"Media RSS" is a new RSS module that supplements the enclosure capabilties of RSS 2.0 (FAQ).Enclosures in RSS are already being used to syndicate audio files (Podcasting) and images. Media RSS extends enclosures to handle other media types, such as short films or TV, in addition to providing additional metadata with the media. Media RSS enables content publishers and bloggers to broadly distribute descriptions of and links to multimedia content.
Anyone who is currently producing or consuming RSS content: consumers, search engines, and content aggregators can use the extensions. On the publishing side, Media RSS is specifically designed to make it easy for webmasters, film makers, bloggers, and other media publishers to syndicate multimedia content such as TV or video clips, movies, images, and audio.
We want to make it even easier for people to find and view rich media content on the Internet. As such, we are supporting Media RSS and are integrating it into Yahoo! Search.
While it is easy to discover and index video and TV files that are linked directly from Web pages (such as this video of a skateboarding dog) much of the multimedia content on the Web can be difficult for automated crawlers to access. It is often hidden behind JavaScript or tied to site-specific “pop-up” video players. Our support for Media RSS gives publishers a way to ensure their video content is discovered and indexed by search engines that support Media RSS, exposing additional users to their content and maintaining their intended end-user experience.
Media RSS adds functionality to RSS that improves the handling of multimedia content, such as encoded audio, video, and image files. This includes allowing for multiple streams/links for a single item (to support multiple encoded files for a single item), and extended metadata to be specified for each item and file. In addition, the format allows for content providers to provide a URL (and window dimensions) for a video player hosted on their site, as opposed to a direct link to a media file or stream, so they can control the playback environment.
The question is, why wouldn’t you? RSS syndication is a simple and inexpensive way to build awareness of your content and your brand and it’s also a great way to drive traffic to your site and content. By investing a small amount of time creating your RSS file with Media RSS, you’re enabling broad distribution of your media content to many sources with minimal ongoing work. The flexibility of RSS means that you could reach any site or device that supports Media RSS, which in the future could include such devices as a Media RSS-aware DVR or TV.
Syndication can help you attract new users, especially if your RSS feeds are submitted to search engines. In addition, it can also help you build stronger relationships with your existing users who want to know as soon as new content gets created and published.
If you publish streaming media content (or lists of streaming media content) on the Internet, you can begin by using the Media RSS Module specification and then submit your content via our Media RSS feed submission page for Yahoo! Search. Our search engine will then download and analyze the media for inclusion in Yahoo! Search. Our search engine will then download and analyze the media for inclusion in Yahoo! Video Search. Of course, any other RSS reader that supports Media RSS will also be able to find/subscribe to your content as well. If you are already publishing content via RSS enclosures, then all you need to do is submit the RSS feed to our Media RSS feed submission page for Yahoo! Search and your content will be indexed by our search engine.
Yahoo! has a self-scheduling agent that finds, categorizes, and periodically checks for updated RSS feeds. The agent adjusts the frequency of these periodic checks based on a history of how often content changes. Currently this agent is separate from Yahoo's Feedseeker agent and ping server, but these will become more closely integrated in the future.
Yahoo! is working with organizations like AtomFilms,Creative Commons, Buzznet, Ourmedia, and Broadband Mechanics, to develop Media RSS. The Media RSS specification has been published for review, and Yahoo! plans to continue working with the RSS community to promote the growth and evolution of RSS, including these extensions to RSS. If you are interested in helping to develop Media RSS, head over to the Media RSS group to join the discussion.
Yahoo! is using this new specification to discover and index Media RSS content in our Video Search engine. We hope that content publishers will adopt it and use it to help their online multimedia content gain increased distribution.
The enhanced benefits of Media RSS and RSS enclosures are not yet available within My Yahoo!. However, My Yahoo does respect the standard links within RSS files and we are actively working on a way to include this multimedia content in My Yahoo!
Media RSS is compatible with the Creative Commons RSS Module, which allows users to associate a Creative Commons license with your Media RSS feed. An example of using Creative Commons licensing with Media RSS is included with the Media RSS specification.
Your comments and feedback are essential to helping us simplify and improve media content syndication for Yahoo! Search users. If you would like to report a bug or abuse, please let us know.