Another startup has bitten
the dust, RSS company Syndicate IQ has “ceased
operations” according to a notice on its
homepage. Syndicate IQ was a company that provided feed management, statistics and
adverts – similar to Feedburner. Syndicate IQ
launched in December 2004 and its goal was to “manage, measure, and monetize syndicated
content”, according to the old homepage (found on the
Wayback Machine). The current shut-down notice on Syndicate IQ states:
“Syndicate IQ has ceased operations. If you would like to continue to get news,
resources, analysis, reviews, and opinion on anything and everyting RSS/syndication, head
on over to Syndication
Gumption. The RSS feeds for Syndicate IQ are being redirected to the main feed for
Syndication Gumption.”
Stuart Watson, founder of Syndicate IQ, wrote more about the reasons for shutting
down in a blog
post. Despite the failure of Syndicate IQ, Watson insists the RSS market “is still
very, very young and plenty of opportunities exist”. He outlines some:
“Some of them supporting publishers (yes, there is still plenty of room) who are
creating text, audio, and video content. Others will support marketers/e-commerce
companies and others will directly support consumers with RSS/syndication related
services.”
Back in September 2005, when I defined The RSS Space, I
categorized Syndicate IQ as being in ‘Publisher Services’ – a market segment today
dominated by Feedburner[full disclosure: I am
a paid advisor to another company in this space, Nooked]. In my opinion it’s a market yet to reach
its potential – after all, RSS feeds have still not truly hit the mainstream. 2007 should
be a good year for RSS, with Microsoft, Google and Yahoo all making big pushes in this
regard. But for small startups like Syndicate IQ, it’s a tough road to hoe – and
especially so since Feedburner is the dominant player in the segment Syndicate IQ was
in.
But like Stuart Watson, I think there are plenty of opportunities to come in the RSS
space. So it’s sad to see Syndicate IQ bow out at this point.
