To grow its Internet presence across the food category, Scripps Networks has acquired Recipezaar.com, a user-generated recipe and community site that features more than 230,000 recipes. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Scripps said the acquisition marks the start of a new strategy to expand the company’s online presence beyond its core TV network brands and into the broader lifestyle categories it serves.

With the acquisition, Scripps said it will reach 19 percent of the food category online.

Recipezaar.com draws about 2.5 million monthly unique visitors, while Scripps-owned FoodNetwork.com garners nearly 8 million.

The purchase gives Scripps a toehold in the user-generated environment to complement the expert-driven content that Food Network specializes in.

“We wanted to expand our portfolio of options,” said Deanna Brown, president of Scripps Networks Interactive. “We wanted to look at what are the opportunities to cross-pollinate, cross-promote and think horizontally about the opportunities between Food Network and to bring new brands into the fold.”

Scripps does not plan to rebrand Recipezaar.com as a Food Network property; it will preserve the Web site’s look and feel. “We think there is a tremendous opportunity regarding food that is not Food Network-branded because people are searching online for things that are not necessarily Food Network-branded,” Ms. Brown said. “To really own the category we need to gather them, cluster them.”

Scripps will sell advertisements across Foodnetwork.com and Receipzaar.com. Scripps has doubled its interactive ad sales revenue in each of the last two years.

Look for more acquisitions in the interactive space, the company said.

(Editor: Horowitz)