here's an article of how rw/w envisions ask.com developing an adsense competitor: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_future_of_ask.php

Here are the ways you can compete in serving ads: -Good advertiser campaign management and bidding tools.

-Good publisher management and reporting tools.

-Great contextual ad matching technology.

-Transparency.

-High paying advertisers.

-A way to stop click fraud.

-Get top publishers

-Further develop their "hybrid" text ads. meaning having relevant images packaged with text ads.