I'm a confused meerkat

A few years ago I was amazed and amused by the number of different companies trying to build share in the directory enquiries market after it was opened up in the UK. They all advertised their different services focusing almost entirely on the number to call and trying to make it easy to remember. There was little or no attempt to differentiate their service in terms of features or benefits.

Now I am similarly bemused by the different websites offering to compare insurance prices for me. They do try to explain their advantages over the competition (more comparisons etc) but once again the key aim is to make their website name more memorable to the viewer, linking it with strong images.

Is it worth it? How much money was spent on the different directory enquiry number campaigns and what was the return? Indeed, how many of the services still survive?

But at least all the different directory enquiry adverts were reinforcing the whole directory enquiry market so that a competitor's ad might have a knock-on effect for you. Whereas the different comparison sites run the risk of pushing people back to phoning insurers directly. "I cannot work out what all these different comparison sites are doing. They are all confusing. I will phone a reliable known insurance brand instead". Based on the directory enquiry experience, how many of the comparison sites will survive?