engine - 3:20 pm on Sep 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo In New Ad Inventory Cooperation Plan [allthingsd.com]

AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft compete for ad dollars. But a new pact calls for the rivals to cooperate on ad sales, too. The three companies are going to start selling ad inventory on each others’ sites, in a plan they hope will make them more competitive with Google. The strategy is also designed to help them claw back some ad spending that has ended up in the hands of ad networks in recent years. Executives from all three companies briefed a group of top Web publishers and ad buyers about the plan at a dinner presentation last night in Manhattan. AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft hope to convince big Web properties to share some of their ad inventory as well, and to get big ad holding companies to funnel some of their purchases through the consortium.