David Jakubowski of Microsoft revealed some tantalizing details of MSN Keywords, Microsoft's search asdvertising program set to launch in October. More detailed and flexible reporting than Google and Yahoo! will apparently be the distinguishing feature; advertisers will see various kinds of demographic and other audience data, including gender, age group, and time of day. This seems remarkable. Microsoft must be harvesting MSN member information for its advertisers, and when word of that gets out the usual privacy concerns will rear up. Also, Microsoft cannot possibly provide such a detailed breakdown for all impressions and/or clickthroughs; nothing stops a non-member from searching via MSN Search. At any rate, the idea of tailoring a message to different demographic groups is certawinly appealing to advertisers.
