The Ask.com Blog

Ask.com Ranks George Clooney as Users Favorite Batman

With the highly-anticipated July 18th release of The Dark Knight on the horizon, record reports of ticket pre-sales and of course the Oscar buzz around the late Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker, Ask.com retired to our own bat cave (aka our search banks) to reveal searching habits around this soon-to-be box office hit. Just as we suspected, users are conducting searches on everything from actors who have played Batman to directors to Heath Ledger himself...

Four mega-stars have played the role of Gotham City’s "Caped Crusader" over the years, and according to our search banks, George Clooney from Batman and Robin reins Bruce Wayne supreme with over 67% of searches followed by Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), Val Kilmer (Batman Forever) and finally, Michael Keaton (Batman, Batman Returns).

When it comes to villains, the clear winner is The Joker - - most likely attributed to Heath Ledger, who is also one of the top recent searches on Ask.com.

As far as directors go, data from Ask.com shows that Tim Burton is the favorite garnering 98% of searches, followed by Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight and finally Joel Schumacher.

In terms of popularity by movie title, The Dark Knight had almost three times the number of searches than runner-up Batman. Here is the full ranked list:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman
3. Batman Begins
4. Batman and Robin
5. Batman Forever
6. Batman Returns

Our Search Top 10's for 2007

"If you want to see how a society thinks, look at what it searches for."
--George Bernard Shaw

Okay, George Bernard Shaw didn't say that. I made it up. BUT, if you want to take a look at what fascinated people this year, our big list of 2007 Most Popular searches is a great place to look.

Ask.com's Top Searches of 2007

1. MySpace
2. Dictionary
3. Google
4. Themes
5. Area Codes
6. Cars
7. Weather
8. Games
9. Song Lyrics
10. Movies

Yep, MySpace was the big one...In fact, I believe it was #1 last year as well. Bebo? Orkut? Facebook? Nowhere to be found. The other nine are a pretty good survey of how people use the Internet.

...Including a certain competitor/partner in the #3 slot. But what can we say? Our list is as straight as it comes--we tell it like it is. And maybe--just maybe--if *other* search engines showed us their lists of top searches...we might see Ask.com in theirs as well.

Ask.com's Top Presidential Candidate Searches of 2007

1. Barack Obama
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Fred Thompson
4. John Edwards
5. Mitt Romney
6. John McCain
7. Ron Paul
8. Rudy Giuliani
9. Mike Huckabee
10. Dennis Kucinich

Democrats use search engines more. Anyone not see that coming? Interesting that Fred Thompson was the #1 searched-on Republican. Maybe because he's the most video-genic?

Ask.com's Top Sports Team Searches of 2007

1. Boston Red Sox
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. New England Patriots
4. Colorado Rockies
5. Chicago Bears
6. New York Yankees
7. Green Bay Packers
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
9. Chicago Cubs
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The big story this year was the Sox, so it makes perfect sense that they'd take the top Sports spot. And congrats to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for being the only college team to make the list.

Ask.com's Top Television Show Searches of 2007

1. Hannah Montana
2. Family Guy
3. SpongeBob SquarePants
4. WWE
5. American Idol
6. Big Brother
7. Gilmore Girls
8. South Park
9. Charmed
10. Grey's Anatomy

Everyone's favorite Disney Channel series (not to mention best-selling concert tour) landed the top spot in Ask.com's list of 2007's most popular television shows. And if this the last few weeks of top searches are any indication, ol' Hannah has pole position for 2008 as well.

Ask.com's Top Celebrity Search of Pregnant Stars in 2007

1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Salma Hayek
3. Christina Aguilera
4. Julia Roberts
5. Halle Berry
6. Nancy Grace
7. Nicole Richie
8. Milla Jovovich
9. Tori Spelling
10. Bridget Moynahan

And then there's everyone's favorite guilty search pleasure: pregnant celeb watch. All of this year's usual suspects are present.

Welcome to your world, folks. For a weekly view of it, bookmark our Top Searches page and see where it goes from here.

--Ken Grobe
Content Product Manager
Ask.com

Search For: A Great Day Out

Wednesday was a hugely fun day for the Ask.com Oakland and Campbell offices, spent at the IAC Search and Media Summer Event. Held at Angel Island, a state park in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, it was a day of sun, sports, scenery, dogs, burgers, and general good times far outside the office.

The day started around 9-ish, as Askickers boarded ferries in San Francisco and Almeda to take them to the island. The SF ferry offered clear views of Alcatraz island, and, once we'd traveled far enough, the city itself. Once we hit land, the Island was ours to explore.

