With AMP, Yahoo streamlines ways online advertising space can be sold. Microsoft, Google, AOL and other companies have pursued similar initiatives as the nature of online advertising has evolved.

"While online advertising grows more sophisticated, the process of doing business today is surprisingly cumbersome and manual," Hilary Schneider, EVP, Global Partner Solutions, Yahoo, said in a statement. "AMP from Yahoo will enable advertisers and publishers to connect with each other and their exact target audiences across the increasingly fragmented Internet, in a way that's not possible with current solutions. We believe AMP will deliver a faster, easier, and more automated and integrated way to create, buy, and sell advertising and do so across a transparent global marketplace."

The AMP platform is an integrated user interface to help marketers buy ads across search, display, local, mobile, and video inventory. Users will be able access tools that allow geographic, demographic, and interest-based targeting across networks that includes Yahoo owned-and-operated inventory and more than 600 U.S. newspapers. AMP is an open platform available to any participant, and will also include Yahoo's network of publishing partners, agencies, ad networks, and smaller publishers, Yahoo said.

Formerly known as Project Apex, will begin its roll out in Q3 2008 with members of Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium, with additional publishers, advertisers, agencies, and ad networks added into 2009.

"We are highly enthusiastic about the potential of this platform," Jay Smith, president, Cox Newspapers, said in a statement. "We're blown away by how Yahoo is working with intensity and commitment to create a collaborative and very efficient platform that we expect will have a significant impact on our sales capabilities. This is a turning point for our industry. And, we are equally excited about the tremendous value Yahoo! sees in our great local newspaper content, which is getting broader exposure nationally on some of Yahoo!'s most popular sites."