Pronet Advertising

Ask.com Asks, How Much Do You Value Transparency, Customization?

Ask.com announced their version of an online contextual advertising product today, which is essentially a direct competitor to Google AdSense. What sets Ask's program apart from others, and is it worth taking a look at?

One of the big differences that may appeal to a lot of people is the degree of transparency that Ask is offering. Unlike Google, who doesn't disclose the its basis for revenue-sharing, Ask plans to inform all partners of their share of the revenue up front. Furthermore, several other features that set Ask's service apart from other contextual advertising services are the ability to set "Page Yield Thresholds" and "Relevancy Thresholds" that allow a publisher to choose between advertisements that pay more or ones that are more relevant to the content on a page.

Barry Schwarts also mentions,

Ask told me that they will allow "very customized" interfaces for the contextual ads; such as customized backgrounds and graphics.

All of this sounds good, but you have to wonder, will advertisers (and publishers) value the transparency and customizations that Ask offers more than the massive network of advertisers and publishers that are using Google's service? Ultimately what matters to me is which network gets me the most bang for my buck.

Hashim, April 27, 2007

Bang for your buck (ROI) is different than how much inventory you have access too. If ROI is was the most important measure for advertisers, Yahoo would be doing much better, because I hear it's easier to convert their users to your buyers.