AOL announces BidPlace ad exchange
As part of Advertising Week in New York, AOL's Platform-A ad service has unveiled BidPlace, an ad exchange that will launch in the first half of next year.
In an ad exchange, advertisers place bids on pieces of inventory, and the highest bidder wins. It's the premise behind companies such as Right Media, which Yahoo acquired in 2007 after initially investing in it.
BidPlace will let advertisers bid on AOL sites, its partner sites, and third-party sites that use Platform-A's ad network. AOL says Platform-A's network reaches 90 percent of online audiences, according to ComScore statistics.
BidPlace clients will be able to use a Web interface to define an ad budget, manage their bids, and have access to analytics. The technology is based on AdLearn, which AOL acquired when it purchased Advertising.com for $435 million in 2004.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
