Commentary
Barry Diller's Failure A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 10, 2010
You gave up too easily by throwing your hands in the air and surrendering the $1.85 billion acquisition investment in Ask.com after concluding Google just can't be beat. Thank goodness we don't have more media moguls like you running companies and laying off 130 respected engineers. If we did there would be no SAP, because they would have conceded to Oracle or Microsoft. There would be no Research In Motion, because they would have conceded to Apple or Google. And, there would be no AOL, because the portal would have conceded to Yahoo.
That kind of thinking limits choices for consumers, advertisers and marketers. By the way, I'm not too fond of Yahoo's decision to throw in the towel either, but at least they partnered with Microsoft. The two, believe it or not, have a fighting chance of keeping competition alive.
Remember when we learned Google had turned from an adjective to a verb? Well, evidently the same has begun to happen with Bing -- at least in one Huntington Beach, Calif., high school. Yes, it took time, work and millions of dollars in advertising, but Microsoft might have begun to slowly change the habit of some consumers.
Just the other day, in a conversation with a local high school student, I learned of a Spanish teacher and class referring to "Binging" search results. They don't "Google" search results on a specific topic in class. They prefer to "Bing" it because of the educational information provided on Bing's home page in the hot spots hidden in the picture.
Google captured about 10.6 billion searches, or 66.1%, of U.S. market share in September, up 3% sequentially, according to comScore's latest numbers. Yahoo accounted for 16.7% billion, down 0.7%; while Microsoft took 11.2%, up 0.1%. Ask Network captured 3.7% of explicit core searches, followed by AOL's network with 2.3%.
In July, Ask launched a social network allowing people to poll the community for the best possible answer. The engine hopes to tap into the approximate 87 million people visiting the search engine monthly. The project had been in the works for seven months.
Believe me, you're not the only business person who refuses to compete with Google-like service. Referring to Google, I've heard statements like "it's hard to compete with that war chest."
In a blog post, Ask.com President Doug Leeds wrote "This decision was made for a number of reasons we believe will ultimately benefit our company and our products, including cost, office location, and -- most importantly -- focus." Oh, please. It takes talent to build a competitive and entrepreneurial landscape. You had the search engine dead and buried long ago.
In fact, Mr. Diller, you gave up long before shuttering the service by psyching out advertisers, convincing them to take their campaign budgets somewhere else. In July, a flood of excuses escaped your lips. The DailyFinance cited you as admitting "I was wrong about the competitive landscape with Google."
Laurie Sullivan is a writer and editor for MediaPost. You can reach Laurie at lauriesullivan@gmail.com.
I wrote this egomaniac a thoughtful letter two years ago with an idea for his entire stable of brands. Now I know why he never replied. He was too busy driving himself out of business.
I'm just a guy with his own opinions but if you've been around the block a few times you start to see patterns.
Any business that involves itself with data management naturally leads to a monopoly situation. Google simply follows in the footsteps of Microsoft and IBM before it in this regard. The reason? Once you start engaging users in the feedback loop, the aggregated sentiment gives you unique insights on building your business. As a result, the smart get wicked smart and everyone else has no chance to catch up.
This network effect happens repeatedly and the only way to break it is to come up with a true innovation that is simpatico with the times. While you pointedly mention Ask's involvement with question-and-answer services, I humbly suggest that timing is everything. Internet users need to value complex search terms before social search could come to pass, and Mercata and Respond.com are just two companies with significant investments way before Ask.com started dabbling in that sandbox.
Diller has belatedly recognized that Ask.com is way too close to being in Google's wheelhouse, and joins former Internet giants Excite, Alta Vista, Infoseek and Lycos in the ash heap of history. For what it's worth, I'm inclined to give this "egomaniac" a pass on this topic given his track record in building businesses.
Right you are, Brian. In fact, it was something very innovative that I wanted to share with him. But his vanity - what you say he deserves a pass on - that has proved to be his undoing.
He has become the Bill Buckner of media.
I find that most interesting, that - "..in a conversation with a local high school student, I learned of a Spanish teacher and class referring to "Binging" search results. They don't "Google" search results on a specific topic in class. They prefer to "Bing" it ..."
Just as (I believe) that Barry Diller's IACI list of properties will soon be seen to "prefer" to do so, too. By following the lead from Yahoo - and with them all having Bing installed, accordingly. (With AOL the 'next' to do so? - I think so.)
For it is ONLY about the 'bottom line' with these big Co's and as to how it can be, consistently achieved.
The reasons why are many and should readers care to look a little deeper (and, think more 'long term-ish'), they may find that it all revolves around precious 'user' data. Data being collected on us. (The all important "users", on the web.)
And by looking even further they will then discover that a certain (neutral & award winning) AdCenter management platform happens to have been 'developed' (to global scale - with targeting capabilities of getting down to a user's IP address area, is what I now feel) yes, and it's one that has been slowly & meticulously developed by none other than both Microsoft and IACI's ASK.
[Read of that fact in this, 'current report'].
http://investor.shareholder.com/looksmart/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-10-117032
So (ultimately - I believe), when a majority of Global newspapers and other big media (also) follow suit and all have Bing installed to (all) their web sites, where will that leave Google, in the eyes of big advertisers?
Big advertisers who will all be wanting to (by then), more accurately get to set all campaigns across multi-platforms proportionately (following 'users') & with a (that 'single'), 'one-stop-shop' buy.
Again (this is mostly all an opinion only, of course), where will that leave Google when it comes to that 'all important' (by then, exclusive), and so "independent" - equal to all, DATA, I would ask? (If you will excuse that pun.)
It only goes to show that all sucessful business leaders are not necessarily visionaries. It takes both vision and a real real passion for your brand to take on a market dominated by another brand. If you look hard enough there is always a slice or piece of the market that is unoccupied and up for grabs. Basic marketing dictates that once you find an open niche in the consumer mind, you can find ways to challenge the dominant player. Maybe Diller just didn't look hard enough. Bing has and it they are persistent, the rewards will be there.