Genuine VC: 

David Beisel’s Perspective on Digital Change

Are RSS Ads Really Controversial?

Are ads in RSS feeds controversial? Hardly.
Today Paul Kedrosky calls the notion that wide-spread adoption of ads in RSS feeds won’t happen “silliness.” I completely agree.
Dave Morgan, the CEO of Tacoda, wrote a great piece last week, “RSS Advertising, Coming Fast.” He concludes, “This [ad insertion in RSS] is a hot space to watch… It will… become an important supplemental revenue stream to a lot of content owners and small publishers.”
Just as there was some initial pushback to ads on web pages and in e-mail, it’s natural to expect some friction with any impending change. The heart of the issue is that free content needs support from advertising revenue to continue. The situation isn’t any different with RSS as it is with any other technology delivery method. In my opinion, there isn’t any controversy.

David Beisel
April 12, 2005 · < 1  min.

Are ads in RSS feeds controversial? Hardly.

Today Paul Kedrosky calls the notion that wide-spread adoption of ads in RSS feeds won’t happen “silliness.” I completely agree.

Dave Morgan, the CEO of Tacoda, wrote a great piece last week, “RSS Advertising, Coming Fast.” He concludes, “This [ad insertion in RSS] is a hot space to watch… It will… become an important supplemental revenue stream to a lot of content owners and small publishers.”

Just as there was some initial pushback to ads on web pages and in e-mail, it’s natural to expect some friction with any impending change. The heart of the issue is that free content needs support from advertising revenue to continue. The situation isn’t any different with RSS as it is with any other technology delivery method. In my opinion, there isn’t any controversy.


David Beisel
Partner
I am a cofounder and Partner at NextView Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm championing founders who redesign the Everyday Economy.