I think most programs can take the load, if they wanted to. Reverse your view for a minute.
1) Galleries cost around $20 on average, they often are not fully web ready at that price. Meaning, they need better text and maybe some other minor corrections.
2) Now Galleries require multiple thumbnails, 5 different sizes on average. This not only has to be done for all new galleries, but the 1000?s of past galleries across the other sites.
3) Hosted galleries now need 2-5 new bits of text. 1-3 is normally short, 1 is med in length and one is larger, 350-500 words. This increases the cost of the gallery by $8-$12 ? and still does not always include fresh on-gallery text, title or desc tags. This often does not include someone loading the text into the database or having someone re-check every desc for errors.
4) Errors in descriptions, like quote marks from MSWord, can break feeds, any mild ? mistake breaks rss feeds. Someone must always check every update, previous update, and future update with absolute perfection.
5) Desc also need to include some keywords, and proper anchor text links. This increases the cost and time spent on each gallery.
6) Templates to make feeds format for Wordpress. This requires many styles, sometimes custom per webmaster. Webmasters want thumbnails and text options in different locations, different type of linking options, to the tour or to the gallery (more code and more money). Some people create feed-re-creators to solve this.
7) If you end up with a popular feed (just takes 1) you will need to setup fresh servers/db?s and a caching system, increasing the cost.
8) 99% of Webmasters DO NOT use feeds correctly. Template feeds that work in Wordpress is not the proper use of a feed. If we only had to create raw feeds, it would be much easier, since we wouldn?t have to parse in codes, and deal with update cycles. I can?t go into all this now
9) As time goes on and duplicate content slowly works its way in, programs will need to improve on the unique-customizable options they provide for feeds, including more and better ever changing and improving text. Programs locking themselves in with WP blog feeds will take a duplicate filter hit hard as time goes on. All these changes and customizations, add to the cost.
10) XML/RSS Technology is still growing and improving. Sometimes it?s best to see where things go before we invest all this time and money.
My 10 reasons why affiliate programs aren?t on the ball with rss feeds. The gallery costs really shoot up, the profit margins on galleries are tight already. And for the 'paysite' to really be effective they need to have solid knowledge of seo. From the feed, to the gallery, to the tour. Otherwise, it's only benefit is direct sales.
It's a lot of work and money and staff.. I understand why most haven't moved forward very quickly.