Google AdSense Ads in RSS Feeds

Chris Pirillo reports sightings of Google AdSense ads in RSS feeds, specifically in the LonghornBlogs RSS feed.

Here's also a quick Q&A from LonghornBlogs on their RSS ads.

Before considering how this will impact the RSS world, take a look at the screenshot [Awasu RSS Reader] of the ad:

The ad is perfectly visible, but still manages to stay unintrusive, making this a perfect combination to satisfy the needs of both RSS end-users as well as advertisers.

But the consequences of this action go far beyond this breakthrough.

While RSS advertising is nothing new, most RSS publishers cannot count on their ad reps (through various ad networks) to sell all of their available space in their RSS feeds (one ad per content item).

But since Google is [?] integrating this service with their standard Google AdSense program, RSS ads are now getting the same treatment as "standard" ads, meaning that RSS publishers can take advantage of Google's immense base of self-service clients and literally sell out all of their available ad space.

And with such an unitrusive format, publishers do not need to worry about alienating their subscribers.

The deeper meaning behind all of this is three-fold:

a] The new "program" is the perfect opportunity for RSS publishers to monetize their RSS feeds. With inclussion in Google's standard "runnings" of AdSense ads, publishers can expect to monetize on RSS immediately.

b] This is yet another reason for publishers to start publishing their content via RSS, especially since it won't cost them anything or very little, but will provide them with an additional source of revenues. With the low-cost aspect of RSS, we can expect a flood of new publishers to set-up RSS feeds of their content to generate additional AdSense clicks.

c] With RSS ads included in feeds, more advertisers will become aware of RSS and its marketing potential.

This is only the beginning ...

[Update #1]
Dick Costolo reports that Feedburner has implemented support for Google's RSS AdSense test.

"Google is currently testing this program with just a few publishers, but as the program becomes more widely available, and your Google AdSense id is approved for use with RSS ads, FeedBurner will take care of the rest as part of our suite of services. Google's AdSense implementation is based on editing your source feed template. FeedBurner makes it simple to implement the AdSense service if you can't or don't want to edit your source feed templates, or you just want additional flexibility in determining frequency of ads, ability to prevent ads on short posts and other ad control mechanisms for your feed."

[Update #2]
One blogger reports Google terminated his AdSense account for life after he experimented with placing AdSense ads in his RSS feed.