90% of RSS consumers read only what content shows in their aggregators, whether full or partial, and dont click through to view content at the publication source. That makes the sweet spot for RSS ad placement the aggregator itself.

 

Marketers are experimenting with placing online advertising in RSS feeds and a new report from online RSS ad network Pheedo suggests exactly where they should place it within the feed: where it will show up in the news reader or aggregator itself rather than attached to feed content that requires click through.

According to Pheedo’s quarterly “Pheed Read” analysis of the activity of its network of advertisers and publishers, 90% of RSS consumers tracked in the spring quarter opted to read their content entirely within their news aggregator or reader, rather than clicking through on a headline to view content at its publication source. That was true regardless of whether the aggregator format showed full or partial feed content.

At 12%, the click-through rate on content headlines in aggregators for summary feeds – meaning that full content of the feed is not shown in the aggregator – was similar to the 10% click-through rate garnered by full-text feeds.

“This presents a tremendous opportunity to monetize the feed content at the feed reader or aggregator point of consumption,” according to Pheedo’s report.

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In other findings, Pheedo’s report determined that with an average click-through rate of 2.76%, standalone RSS ads continue to outperform inline ads, with an average click-through rate of 0.45%. Content categories influenced RSS ad performance, with niche categories yielding the highest response rate. The highest-performing RSS content categories for RSS advertising are humor, with an average ad click-through rate of 9.26%; travel at 8.54% and kids and family at 7.16%.

“RSS is hitting the mainstream,” says Bill Flitter, Pheedo co-founder and vice president of marketing “It’s a very dynamic and fast-changing medium, and consumer habits are continuing to change and mature. Marketers trying to capitalize on RSS need to fully understand the current state of the medium and only then can effective strategies be implemented.”

 

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