Microsoft and 24/7 Media announced a new partnership, which will see the Microsoft Advertising Exchange become the exclusive third-party ad exchange offered by Real Media Group to Open AdStream publishers.

“The incredible promise of digital advertising has been somewhat hindered by the unwanted inefficiencies as a result of market fragmentation,” a representative for Microsoft tells WebProNews. “All advertisers and publishers want are simple solutions that will help make ad buys with the best ROI.”

As part of the partnership, the Microsoft Media Network will be granted programmatic access to Real Media Group’s premium inventory. That makes Microsoft the only source not run by WPP (parent company of 24/7 Media) with such access.

Automated media planning tool 24/7 Connect will include Microsoft’s full catalog of ad offerings. Microsoft’s Atlas will also become one of WPP’s preferred ad servers, and offer “expanded opportunities,” according to the announcement. Specifically, there will be integration between 24/7 Trader (24/7 Media’s demand side platform used by WPP) and Microsoft’s Atlas ad server.

“This is an exciting day for 24/7 Media, WPP and our clients globally,” said 24/7 Media CEO David J. Moore. “In partnering with Microsoft, one of our largest and most strategic clients, we are creating a very powerful suite of capabilities that rivals any other offering available today in digital marketing.”

“We’re very pleased to be able to strike this partnership with 24/7,” added Rik van der Kooi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Advertising. “Our mission is to provide extraordinary experiences for consumers and effective solutions for our digital marketing partners. Marketers are telling us they need to get their hands on premium quality inventory at-scale by reducing friction, which is what this deal will do. And unlocking new demand for publishers’ inventory through our Exchange will similarly create new value in the market.”

The global online ad market is estimated to exceed $98 billion this year, according to GroupM, and this deal represents a partnership between two major powerhouses in that space. Between this and the its “search alliance” with Yahoo, Microsoft is putting together some pretty astounding advertising partnerships. Of course, there are rumors that the search alliance could break up before its full ten years are up.