Still Need to Make a Call to Buy on AOL's Spot Market

What exactly is AOL’s Platform-A Spot Marketplace? I couldn’t tell from the company’s press release what’s different from what Advertising.com’s offered all along. Well, a Platform-A spokesman told me what’s significant is the ability for advertisers to bid on AOL’s non-guaranteed CPM inventory. That includes stuff like Moviefone, AOL Sports and e-mail pages.

Apparently, non-guaranteed AOL inventory has been sold only on a performance basis until now. The main difference is it’s available now on a CPM basis. Chandler was unable to tell me how much inventory is represented in this so-called spot market, since it’s constantly in flux.

Don’t go jumping to conclusions, though. Terms like “marketplace” in the online world have come to connote some sort of Web-based buying and selling system. Not so here. “You have to work with a sales rep on this,” according to Chandler.

And, since AOL is all about hyping Platform A these days, it’s given the new division a cool new logo. I admit, the design major in me digs it.