Websites in the Ask.com network will now start to display ads from the Microsoft ad network. For several years, Ask.com was displaying Google ads in their network and then in April 2007, the former AskJeeves rolled out its Ask Sponsored Listings contextual ad program to advertisers.

This rollout also came with a promise to publishers to rollout an Ask.com publisher program at the end of the 2007 quarter, which did not happen. In fact, at the start of 2008 this Ask publisher program is still in beta.

Now, with the Ask CEO Jim Lanzone stepping down from the company one has to wonder if the publisher program is in jeopardy and if the Microsoft ads represent a change in direction for the fourth largest search engine on the Internet? Many publishers are hoping that this is not so.

Right now the Google Adsense publisher network is the most lucrative and largest of it’s kind available to publishers. Yahoo’s publisher program is still in beta for 3 years now and there is no hint to this ever going public. This leaves the Microsoft publisher program, which may or may not happen and the Ask publisher program, which also may or may not happen as the only major options to compete with Google.

Publishers need more options as second tier programs such as Adbrite, Bidvertiser and ValueClick cannot compete with large search engine advertising networks for PPC revenue. Internet publishers are keeping their fingers crossed that in 2008, Yahoo, Microsoft or Ask will step up to bat with rolling out their publisher programs publically to compete with Behemoth Google. Competition is good, right?

Filed under: Ad Programs