Boasting 27 million active users and alternative revenue streams, LinkedIn could have ignored the ad network craze. But that would have stymied demands from advertisers, who are increasingly looking to the business-focused social network as a platform that can give them real reach for a highly desirable audience of affluent professionals.

"The message we hear from advertisers is simple: they want mass reach against specific segments of decision-making professionals, and they want their ads to appear in quality environments," said Steve Patrizi, LinkedIn's director of advertising sales. "The LinkedIn Audience Network offers advertisers one of the most accurate audience data sets available on the web along with the confidence of knowing that their brands will only appear on sites with high editorial standards."

To extend its reach, LinkedIn has cut a deal with Collective Media, an ad network that targets high-end media sites. Under the terms of the deal, advertisers will be able to buy impressions from LinkedIn that can be served either on the social network or across Collective Media's collection of sites. However, the deal won't work in reverse, which means that Collective won't have the ability to sell LinkedIn's inventory.

But beyond simple reach, the deal allows LinkedIn to extend its targeting capabilities across the web. Because LinkedIn attracts an audience of professional users, it's widely believed that the data it collects from users is highly reliable. 

The launch comes on the heels of LinkedIn's decision to begin working with CNBC to integrate the social network's content onto the cable channel. That move, and other content-sharing deals, are part of a larger strategy to position LinkedIn as the hub for an audience of influential business professionals.