In a $500 million mega-deal, Viacom has agreed to a broad partnership with Microsoft that spans advertising and content. Currently, Google’s Doubleclick powers ads on Viacom sites. But as Viacom is suing Google over YouTube, the move to Microsoft is not entirely a surprise — especially after Microsoft’s purchase of aQuantive. On the content side, Viacom units MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Paramount Pictures will license video to MSN and Xbox. And the two agreed to continue to work together on game development.
Meanwhile, Google says that the Viacom-Microsoft deal proves the point that there’s plenty of competition in the online ad market. As you may remember, Microsoft claims that Google’s purchase of Doubleclick creates an advertising monopoly. (The deal still doesn’t have a green light from the FTC.) But Microsoft said that even with the Viacom deal, Google+Doubleclick controls more than 80 percent of online advertising.
