Mediapost reports:
Striking a blow against two of its far bigger rivals, Ask.com will replace MSN and Google as the natural search and sponsored listings provider on Lycos. Previously, MSN Windows Live powered organic search results and Google supplied sponsored search listings.
By partnering with Lycos, which had 25.7 million unique visitors in September, Ask.com will be able to boost its brand and expand its paid listings business. Lycos generates about 125 million search queries per month, according to internal company numbers.
Andew Moers, vice president for business development and syndication at Ask.com, called the deal “extremely important” because Lycos was a top 20 Web property.
In announcing third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Ask.com parent IAC/InterActive Corp. reported that revenue in its search & media group–mainly Ask.com.–had grown 34 percent over last year. Ask.com in September garnered 5.8% of search queries, displacing AOL–which drew 5.6%–as the fourth most popular search engine. Google ranked first, with 45.1%, followed by Yahoo (28.1%) and Microsoft (11.9%), according to comScore.
Calling it a “blow” might be an overstatement because despite being a Top 20 property, Lycos is a shadow of what it once was. I wonder is the key metrics make it a property on the rise or on the decline.
Regardless, psychologically, this might be a bigger negative for MSFT than it is a positive for Ask.com, although with such a small share of the search engine industry market share, any inch helps Ask.com creep up against third place MSN Search, who commands an 11.9% market share compared to Ask’s 5.8%.
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