Adsense and BrightAds on the Same Page?

Is this legal?

[teenwolf]

I have seen this question posted elsewhere and was wondering the same, but have not seen a response:

Is it legal to have Adsense and Kanoodle BrightAds on the same page?

[turtle1776]

Adsense and BrightAds can not appear on the same page. Neither Adsense nor Kanoodle's BrightAds will allow this.

A more interesting question is whether you can run them on the same web site. My understanding is that Adsense *will* allow competing services to run on the same site, but Kanoodle will not. I base this on the language in the Kanoodle Service Agreement, the relevant portions of which I paste below.

That language appears to demand an exclusive site-wide commitment up front for a full year. If I am right about this, however, this makes little sense. Why would anyone give up Adsense to try out Kanoodle, a small fry? I was interested because there are a few pages on my site that are showing Adsense psa's, or nothing at all. I'd rather have some revenue on those pages from Kanoodle than nothing at all -- but not at the cost of giving up Adsense entirely and going exclusively with Kanoodle for at least an entire year. I have emailed Kanoodle about this but so far have received no response.

I have read on these boards and others that the earnings per click on Kanoodle are smaller than Adsense, which would not surprise me because I assume, because Kanoodle is smaller, it has fewer advertisers competing for the available ad space -- though in certain niches it may be competitive. But all of this is an assumption that I will not be testing, based on their service agreement (see below).

SERVICE AGREEMENT EXCERPTS

(e) Kanoodle and COMPANY agree that during the term of this Agreement, COMPANY will not implement on the COMPANY Pages a Sponsored Links Service provided by any other company. For purposes of this Section, a "Sponsored Links Service" means a system that provides functionality that is the same as or substantially similar to any of the Kanoodle Services company, as determined by Kanoodle in its sole but reasonable discretion.

[snip]

10.Term and Termination.

(a) This Agreement will remain in effect for one year (the "Term"), commencing upon the first date that the Kanoodle Links are live to end users on the COMPANY Pages ("Live Date"), subject to any earlier termination as provided herein. The Term shall automatically renew for one year periods if not terminated prior to the end of the Term.

[Lokutus]

Is it safe to do a sample page with Adsense and Adbright ads, and then ask Adsense for an interpretation of its TOS? I don't think they will boot you for asking.

My belief is that Adsense does not allow a competitor's ads to be shown on the same page.

[KanoodleGal]

We are getting lots of great feedback on our program and our contract. We will continue to evolove the program based on your feedback. We are going to clarify the exclusivity clause going forward and will allow you to post BrightAds on the same page or the same web site as other ads that you may be running.

To address your comments on earnings per click, Kanoodle’s content-targeted sponsored links have an average CPC that is among the very highest in the industry. This is evidenced by our selection by leading publishers like MSNBC.com, CBS MarketWatch and USATODAY.com.

Thank you for your feedback and please post more questions or send any directly to [e-mail].

- Kanoodle Gal

[morpheus83]

I dont think Brightads is a competitor to Adsense. As brightads serves ads based on topic rather than keywords.

[teenwolf]

I dont think Brightads is a competitor to Adsense. As brightads serves ads based on topic rather than keywords.

I agree 100%, but will Google agree?

[morpheus83]

Even if Googleagrees you will voilate Kanoodle TOS.

[KanoodleGal]

Even if Googleagrees you will voilate Kanoodle TOS.

To clarify, we will be amending this clause from this point forward. Please note my previous post in regard to our service agreement:

We are going to clarify the exclusivity clause going forward and will allow you to post BrightAds on the same page or the same web site as other ads that you may be running.

We always appreciate your questions and feedback. Please post more, or feel free to contact us directly at [e-mail].

-Kanoodle Gal

[turtle1776]

We are going to clarify the exclusivity clause going forward and will allow you to post BrightAds on the same page or the same web site as other ads that you may be running.

Kanoodle Gal, you have been very helpful and very responsive. Thanks.

I just checked the sign up page, and the exclusivity clause still appears to be in the agreement. Do you know when that language is likely to be changed? I would love to sign up, as may others, but that language will need to change first.

[KanoodleGal]

In response to your feedback, we have made some changes to our Terms and Conditions effective November 12th, 2004 -- we removed the exclusivity clause, which means you can run BrightAds within the same site and on the same pages as other products you may be using, and we've changed the term of the agreement to be more flexible.

Please note, the changes outlined below:

We have removed the following:

1. Kanoodle and COMPANY agree that during the term of this Agreement, COMPANY will not implement on the COMPANY Pages a Sponsored Links Service provided by any other company. For purposes of this Section, a “Sponsored Links Service” means a system that provides functionality that is the same as or substantially similar to any of the Kanoodle Services company, as determined by Kanoodle in its sole but reasonable discretion

2. This Agreement will remain in effect for one year (the “Term”), commencing upon the first date that the Kanoodle Links are live to end users on the COMPANY Pages (“Live Date”), subject to any earlier termination as provided herein. The Term shall automatically renew for one year periods if not terminated

And have added the following:

Either party may cancel this agreement at any time. Company may terminate this Agreement at any time by removing the Kanoodle Services from the Company pages. Kanoodle may terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason by providing written notice via email.

Feel free to continue to post, or contact us directly at [e-mail].

Thanks!
-KanoodleGal

[turtle1776]

Thanks for being so responsive! Due to these changes, I will be joining up shortly.

For your reference, you may also wish to cross post this news to the following threads:

WebMaster World: Adsense Vs. Kanoodle BrightAds
[webmasterworld.com...]

Search Engine Watch: Kanoodle Rocks!
[forums.searchenginewatch.com...]