IAC Has Good Growth, Fueled By Ask’s Growth

IAC/InterActiveCorp reported earnings for its first quarter, and thanks to Ask.com’s healthy revenue growth, company-wide profits rose 31.6%. The media and advertising division, of which Ask is a major part of, saw revenues rise $50.05 million from last year to $168.1 million, resulting in a profit of $10.5 million, up from a loss of $6.4 million the year before. MediaPost talks about IAC’s significant efforts to increase Ask’s reach, with a highly questionable ad campaign being done by a much-maligned ad firm.
To reverse that trend, IAC on Thursday launched a multimillion-dollar Ask.com awareness campaign. The TV and online ad blitz, expected to last a year, will first attempt to get consumers comfortable with algorithms–the formula that search engines use to determine result relevancy. Then, later in the campaign, the ads will explain why Ask’s algorithm is special.
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Sterling also questioned the focus of Ask’s new campaign, created by Crispin […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg