Microsoft is expanding its contextual ad delivery program, giving advertisers more potential outlets, albeit within MSN, according to Search Engine Journal.
Currently, such ads are being placed on some of the most popular channels within the MSN network, such as Health & Fitness, Tech & Gadgets, Travel, and Money. This expansion gives advertisers more control over where their ads appear - on content pages or within Live Search results, or both.

If both, advertisers will be able to run campaigns that are "hybrid," touching both outlets, or segment them so that each can be managed individually. They will also be able to track their results from both platforms.

While the number of sites available to host contextual ads will increase, the expansion is still limited to MSN-published sites.

Still, the potential exists to expand the program to other web publishers. Doing so would bring Microsoft's adCenter into direct competition with Google's AdSense and Yahoo's Publisher Network platforms.