Maybe IAC (NSDQ: IACI) isn’t so crazy to think that its Ask.com search business can compete in a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) world. Higher search ad dollars as well as help from dating site Match.com helped send revenues higher in Q2 for the company. Profits were impacted negatively by the sale of Match.com’s European assets in March. The search unit, which includes Ask.com and Dictionary.com, saw revenues gain 18 percent to $197.2 million during the quarter.
This past week, Barry Diller’s IAC gave Ask.com another revamp, emphasizing the ability to answer Q&A’s from its community of users. The move is meant to blunt the challenge from Facebook’s own Q&A feature, which is currently in beta tests, and make sure the site once known as AskJeeves maintains its growth.
Over at the dating unit Match, which includes Chemistry.com as well, revenues were up 10 percent to $97 million as paid Match subscribers rose 48 percent to 1.7 million.
IAC’s online media properties also performed nicely, benefiting from the recovery in display ads this year. The media unit, which includes CollegeHumor and Evite, saw revenue rise 34 percent to $59.6 million. Part of the growth was attributed to the introduction of Notional, its new cross-platform video production company that came out of CollegeHumor last summer.
The company also pointed to growth at its revamped local media unit, CityGrid Media, which houses CitySearch. Revenue at the unit increased thanks to new resellers.

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