Ask.com has announced a contextual advertising product for publishers today. As part of the Ask Sponsored Listings (ASL – not to be confused with Age, Sex Location) platform, parent company IAC claims the new service already reaches 34 million unique users per month via their network of sites, which include Match.com, Ticketmaster, and and Evite. The company hopes to win over publishers by attacking one of AdSense’s biggest weaknesses – transparency. Ask.com plans to inform content partners of their revenue share up front, rather than leave them guessing about the fluctuations in eCPM one might notice in their AdSense account. The service will also include other standard contextual advertising management features, such as customizing the look of the ads and offering varying levels of editorial control.
Added transparency might win over the paranoid, but ultimately the battle for contextual will come down to who pays the most, and matching Google’s massive advertiser reach will be a challenge for Ask.com. For the curious, Ask.com’s contextual product will be available the week of May 21st.
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