AOL and Microsoft making moves into the online ad space...

Internet-based advertising has been on the upswing for a while, and we're seeing some big companies take different approaches to entering the space.

A week ago, AOL announced its acquisition of Lightningcast, a pioneer of on-line streaming video advertising and software that targets advertising to consumers on-line. On-line ad revenue has been a bright spot for many web portals, and it seems to make sense for AOL to expand into this line of business.

Today, the WSJ reports that Microsoft is looking at acquiring Third Screen Media, one of the first companies to develop web-like advertising over mobile phones. Your phone either has (or will have) Microsoft software riding on it, so why not have advertiser use Microsoft software to reach mobile users? Maybe a good way to avoid "do not call" regs.

In the scheme of things, each of these deals is small but they highlight the on-going evolution of both companies and the revenue opportunity of wired advertising.