Ask Jeeves announced the launch of their sponsored listing advertising program on Monday. This foray marks a major step for the Oakland based search company that will allow advertisers a new venue ad campaigns on Ask Jeeves.
The 5th ranked search engine is a division of InterActiveCorp (IACI) and said the new program replaces the Premiere Listings program and will provide an open auction system that provides easier access for search advertisers.
“The growth of search engine advertising is attributed to its unique targeting abilities, high degree of relevance, mass reach for advertisers and strong return on investment, and we look forward to more efficiently providing these benefits to our advertisers through a new automated system,” said Paul Gardi, the newly-appointed executive vice president and general manager of IAC Advertising Solutions.
“With Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings, we are allowing a larger network of advertisers to optimize their advertising spend on Ask Jeeves and our syndication network, one of the largest advertising networks on the Internet.”
IACI said multiple major benefits would be gleaned. Premium placement on Ask Jeves and its syndication network; low spend minimums that will work for both large and small advertisers and includes a self service system.
This could force a change in Jeeve’s relationship with Google. Ask Jeeves got 70% of their 2004 revenue from Google and that deal goes through 2007. Google will fill out the empty ad slots Jeeves might have available.
In order for Jeeves to really make some money on this though, they will need to be able to ensure traffic, which could be a problem. Right now, Jeeves ranks well below other search engines in frequency of use and according to ComScore Media Metrix, Google out performs Ask Jeeves 3-1 in search use. Ask Jeeves will need to put some meat on their bones.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
