Advance Partners with Microsoft to Sell Local Advertising

By: Jennifer Saba Advance Internet, the division representing 36 newspaper Web sites owned by the Newhouse family including NOLA.com and NJ.com, has entered into a deal with Microsoft.

The partnership will allow Advance salespeople to sell Microsoft Media Network inventory on the local level and offer behavioral targeted advertising.

"We have the No. 1 local news and information sites in each of our markets," Peter Weinberger, president of Advance Internet, said in a statement citing Media Audit data. "Now through our agreement with Microsoft, we will be able to serve our advertisers with even better online marketing solutions."

With the addition of Microsoft Media Network inventory, Advance can expand its local reach in the marketplace to about 75% of all adults who use the Internet.

Additionally, Advance will be implementing Microsoft Advertising's Content Ads and Search Ads, which serve contextually relevant advertisements within articles and other content pages, and will be able to sell Microsoft search products.

"The local perspective that Advance Internet offers will be incredibly helpful as we develop our reseller efforts," Brian Handly, general manager, PubCenter, Microsoft, said in a statement. "We are excited to expand Content and Search Ads into Advance Internet's porfolio of regional Web sites."

This alliance differs from the Yahoo newspaper consortium in that Advance can maintain its own advertising platform, notes Ken Doctor, who reported the news earlier on his blog Content Bridges.