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As publishers have moved towards monetizing RSS feeds, there have been vibrant discussions as to whether
advertisements in feeds are viable or whether they will drive
subscribers away. At the end of the day while it appears that many are
discussing the philosophical approaches to ads in RSS feeds few are
taking the time to examine the options available for inserting
advertisements in feeds. Ultimately the advertisements served are going
to determine the success of RSS as an advertising medium. The ads served
must be related to the content contained in the feed. If the RSS feed
contains quality content, the ads are relevant, and the volume of ads is
in balance with the volume of content served, advertising in RSS feeds
will succeed. Take a closer look at some of the ad serving options
currently available for RSS feeds.
Google's AdSense for Feeds offers contextually targeted advertisements,
with a wide selection of advertisers. Google chooses not to divulge the
percentage of revenue that is shared with the publisher, so it is
difficult if not impossible to predict monthly revenue. The current
Google AdSense system for feeds is tied to blogs and does not appear to
be overly flexible.
Pheedo displays categorized advertisements rather than contextual
advertisements. The upside to this is that Pheedo's advertisements can
be used in conjunction with Google AdSense or AdSense for feeds without
violating Google's contract. Pheedo works with the publisher to serve
advertisements from similar or related categories associated with the
feeds contents.
Pheedo's system allows for advanced ad filtering, giving publishers
control over keyword ad filtering, specific ad filtering or url
filtering. Pheedo's system also allows publishers to sell ads to
existing advertisers with whom they already have a relationship.
The revenue split is 50% and feeds can be a sponsored flat rate
advertisement or a pay-per-click advertisement, where the publisher is
only paid if the advertisement is clicked.
Kanoodle's systems for providing advertisements for feeds is similar to
Google's but they do not have the breadth of advertisers that Google
boasts. Advertisements are served based on topics, not keywords.
Kanoodle shares 50% of the revenue generated from the advertisements
with the publisher serving the ad.
In order to generate revenue from RSS advertisements or for an
advertising campaign to succeed using RSS as a channel it is absolutely
critical that the advertisements served in the feed contain related
content, the more related the content the higher the likelihood that the
advertisements will be of interest to the reader and clicked. Also, the
closer the content relates to the feeds theme the higher the likelihood
the reader will have genuine interest in the product or service being
advertised.
The debate over editorial control and advertisements rages on. It
is generally considered proper net etiquette for publishers to clearly
mark advertisements to distinguish them from editorial web content. When
selecting a RSS advertising partner consider the context in which the
advertisements are displayed. Does it blend with the feed or site, while
still being clearly marked sponsored material? Or does the content blend
so well that it appears as a product or service endorsement from the
publisher? Credibility and reputation online matter, and the segregation
of advertisements and ensuring they are properly denoted as such will go
a long way to enhance credibility with readers.
The Wall Street Journal was one of the first content publishers that
announced a subscription model. Rather than embedding advertisements in
the RSS content feeds, the Wall Street Journal provides teaser copy and
if the subscriber wishes to view the expanded content they are charged a
subscription fee.
Time will determine the long term viability of advertisements in RSS
feeds. If RSS advertisements perform like the contextual text based ads
currently served on websites, RSS advertisements will likely become
common place. While the content publishers who specialize in unique,
consistent content might find the subscription model more effective.
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