Google is launching its beta program for contextual ad distribution via RSS feeds for publishers using AdSense, ClickZ reports. Ads placed in Google's AdWords will automatically appear in feeds. Advertisers will not yet be able to target their ads by feed or bid separately for feed-distributed ads, although Google has begun testing a feature that allows advertisers to target by site in Google's contextual network.

Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder, business product manager for AdSense, announced the beta at the Syndicate conference Tuesday, in New York. He said it is too early to tell how the ads will perform. Google is accepting applications from publishers that have more than 100 active feed subscribers.

The consensus seems to be that the offering will be especially attractive to smaller publishers. But Google says larger publishers have the most to gain because they have the largest audiences - and a need to cover their higher content-creation and distribution costs.