Advance Publications’ newspaper division and the separate Advance Internet division are collaborating with Microsoft on the new Microsoft Media Network.  Content Bridges founder Ken Doctor is a multimedia whiz and former executive at Knight Ridder. He made the announcement that Microsoft will deliver its text ads both through its paid search and contextual-reading ad products. Microsoft paid search ads will replace Google paid search on Advance sites.

Though there are similarities to the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium, Doctor discusses the main difference: “Advance Internet is maintaining its own ad platform, currently powered by 24/7 RealMedia, and integrating with Microsoft. Yahoo Newspaper Consortium members have fully adopted the Yahoo APT platform for their ad serving businesses, creating a closer, more exclusive relationship.”

Doctor spoke with Peter Weinberger, president of Advance Internet, who was unwilling to specify what parts of the deal involved exclusivity or the duration of the contract. The very-private Advance Publications, Inc.,  owns Conde Nast, publishers of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired and 17 magazines, American City Business Journals, Sunday Parade and 30 newspapers.