Skype toolbars share your surfing history and behavior with ad network

Ad Age reports more on Skype click-to-call advertising. "Clicks are good. Calls are the prize" is a Marchex advertising network tag line. Skype’s browser toolbars for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox always turned phone numbers into links that launch Skype calls. With Skype’s Marchex partnership, advertisers can sponsor some of those links and place a message to encourage calling.

Marchex is selling Skype links on web pages owned by Yelp, Yahoo! Google and anyplace else your browser detects phone numbers. The only way for Marchex to know if a link in your browser is sponsored is for your toolbar to send the link to Marchex.

Marchex pitches "Call Advertising."

• Advertisers, weary of increasing search and online lead prices, are reconsidering calls as a lead form.
• Mobile search will provide advertisers a new, efficient channel for driving calls.
• Opportunities to drive calls via online and mobile directories will multiply.
• Paid directory assistance will transition to ad-supported and drive calls to advertisers.
• PC-based call providers will launch massive, ad-supported models to boost adoption.
  

  "Skype has quietly become one of the largest providers of calls in the world. The company currently has over 500 million registered users and is growing at approximately 40% year-over-year. Skype does this largely on the strength of peer-to-peer calls, supporting both voice and video. However, Skype users do not make PC-based calls to businesses as frequently, largely because Skype charges an incremental rate for calls to non-Skype phone numbers.

  Determined to find ways to grow its share of these calls, Skype will seek ways to reduce or eliminate the cost to Skype users.

  This move will undoubtedly give rise to another wave of opportunities for advertisers to drive calls with media dollars. By underwriting calls on the user’s behalf, advertisers will be able to unlock very efficient modes of communication with prospective customers. Over time, advertisers will likely discover the power of PC-based calls that give them the opportunity to leverage online assets to supplement the call with visual experiences like product demonstrations, technical explanations, or application processes.

  This same phenomenon will extend over time into mobile and smartphones."

• Phone numbers will re-emerge in online ad copy due to pressure from local advertisers.
• Carriers will continue their transition to ad-supported models.
• As calls become more central to the marketing mix, contact "lists" will emerge.

Questions Skype has been unwilling to answer since the launch.

User privacy and experience:

• Is there a user preference to disable adverts without turning off the other toolbar features?
• What browsing data is passed to the ad network? What are the privacy options for this data? Can I inspect the data sent to the ad network?
• What calling data is passed to the ad network and the advertiser? Privacy options? Can I see the data?
• How much of a speed/performance hit will the browser experience whilst the toolbar checks phone numbers with Marchex? Does this slow a page’s rendering or will the Skype link+sponsorship icon appear only after the page is rendered?

Advertiser and publisher concerns:

• I’m sure you’ve tested this type of advertising. How effective has this been? Compared to linkification without the "Free call" message and blue color? 
• Do you remember calling behavior? How do you use that data to improve ad targeting?
• Out of the millions of downloaded Skype toolbars, how many are active? How many have linkification turned on?
• What can web designers do to make it easier for the toolbar to recognized and properly encode phone numbers?
• Can an advertiser block "dial for free" links on certain web pages or sites while buying them on others?
• Can an advertiser restrict ads to certain times-of-day to assure customer service levels?
• Can an advertiser restrict ads based on the language of a web page?
• Can an advertiser restrict ads if the call tariff is too high, say from an island where the call rate is more than $1 per minute?
• Can a sponsored link drive the caller to a direct Skype-to-Skype call when the advertiser has a Skype for SIP or Skype for Asterisk enabled call center or another company Skype account?
• Are site operators (Google, Yahoo!, Yelp, etc.) compensated for ads layered over their sites by the toolbar?
• Can an advertiser place offers ("25% off if you call in the next five minutes") near their phone number? 
• In what countries and for what markets will click and call advertising be available?
• Which kinds of advertisers will not be allowed to purchase these ad units? Adult? Political? Gambling?
• What are the technical requirements for this service? Specific browsers, operating systems, etc.? Which Skype toolbars? 
• Can I build Skype-Marchex linkification into my company’s toolbar or site app? What is your developer program?

Here’s the video commercial, aimed at advertisers.

Shows Skype ads on Google maps, Yelp, and YellowPages.com web pages.