CNET Rolls RSS Banner Ads

CNET is now running banner ads inside RSS feeds, Adweek reports. E! Entertainment television is the first advertiser. The campaign promotes the network's nightly "E! News" Hollywood coverage on CNET's TV.com.

I am bullish about the use of RSS feeds as a marketing channel. Nevertheless I would encourage advertisers and publishers to think outside the box and mix the old methods with the new.

For example, what if news organizations offered users three full text news feeds gratis in exchange for opting into another that only has relevant ads. Alternatively, I would love to see advertisers and editorial partnering to create custom-published content like they do in the magazine world. Instead of delivering the product via the Web, it could come via RSS.

This is just the beginning of a coming tidal wave of experimentation with RSS ads. We need more users first.

Technorati Tags: advertising