• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 3, 2012

AOL had selected Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange as the platform to provide real-time access to its inventory as part of the display advertising agreement that AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft entered into last fall. Under the deal, the three companies agreed to pool each others’ unsold inventory to boost ad pricing and enhance reach for advertisers and agencies.

More broadly, the alliance is seen as a step by the traditional portals to counter gains made by Google and Facebook in the display ad market in recent years.

The agreement in November called for Microsoft Advertising Exchange, built on AppNexus, and Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange to initially serve as the two marketplaces underpinning the ad integration starting this year. AOL was given the option to use its own exchange technology following the launch of the three-way partnership.

But for now it’s going with the Right Media Exchange, where its Advertising.com network has held a seat since 2009. “The agreement provides for Advertising.com to continue to access AOL inventory for our existing advertisers while providing increased competition through additional demand sources,” said David Jacobs, SVP, Advertising.com, in a statement.

The inventory AOL makes available will be traded through the Right Media platform in the U.S. and Canada. While the ad agreement may benefit the Yahoo ad exchange, a Forrester report last month on supply-side platforms concluded that Right Media had “an uncertain future” because of a mixed record of investment and a lack of strategic direction by its parent company.