AOL used to be heavily invested in advertising technology, but that was a long time ago and they were replaced with the likes of Google and other current industry giants. Still struggling to stay afloat, they are set to launch a new platform that will allow advertisers to compete for space using a real-time bidding system.

Demand-Side Platforms (DSP) have experienced a lot of popularity lately and AOL’s newest version will be called AdLearn. A major selling point for advertisers is that AOL will manage brands on the platform for free.

Ned Brody, AOL’s chief revenue officer commented on the new service:

“This is all part of our strategy to try to play in as many parts as possible of the nonreserved space,”

“The goal is that much more premium inventory can flow through it,”

There’s no way to know how successful the new service will be, but AOL has had great success with their ad-network business which grew over 20% in the last quarter of 2011 year-over-year. It’s an investment in their future, that hopefully will pay off. It launches this coming Tuesday and we should have more to say about it soon.