San Francisco — In the latest geographic expansion of its ad business, AOL today announced the launch of Platform-A Canada, in an effort to allow easy access for advertising clients in the country to manage ad buys across the Web portal’s largest online advertising networks equipped with the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions and the best ad technologies, following recent country specific European launches in the U.K., France and Germany.
The move will essentially combine AOL’s ad network with its existing AOL Canada media network into Advertising.com. The combination gives Platform-A an audience of collectively 22.5 million unique visitors per month according to comScore data to its ad network, which includes AOL’s media properties AOL.com, AIM and MapQuest, as well as Advertising.com‘s third-party niche sites like online automotive magazine Canadian Driver, Engadget and TMZ.com from AOL’s MediaGlow publishing unit, which alone reaches more than 10 million Canadians monthly, according to comScore.
Senior director of Platform-A Canada James Prudhomme, who is managing campaigns in the region, states: “With the scale and reach of our network, Platform-A Canada offers a cost-effective way for marketers to reach their targeted audiences at scale through the delivery of highly engaging and effective advertising for maximum value and results, which is crucial in today’s economic environment.”
All Platform-A services currently available in the U.S are now available in Canada. The new unit will also cater to other services for Canadian publishers including the firm’s ad-serving technology AdTech and Quigo’s AdSonar sponsored link network, behavioral targeting from Tacoda, and mobile ad serving from Third Screen.
Previously, AOL has launched country-specific versions of Platform-A for Germany, France and the U.K.
AOL also announced Wednesday that it has extended its ad partnership with online investment firm Scottrade to encompass properties including AOL Money & Finance, Walletpop.com, Bloggingstocks, and for the first time, AOL News. As part of the deal, Scottrade will also be a featured broker on AOL Money & Finance.