CNET Networks sites will be running banner ads that have RSS feeds embedded in them, allowing advertisers to provide updated, current information via the ad units, reports AdWeek. CNET will offer the RSS-enabled ads on 15 of its sites for all Interactive Advertising Bureau ad units. E! Entertainment TV is the first advertiser to use the ads.
The E! ads began running Friday on CNET site TV Tome and promote Hollywood coverage from "E! News"; story headlines scroll at the bottom of the ad, and clicking on one opens a window with the story from E! Online.
"A food manufacturer might use this to highlight a different recipe every day," Laura Froelich, vice-president of marketing innovation at CNET, is quoted as saying. "An apparel maker might use it to highlight fashion seasonally. It's really only bound by your imagination."