The Blog Hearld broke the story this morning about the launch of Feedster Media Network (FMN). As I’m included in the launch but have yet to receive a copy of the press release (ahem), I’ll keep my comments high level. (And by way of disclosure, please note that I’ve done consulting work for the company in the past.)
First, the basics. Feedster has partnered with AdBrite to offer blog (HTML) advertising. Key differences between AdBrite and Google AdSense:
AdBrite gives publishers more sales control; while you can run contextual ads, the emphasis is on selling day, week or monthly listings based on a CPM structure. Blogs running AdBrite bear a “Your ad here” link (ala BlogAds) that lets a potential advertisier click to buy advertising for the blog, directly from the blog. Publishers may approve or reject individual advertiser offers. Publishers also have a significant amount of control over how the ads appear on their site (i.e., formatting control).
Feedster will also be pursuing a national ad sales tact, which ostensibly puts them in competition (on the ad rep’ing front) with Battelle’s FM Publishing venture. If it’s not already totally obvious, the battle for blog/Feed advertising has been fully joined.
Feedster is Feedster, not Blogster, so we should expect an RSS/Feed advertising offering “very soon” (as alarm:clock mused about a few days back). Beyond that, the company has a few other ideas up its proverbial sleeve, which I’ve hinted at before on these pages… more when appropriate on that front.
As for my inclusion in the press release… As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been testing Feed advertising (with Moreover‘s FeedDirect and Pheedo) privately, and intend to do the same with Feedster (and FeedBurner, if they’ll have me). I haven’t done anything on the HTML front, and really hadn’t intended to, but I’m very curious about the consistency between ads in HTML vs. RSS for a given posting, and this seems like a good opportunity to evaluate that too.
I’ll report back anything of note over the next few weeks.
Update: Here’s the press release text…
Feedster, Inc., an Internet search engine that provides timely and meaningful information from blogs and RSS feeds, and AdBrite, “The Internet’s Ad Marketplace”, today announced that they are partnering to offer blog publishers the most complete suite of tools for buying and selling ads.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 21, 2005 — Feedster, Inc., an Internet search engine that provides timely and meaningful information from blogs and RSS feeds, and AdBrite, “The Internet’s Ad Marketplace”, today announced that they are partnering to offer blog publishers the most complete suite of tools for buying and selling ads.
“AdBrite makes it easy for bloggers to earn money by connecting them directly with interested advertisers. Using AdBrite, the only thing bloggers need to do is write their blog, approve ads, and cash checks,” said Philip Kaplan, CEO of AdBrite. “We are pleased to offer the Feedster community the opportunity to join the more than 4,000 sites already taking advantage of AdBrite’s ever-growing Internet ad marketplace.”
“We’ve partnered with AdBrite because we have similar objectives in our approach to advertising. This program enables both high volume blogs and smaller, highly targeted properties to generate revenue,” said Chris Redlitz, VP, Feedster. “Smaller sites also profit from Feedster’s direct sales efforts to high profile advertisers. Publishers in our Network will gain access to advertisers they couldn’t sell to on an individual basis.”
The program is easy to use and offers the highest payout in the business. After a simple set up process, publishers can set rates, specify placement and approve or reject site-specific ads.. Advertisers can search to find individual blogs and customize ad copy for each property or purchase run-of-network ads. Statistical analysis provides easy ROI tracking, historical pricing, and response projections. More information is available at http://adbrite.feedster.com
The partnership with AdBrite is the first opportunity for publishers who sign up for the Feedster Media Network to monetize their traffic. Publishers can soon earn revenue from ads in RSS feeds and Podcasts. Prominent blogs such as Buzzhit, Metroblogs, Lockergnome, Bittsplitter, Muniwireless, and SkypeJournal are charter publishers in the network.
About AdBrite
AdBrite is a marketplace for buying and selling ads online. More than 4,000 websites use AdBrite’s “Your Ad Here” functionality to sell ads directly to their visitors. Thousands of advertisers browse AdBrite’s online marketplace to find sites to place ads at a flat fee. AdBrite gives publishers full control over ad pricing, layout, and approval. AdBrite was founded by Philip Kaplan, the creator of F**ckedCompany.com and is backed by Sequoia Capital.
About Feedster
Feedster is a rapidly growing Internet search engine that provides timely and meaningful information to consumers and large Internet sites in need of targeted media. Feedster provides a fresh index across over 6 million RSS feeds and over 100,000 professional feeds several times per hour, adding millions of new documents daily. The company’s content management and developer platform powers content syndication for targeted vertical categories such as sports. jobs, products, politics, and rich media feeds. Feedster is privately funded by a number of industry luminaries, New York Angels, and Omidyar Network. For more information go to: www.feedster.com# # #
Tony,
You might enjoy this interview with AdBrite founder Philip Kaplan.