Some rented bikes (radical!) and toured the perimeter of the island for stunning views of the San Francisco Bay. Others got involved in pickup football and volleyball games. Some passed around baseballs and Frisbees. Still others simply relaxed in the sun and chatted about anything but work. Yet others gathered on the grass for a series of relay races in which it seemed that the only rules were to cheat blatantly and laugh until you fell down. And of course everyone sat together for a group lunch, served buffet-style and eaten on picnic tables with bright red tablecloths.

Need I say that a great time was had by all? I think these pictures, courtesy of Ask's Akemi Tom, Eze Vidra, and Sean X. Cummings, tell the story.

--The Ask.com Team

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Gary Price

May is turning into a truly memorable month here at Ask.com. Sure, there was our TV campaign launch, winning the Webby for Mobile, and enjoying three consecutive days of sterling weather here in the Bay Area. But easily the development that is nearest and dearest to our hearts occurred just over the weekend, when The lovely Lisa Cohen walked the aisle with Our Director of Online Information Resources, Gary Price, and made an honest man of him.

The wedding took place in Lincolnshire, IL, and the happy couple were surrounded by friends and family who came from far and wide. There was no shortage of SEOrati among the guest list, which included Danny Sullivan, RustyBrick (Barry Schwartz), Chris Sherman, and Greg Notess. In attendence from Ask.com were Erik Collier, Ryan Massie, Howard Steinberg, Patrick Crisp, and Scott Grieder.

 

Gary's even taken time off of his 2007 tour to give his Mrs. the honeymoon she deserves: a romantic whirlwind trip thorugh Italy where nearly every hotel they're staying, Gary boasted to us, has Wi-Fi access. Congratulations and Mazel Tov to the happy couple from all of us at Ask.com.

Lisa and Gary Price - Mazel Tov!

Photos & Video by Scott Grieder

--The Ask.com Team

Encore, Encore!

If you're a sports fan, you may have had your TV plate full this past weekend. Maybe you missed out on our debut? NBC will be offering two encore presentations of Treasure Hunters premiere episodes this Friday and Saturday at 8/7c. For a limited time, you can even watch it online. Get it while you can.

The Hunt is on!

Editorial note:
Ask.com is unable to confirm or deny that the hunt is on "like Donkey Dong"… you'll have to check it out and let us know.

Ask.com - The Official Search Engine of Treasure Hunters

Don't forget to watch Treasure Hunters, which besides being a new NBC "adventure/mystery reality tv" show debuting this weekend, incorporates the Ask.com search engine into the series. Ask.com is not only there to help contestants to solve clues quickly and move on to the next destination, we're also here to help you get to know the show and the teams and contestants.

If you like Amazing Race and trying to solve riddles and puzzles.

TV schedule: 2 Hour Series Premier, Sunday June 18th at 8/7c - Regular Night & Time, Mondays at 9/8c. Set your DVRs to "Fun" & enjoy the show!

P.S. Come back to our blog next week. We might even tell you what 96 means...

Fever Pitch: World Cup Smart Answers on Ask.com sites

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” Every sensible soccer aficionado will tell you that the words of historic British manager Bill Shankly are an exaggeration, that soccer is just a sport and there are more important things in life. We all know that. Except when there is a World Cup.

Ask.com has decided to celebrate the World Cup with a far less dramatic statement: comprehensive Smart Answers have been released across all of our sites Ask.com (US), Ask.com UK, Ask.com España, Ask.com Deutschland^BETA, Ask.com France^BETA, Ask.com Nederland^BETA, Ask.com Italia^BETA, as well as more robust coverage via our US & UK sites in order to provide our users with all the information they need to follow the event. Whether you take soccer as seriously as the late Mr. Shankly did or your interest is of the sane kind, we invite you all to check it out.

Midfield wizard Zinédine Zidane will be playing the last games of his career with France in Germany 2006. Together with star striker Thierry Henry, he’s one of the best reasons not to miss the French team. Germany is the host this year and that always gives any team an edge in the World Cup: watch out for the very talented Michael Ballack and Lukas Podolski, one of the best young players in the Bundesliga. The Dutch team is also strong this year; historically a good performer in the World Cup, it features a terrific attacking duo with Ruud van Nistelrooij and Robin van Persie. Spain could try to shake off the quarter-finals curse that has been reducing fans to tears every four years for the last four decades; midfield star Cesc Fábregas and Spanish league’s top scorer David Villa will try to make things different this time around. Nothing has changed in the Italian team: it is still one of the most competitive in Europe and this could be their fourth Coppa del Mondo. Keep an eye on Roma’s star Francesco Totti and goalkeeper extraordinaire Gianluigi Buffon. Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley will be the players to watch for on the US team, and will no doubt cause defensive headaches for their opponents. UK fans will miss Wayne Rooney’s creativity and goal scoring prowess through the first round, but Michael Owen will hopefully help lead the English team through at least the first round.

Good luck to all!

The Ask.com Product Management Team