• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 23, 2008

Yahoo on Monday announced the formation of a Digital Advisory Council made up of agency and advertising partners that it said will work together "to explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising."

More to the point, the effort is aimed at helping smooth the adoption of Yahoo's forthcoming display ad system and acceptance of its controversial search ad partnership with Google.

The council is to be assembled by year's end and will meet quarterly at Yahoo's Sunnyvale, Calif. headquarters or in New York, depending on the topic and availability of executives. No members of the group have yet been named, but the council will number no more than 20 and reflect a cross-section of agencies and marketers, according to a Yahoo spokesperson.

"As Yahoo partners with publishers to extend the reach of our network, we have formed the Digital Advisory Council to identify innovative ways to improve advertiser performance, particularly in anticipation of the rollout of Yahoo's new advertising management platform in the coming months," said Hilary Schneider, executive vice president, Yahoo U.S., in a statement.

Yahoo's AMP platform promises to transform online display advertising by serving as a one-stop-shop for agencies, advertisers and publishers buying and selling inventory across digital formats. The system is being rolled out initially with Yahoo's newspaper partners before becoming more widely available later this year and in 2009.

Schneider added that the advisory group would help to clear up "confusion and misinformation" that has arisen surrounding Yahoo's search ad deal with Google. Federal authorities, a dozen U.S. states and the European Union are now investigating whether the agreement under which Yahoo would outsource a portion of its paid search ads to Google violates antitrust laws.

Industry groups such as the Association of National Advertisers and World Association of Newspapers have already voiced opposition to Yahoo's search plan.