Google buys top Web media distributor

Google also sees the technology as a way for its base of hundreds of thousands of advertisers to reach some of the most active groups of Web users 8212; social network members who use mini-applications called widgets or the growing audience surfing the Internet over mobile phones, executives said.

Feedburner also offers analytics to help Web publishers understand who reads their sites, as well as embedded advertising allowing Web site publishers to get paid by advertisers based on the audiences they attract via RSS feeds. The deal is the latest in a series of rapid moves to consolidate the fast-growing online advertising market. It would expand Google8217;s existing blog advertising service, known as AdSense for feeds, which delivers targeted advertising tied to Web page content.

Two weeks ago, rival Microsoft Corp announced its largest-ever acquisition, a 6 billion deal to buy aQuantive Inc., the largest independent online ad company. In April, Google agreed to acquire an aQuantive competitor, DoubleClick, for 3.1 billion.

Feedburner counts more than 430,000 Web site publishers as users of RSS. A total of 736,000 RSS feeds, including roughly 110,000 audio or video feeds, are delivered to readers as publishers update their Web sites.