JavaScript links on all of ValueClick’s properties creates the technological framework to power a massive, behavioral targeting network
I posted about CJ’s LMI awhile back and finally read this. They finally make it clear what their motive is behind making everyone change their links to javascript. I probably won’t stick with using CJ because there is just too many things wrong with using javascript for affiliate links. You can read some good points about why using javascript is a bad idea. Anyway, I’m hoping Google’s upcoming CPA program offers something better to encourage people to switch. Below is quoted from the original article.
“JavaScript links are the linchpin to making a move like this by ValueClick work. JavaScript text links can set a cookie when the script is called from the server to display the link while with HTML the user must click though the link to the advertiser’s site for a cookie to be set. This is a key difference. In other words, with JavaScript every user on a site with a CJ affiliate link can be cookied and NO click is needed. (And yes, I know that a 1×1 pixel can set a cookie, but a 1×1 pixel takes time to load on a bad server or overwhelmed server. Also, affiliates remove 1×1 pixels all the time because they feel, and rightfully so, that their traffic data is their business alone. Finally, an HTML image ad can set a cookie, but moving forward advertisers want the flexibility of video and other fancy ads.)
Now think about the reach of CJ’s affiliate network combined with the ValueClick Media network (13,500 publisher/partner sites reaching reaching over 68 percent of U.S. Internet users each month, according to comScore Media Metrix), WebClients, and ValueClick’s smaller brands. Together these ValueClick properties create an intergraded ad network with a giant reach drilling deep into the Internet’s tail due to CJ’s network. Moreover, off the top of my head, the only other Internet powerhouses with this much reach on the head and the tail are search engines combined with their contextual networks such as Google and its AdSense network – not even the Advertising.com’s many headed hydra reaches down into the tail like CJ.
With the cookie being set on impressions alone throughout all of ValueClick’s properties, the company can build a giant database to target users’ behavior that is worth billions of dollars to advertisers. That database is worth all the pain and upheaval this issue has caused in the affiliate marketing community and I would suspect, it’s even worth loosing some affiliates over which might happen.”