MRSS Feed Configuration

What is an MRSS feed?

Media RSS (MRSS) is an extension of the standard RSS format designed specifically for video and audio content. Where a regular RSS feed contains article titles and links, an MRSS feed includes rich video metadata: the media file URL, thumbnail, duration, content rating, captions, and more.

Partner platforms — CTV channels, news video portals, and digital signage systems — use this feed to ingest your content automatically. They periodically poll your feed URL, pick up any new items, and add them to their platforms without any manual action from you.

VideoNest generates your MRSS feed automatically from your video library. You don't need to create or maintain the XML yourself.

Finding your feed URL

Go to Distribution > Feed Settings in your VideoNest dashboard. Your primary feed URL is displayed at the top of the page and follows this format:

https://feeds.videonest.co/channel/YOUR_CHANNEL_ID/mrss

If you have created filtered feeds for specific collections or playlists (see below), each filtered feed has its own unique URL listed under Feed Settings > My Feeds.

What's in the feed

Your VideoNest MRSS feed automatically includes the following fields for each published video:

• Title — the video title as set in your library
• Description — the full video description
• Thumbnail URL — a direct link to your video's thumbnail image
• Video file URL — a streamable or downloadable link to the video file
• Duration — runtime in seconds
• Categories and tags — all categories and tags applied to the video
• Publish date — when the video was published
• Series, season, and episode data — if set on the video, VideoNest outputs the full series hierarchy (series title, season number, episode number) required by CTV platforms like Roku and Fire TV to group episodic content correctly
• Closed captions — URLs to any caption files you've uploaded (SRT, VTT, TTML), included per-item in the feed so partner platforms can surface them automatically
• Transcripts — if a transcript is attached to a video in your library, VideoNest includes it in the feed for platforms that support transcript ingestion for search indexing
• Advertising cue points — VideoNest outputs SCTE-35 or mid-roll cue point data where supported, indicating the timestamps at which ad breaks can be inserted; used by ad-supported platforms (Tubi, Pluto TV, Roku, and others) to place ads accurately
• Content rating — the content rating set on the video (e.g., G, PG, TV-G, TV-MA); required by most CTV platforms
• Language — ISO 639-1 language code, set per video or as a feed-level default

Filtering your feed

By default, your MRSS feed includes all published videos in your library. You can scope a feed to a specific subset of your content using filter rules — useful when you want different partners to receive different content.

To create a filtered feed, go to Distribution > Feed Settings > Filter Rules and click New Feed. You can filter by:

• Playlist — include only videos in a specific playlist
• Collection — include only videos in a specific collection
• Tag — include only videos with one or more specific tags
• Category — include only videos assigned to a particular content category

Each filtered feed gets its own unique URL. You can create multiple filtered feeds and assign different ones to different distribution partners from the Partners panel.

Validating your feed

Before submitting your feed URL to a partner, it's good practice to confirm the feed is well-formed XML. You can use the W3C Feed Validator — paste your feed URL and run the check. A valid feed will show no errors (warnings are generally acceptable).

Most partner onboarding teams will validate the feed themselves during their review process, so this step is optional. However, catching issues early saves time — particularly if a partner's review takes several weeks.

Common validation issues include missing required fields (title, description), malformed character encoding in descriptions, or thumbnail URLs that are not publicly accessible. All of these can be fixed by updating the relevant video's metadata in your VideoNest library.

Feed update frequency

Your VideoNest MRSS feed updates within minutes of publishing a new video. There is no manual refresh step — the feed reflects your library in near real-time.

How quickly a partner picks up new content depends on their polling schedule. Most partner platforms poll your feed every 15–60 minutes. CTV platforms may take longer to process and publish new items after ingestion, even once they've pulled the feed — allow up to a few hours for new videos to appear on those platforms after publishing.

If a partner is not picking up new videos, confirm that the video is published (not in draft) and that it meets any filter rules applied to the feed assigned to that partner.