Though companies are advertising more in RSS feeds, many are unable to track the ads' effectiveness the way they can in traditional ad mediums. To monetize RSS ads, Pheedo, an RSS ad solutions firm and ad network in Emeryville, CA, is launching an RSS analytics engine today.
The analytics tool lets publishers track subscriptions to their RSS feeds, click-through rates, impressions and other data. Bill Flitter, founder and chief marketing officer of Pheedo, said publishers need to get more information about who their subscribers are — and what they are reading and clicking on — in order to monetize ads.
“Publishers can understand consumer interactions with feeds at a very detailed level and ultimately better monetize, market and personalize their content,” he said. “You can look at the activity level of the feed, such as do they read it every day … and the number of views or impressions.”
Pheedo also is devising tools that will analyze the demographics and geographic location of RSS subscribers to target ads better.
Though experts note that RSS advertising represents a small portion of the overall ad market, they also say that it is a very targeted form of advertising. British Airways and Drugstore.com are some of the larger companies testing advertising in RSS feeds, Flitter said.
Christine Blank covers online marketing and advertising, including e-mail marketing and paid search, for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
