A free service that lets users search for online banners and other ads by competitors has launched at Yureekah.com. After handing over a name and email, a user can search for online ads by country, brand and keyword to participate in the testing.

While the India-based service aims to become the first global search engine catering to online media professionals internationally, the only countries available for searching at this time are India, the US, the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

Still, a keyword search for Microsoft, Toyota, Google or Xbox will turn up some banners and skyscrapers for viewing. Yureekah founders Devaraj Southworth and Vishal Sharma own 30Seven Holdings, which operates creative agency 30Seven Design and online media planning and buying agency iThink Labs.

Southworth tells MiC the company is ‘currently developing a global strategy, and our platform will certainly have results from Canada as well as a host of other countries in the near future.

‘We set out with a singular mission: to organize the world’s online advertising information and make it universally accessible and useful through a single, automated portal – and in the process eliminate the enormous inefficiencies that currently exist.’

Southworth believes Yureekah will ‘change the way traditional online advertising operates. Our objective is to develop a platform for all online advertising needs, and replicate the success of Google’s AdWords in the display space.’

Yureekah’s corporate offices are in Pune and New York. The company has also found several ‘Yureekah advisors,’ including Larry Bouts, former PepsiCo operating division CFO, chairman of Six Flags and president of Toys ‘R’ Us International, and Randy Jones, former owner of Worth and Esquire magazines.

‘As even more advertising dollars move online, Yureekah is ideally positioned to cater to the needs of its various customers and capture up to 50% of this market within five years,’ says Jones.