The odd couple

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will become the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on Digg, reports CNN Money.

Digg is a user-generated news recommendation service that serves over 17 million visitors a month. The three-year commitment between itself and Microsoft will enable both to work in tangent on future technology and advertising initiatives.

The liaison is a major foothold for Microsoft into the online advertising market, which has struggled for the last year to regain ground from search engine ad giant Google.

Previously, Digg used AdWords for its ad serving. Reasons for the switch were not disclosed.