ChasNote

As reported in AdAge, NBC is done with 30-second pre-roll ads prior to their online video clips. Overdue, wouldn’t you say??

Amid rumors that one of my colleagues (John Battelle) is considering the switch* to a partial-text RSS feed (for Searchblog), another colleague (James Gross) makes the case against full-text feeds, here at JG Etc:

“I hate to say this and it goes against everything that I have written and wanted to think for the past few years, but full text feeds can REALLY hurt publishers.”

“The most important thing to a publisher is their content, and their content generally is what supports them in making their living. The problem with feeds and syndication is that advertisers, value not only the content, but also the brand behind that content. There is no brand behind a feed. Weird to say but oh so true. (The trenches of ad sales and trying to make a living for large independent publishers can really take the internet purist out of you.)”

“….The problem with the average publisher that makes their money based on [advertising] impressions and the brands that support these impressions, is that some very valuable readers are no longer stopping in [at the website, where those ad impressions are served] for a visit.”

Perhaps RSS ad models will mature to the point that marketers pay publishers a similar rate for reaching RSS readers as they do website readers, but that’s not yet the case.

Meanwhile, a third FM colleague (Neil Chase, who joined us last month from the New York Times) gave me this data point: In the newspaper world, only 15% of readers read “past the jump.” Meaning 85% of newspaper readers get what they need (and keep in mind, these are folks who PAY for those newspapers!) without turning past the front page — the original partial-text experience. Seems to me there’s a partial-text solution for RSS that’s more like the newspaper model (ie, giving readers some substance before the jump) and less like most email newsletters or current partial-text RSS feeds, which today provide subscribers a promotional tease to the story rather than a meaningful top-line summary.

* Update: Here’s Battelle’s post in response to reader comments that they don’t want him to make the move to partial text RSS.

That was Battelle’s money quote on a panel last week at EconSM, his way of describing what FM is doing with marketers to bring them into the conversations at leading independent social media sites (Yahoo Publisher Network blog). Something the ad networks and Google AdSense can’t yet do.

Congrats, Ninja! That’s nice company to keep — David Bowie, Meg Whitman, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, and LonelyGirl15. The Webby Special Achievement Awards.