Yesterday, it emerged that the US search engine Ask Jeeves was to stop using banner advertising on its site and will instead rely on advertisements tied directly to search terms. Ask Jeeves, which uses the PG Wodehouse butler character Jeeves, said that the ads were annoying to users and unappealing to advertisers.
However, the UK arm is not to follow suit. Chris Babayode, vice-president of sales and business development at Ask Jeeves UK, said that in the UK the site would do what was right for its UK business and consumers, taking into account regional and cultural differences.
"Ask Jeeves UK will continue to sell a range of display advertising products, including banners, tenancies and pop-ups, in 2003 -- especially when figures from the IAB show that banners account for 52% of spend by advertising format. The dropping of banners is a United States (www.ask.com) initiative and is not being followed here in the United Kingdom (www.ask.co.uk) -- a subsidiary of Ask Jeeves Inc," Babayode said.
Ask Jeeves UK said the revenue model for the site successfully combined a mixture of display ads with pay-for-performance search links and would continue to do so, adding that display advertising revenues continue to grow, especially from keyword-targeted campaigns and this is driven by advertiser demand.
According to Babayode: "The key for Ask Jeeves has been that advertisers have been able to combine their brand messages through display ads -- banners, skyscrapers or pop-ups -- with a call-to-action message through paid listings and within the environment of a highly trusted brand, with high brand awareness. The type and weight of advertising on Ask.co.uk has not been an issue identified through consumer research."
Ask Jeeves in the US said the last banner ads would disappear from its site this month, having begun to withdraw them at the end of last year. The company said it followed user testing, which showed that users were annoyed by banner ads and ignored them.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .