Direct.

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New York Times Digital sends approximately 1.8 million e-mail newsletters per week and close to 2.4 million daily headlines blasts.