Why IAC is sitting pretty

It takes 3 things to make a "network"—a search engine, content, and an ad-serving technology. The aQuantive/MS deal unveiled today suggests that three networks have at last emerged: Google/Doubleclick; Yahoo/RightMedia & Microsoft/aQuantive.

The big question is, is there room for a fourth?

If the answer is yes, two companies would appear to be in contention for that spot: Time-Warner (which I work for) and News Corp. All that's missing from either company's bid to be the fourth network is a decent search engine. (Both of them now do deals with Google for search.)

If I'm right—and I have absolutely no reason to believe I am—then Barry Diller is in the catbird seat since IAC's ask.com is arguably the last, "best" search engine. "Best" is certainly debatable—there are those who say that ask.com is simply being gamed by too much spam. But it definitely appears that something is jelling here and unless China's baidu.com is up for grabs, old Jeeves is looking pretty good.

Comments

[Michael Martinez]

"...there are those who say that ask.com is simply being gamed by too much spam". I don't know who "those people" would be, but they cannot be well-versed in the search engine market. Ask has the least spam of all the major search engines. Their current algorithm (soon to be replaced by the dicey "Edison" algorithm) is currently the best one available in terms of picking relevant content, except for their manual inclusion of Wikipedia content.

Among search engine optimizers -- the people who manipulate search engine results -- it is generally accepetd that gaming Google is far easier than gaming Ask.