The stakes are being raised in the PPC industry and this time it's not Google which is doing it! Microsoft announced that it planned to release a technology that neither Google nor Yahoo can offer yet -- the ability for advertisers to target their PPC ads by demographic information.

Microsoft has been tracking this information for years through its various sites and keeping a vast database on tens of millions of individuals. Microsoft said it plans to offer advertisers break-outs of which types of audience members clicked on ads, versus merely saw them, allowing marketers to further refine creative and media choices.

This service will initially be rolled out in France and Singapore and may perhaps be offered internationally when Microsoft's contract with Overture ends in June 2006. However Microsoft declined to comment about it.

"We still see [Overture] as a great partner. This announcement doesn't change that relationship at all," said Eric Hadley, MSN's director of advertising and marketing. "We haven't put any date on when it comes out of pilot, because we want to make sure it's right and it works and it meets customer needs."