We just put the finishing touches on the latest research to come from the Pheedo Labs. We've done a deep dive into the automotive category, one of the strongest categories in the network, to show advertisers, and publishers, the strength of RSS advertising & marketing.

Executive Summary
The Pheed Read is back, and this time out we’re taking a different approach to our data. In Pheed Read #3, we discussed the issue of full text feeds vs. summary feeds and observed user behavior on clicking through from feeds to websites. Full and summary feeds garnered basically the same click through rates, and 90% percent of readers consumed feed content within their RSS aggregators regardless of the length of the feed item – conclusion being, RSS users are not visiting websites often, and should be marketed to at the feed level.

This time out, in Pheed Read #4, we will be analyzing the data from a specific Pheedo content channel – the automotive category. RSS is emerging as one of the most targeted online mediums for advertisers and the analysis of a single category demonstrates that each content category and its associated readership are different, and marketing strategies should be customized to reach the intended audience. On to the numbers and analysis.

Key Pheed Read Findings Include:

• Feed reader market share statistics show drastic differences from other categories
• Headline-only feeds garner twice the CTR of summary feeds
• Auto category shows high rate of growth month over month and in Q4 of 2006, outpacing all other feed categories
• Most auto publishers offer headline and summary feeds
• Auto-enthusiasts are a financially diverse group
• More than three-quarters of auto category consumers are over the age of 35

Read the entire Pheed Read and get more insight on where RSS & Automotive are headed.