Kanoodle has taken ad syndication to an unforeseen evolutionary step by introducing BrightAds Cookies for Kannodle partners. Participating Webmasters add a line of code to their pages, and a tracking cookie is placed on the hard drives of site visitors. When a visitor proceeds to another Kannodle partner site, and clicks through an ad generated by the cookie, the original Webmaster receives 5 percent of clickthrough revenue.

I needed help connecting the dots, so I caught Doug Perlson, Kanoodle COO, on the phone. He explained that the cookie, loaded with tracking information that can be used for behavioral targeting, can override the normal contextual relevance equations that generate ads on large partner sites. Perlson used MSNBC as an example. If a Web user receives a cookie from a small partner site, then visits 10 other sites before hitting MSNBC, the behavioral pattern revealed in that surfing path could generate ads on MSNBC related to that pattern.

I asked Perlson whether Kanoodle was concerned over the lost relevancy to the MSNBC page (in his example). He invoked the long tail to justify niche ads on a broadly topical page; MSNBC in this example becomes a portal capable of serving tightly niched ads targeted to narrowly special interests. I also asked whether Perlson anticipated PR difficulties over the popular reaction to monetizing cookies. He acknowledged that consumers and businesses alike misunderstood cookies, and that monetization elements are needed to support free access to superior content. The argument between privacy and better targeting is an old one.