There’s something of a dance going on between the new AskCity, which got huge amounts of coverage since launch a week or so ago, and IAC’s stalwart local brand Citysearch.
Here’s a press release out this morning, which points to the fact that Citysearch is supplying much of the content on Ask City. It’s a little bit of: “Hey, don’t forget about us . . .” Most interesting is this paragraph:
Citysearch provides deep content beyond that which is surfaced within AskCity, including information on the latest trends and recommendations, giving consumers the enhanced ability to explore the cities they live in and visit. In addition to providing four sources of content, Citysearch offers consumers featured programming, editorial lists and targeted newsletters recommending fun ideas, events and places to visit in all major cities nationwide. These editorial lists include monthly, seasonal and holiday features, which set it apart from the competition.
(my emphasis)
The relationship between Citysearch and Ask hasn’t changed really — Citysearch was the content source for the old Ask Local — except that the AskCity product is now a lot more impressive and useful.
Citysearch is a little bit of the “Rodney Dangerfield” of local search, having been around since the beginning and sometimes forgotten in all the coverage about G vs. Y vs. M vs. Yelp, et al.
It’s true that Citysearch has a range of content and features that don’t appear on AskCity. But the potential exists for the AskCity product to leave Citysearch behind over time if it takes off. Of course it all remains to be seen. But there’s tension and some awkwardness in the relative positioning of the two products and the release in a very interest way reflects that.
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This really isn’t a disclosure of any kind but I was a freelancer for Citysearch years ago. I’ve always been a fan of the site and think it was ahead of its time by marrying unstructured search with a structured local database, which has become the model for most of the local search products out there.
Yet it doesn’t have the consumer horsepower that Ask does because Ask is a general purpose search engine.
Screenwerk 
December 8, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Between the lines, IAC hopes that AskCity catches on and becomes the new flagship. But meanwhile, CitySearch is an ongoing business that hasn’t really been leveraged in all the years of underfunding, etc.
The multi site hedge is becoming kind of the thing, isn’t it? Look at all the Microsoft “live” brands, and the AOL platforms, etc. More analysis of AskCity/City here. http://localonliner.com/?p=264
December 8, 2006 at 11:35 pm
The online local market is already very fragmented (especially in the US). I believe that, in a very fragmented world, it’s better to cannibalize yourself than be cannibalized by others. That’s why I strongly support multiple-entry-doors strategies like AskCity and CitySearch.