As publishers have moved toward making money from RSS feeds, there have been lively discussions about whether ads in feeds are a good idea or will make people stop reading them. At the end of the day, it seems like many people are talking about the philosophical approaches to ads in RSS feeds, but few are taking the time to look at the different ways ads can be put into feeds.
In the end, the ads that are shown will determine how well RSS works as a way to advertise. The ads that are shown must be related to what is in the feed. Advertising in RSS feeds will work if the feed has good content, the ads are relevant, and the number of ads is proportional to the amount of content served.
Look more closely at some of the ways that ads can be served on RSS feeds right now.
Review of the Choices We Have Now
Google AdSense for Feeds
Google's AdSense for Feeds lets you show ads that are relevant to the content and come from a wide range of advertisers. Google doesn't tell publishers what percentage of revenue they get, so it's hard, if not impossible, to predict how much they'll make each month. Google AdSense's current system for feeds is tied to blogs and doesn't seem to be very flexible.
Instead of contextual ads, Pheedo shows ads that are put into groups. This is a good thing because it means that Pheedo's ads can be used with Google AdSense or AdSense for feeds without breaking Google's contract. Pheedo works with the feed's publisher to show ads from the same or similar categories as the feed's content.
The Pheedo system allows for advanced ad filtering, so publishers can choose to filter ads by keyword, specific ad, or URL. Through Pheedo's system, publishers can also sell ads to advertisers with whom they already work. The revenue is split 50/50, and feeds can be either sponsored flat-rate ads or pay-per-click ads, in which the publisher only gets paid if the ad is clicked.
Kanoodle for Feeds
Kanoodle's system for putting ads in feeds is similar to Google's, but Kanoodle doesn't have as many advertisers as Google does. Advertisements are shown based on topics, not keywords. The publisher that serves the ad gets half of the money that Kanoodle makes from the ads.
When looking at feed ad serving options, keep the following in mind:
Ad Relevance
To make money from RSS ads or for an ad campaign that uses RSS as a channel to work, you need to do a few things. It is very important that the ads in the feed contain related content. The more related the content, the more likely it is that the reader will find the ads interesting and click on them. Also, the reader is more likely to be interested in the product or service being advertised if the content is related to the theme of the feed.
Interesting
Publishers need to stay in charge of how often ads are shown. Readers will get annoyed with feeds that have a lot of ads and not much real content.
The advertiser is happy because they are reaching the people they want to reach, and the publisher is happy because people are clicking on their ads and making money.
Made clear that they are ads
Editorial control and ads are still a point of contention. Most people think it's good netiquette for publishers to clearly mark ads so they can be told apart from editorial content. When choosing an RSS advertising partner, you should think about where the ads will be shown. Does it fit in with the feed or site, but still make it clear that it's paid content? Or does the content fit together so well that it looks like the publisher is recommending a product or service? Credibility and reputation online are important, and separating ads and making sure they are clearly labeled as such will go a long way toward building credibility with readers.
As RSS becomes more popular, it's clear that publishers are looking for ways to make money off of their content. RSS in advertising is a natural step, and the success of advertising in RSS feeds will depend on finding a balance between good, consistent content and occasional ads that are related to the content. If publishers can't find the right balance, they may have to switch to an RSS feed subscription model.
