Ask.com is preparing for the mid-May launch of their own contextual advertising product, reports Search Engine Land.

The product will roll out first on IAC-owned sites such as Ticketmaster.com and then become available to "trusted" third-party publishers. Current advertisers using Ask's Sponsored Listings product will be automatically added to the contextual product but will be able to back out before launch. Advertisers will get a preview of the system before it goes live.

Ask's product will have a number of features Yahoo and Google don't offer. That includes customized ad display and the ability to choose higher priced ads over higher relevancy or vice versa.