DoubleClick to auction ad-space

Online ad reporting company DoubleClick is planning to set up an online bidding sustem to sell internet advertising space, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

DoubleClick’s proposed Advertising Exchange would provide a forum for online content providers to put their advertising space up for auction and sell to the highest bidder.

More than half of the advertising space made available by publishers using DoubleClick could be using Advertising Exchange within five years, DoubleClick Asia-Pacific managing director Kaylie Smith says.

“We will do some trials, people will get comfortable with the idea, and we will see publishers starting to place some of their premium branded inventory,” Smith says. “It will be high-volume, low-value inventory to start with, but that will shift over time.”

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are reportedly all pressing ahead with plans to establish auction systems in key advertising markets around the world, although if Google succeeds in its ambition to acquire DoubleClick it may not need its own system.