Google Launches AdSense For Feeds
Google today launched Adsense for RSS and Atom feeds in public beta. The Google Blog makes the announcement, and publishers can apply for it here. Google has even put up a list of “best practices” for feeds, such as using full-text feeds and putting the ads at the end of the article.
Feed ads are a controversial subject to many, but the fact of the matter is that any major publisher needs them. Feeds eat up a ton of bandwidth for big sites, and are a necessary way of monetizing them. If sites can’t make money off their feeds, the feeds might just go away. Still, a lot of the ads I’ve been seeing lately just plain suck (like Slashdot’s). Google’s have a serious problem of overlaying images. We’ll see how well this program works out.
