Microsoft Advertising has announced the launch of its Ad Exchange in Canada. The real-time bidded marketplace launched in the US earlier this year and has since opened in the UK and the Netherlands, giving clients access to all of Microsoft’s digital inventory.

The Microsoft Advertising Exchange operates in partnership with ad platform AppNexus, to create more of an open eco-system of publications to work with versus a closed stack of options for clients, Mike O’Sullivan, ad platforms and strategy lead at Microsoft Advertising tells MiC.

“We are one of the biggest publishers of digital media in Canada, so putting the Microsoft properties on the exchange gives a large amount of titles for clients to bid on in real-time,” he says.

O’Sullivan says since online ad marketplaces like these are new to Canada, the biggest hurdle Microsoft Advertising faces is education.

“We are excited about the introduction, but we think it is going to be a journey for the Canadian marketplace,” he says. “Getting advertisers on the platform and buying on it.”