Promoting and/or demoting an advertisement from an advertising spot of one type to an advertising spot of another type

• US 20040267806A1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lester, Chad
• Granted Patent: US 7,363,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/914 Video
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/916 Audio
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

Ads may be promoted to a more preferred ad spot type and/or demoted to a less preferred ad spot type in a manner that maximizes or increases their economic values and/or their utility to their audience. Such promoting and/or demoting may be done based on accepted ad monetary amount information and/or ad performance information.

Claims

1. A method for serving advertisements for a document having at least one ad spot of a first ad spot type and at least one ad spot of a second ad spot type, the method comprising:

a) accepting an advertisement having a score and being provisionally associated with an ad spot of the first ad spot type;

b) determining whether to move the advertisement from an ad spot of the first ad spot type to an ad spot of the second ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement; and

c) if it is determined to move the advertisement from the ad spot of the first ad spot type to the ad spot of the second ad spot type, then assigning the advertisement to the ad spot of the second ad spot type, otherwise assigning the advertisement to an ad spot of the first ad spot type.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in the ad spots of the second ad spot type generally perform better than ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein ad spots have performance scores, wherein the performance scores are based on at least one of (A) click through rate, and (B) conversion rate, and wherein ads served in the ad spots of the second ad spot type generally have better performance scores than ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in the ad spots of the first ad spot type generally perform better than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein ad spots have performance scores, wherein the performance scores are based on at least one of (A) click through rate, and (B) conversion rate, and wherein ads served in the ad spots of the first ad spot type generally have better performance scores than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of at least one performance parameter of the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one performance parameter is selected from a group of performance parameters consisting of the performance information is a measure of user interest in the associated advertisement and may be a function of one or more of the following:

(a) a click-through rate of the associated advertisement, (b) user ratings of the advertisement, (c) focus group ratings of the advertisement, (d) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a size of the advertisement relative to that of other advertisements, (e) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for past positions of the advertisement relative to those past positions of other advertisements, (f) expected user interest in the advertisement, (g) a time needed to render the advertisement relative to that needed to render other advertisements, (h) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a media type of the advertisement, and (i) a conversion rate associated with the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of a monetary amount associated with the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of at least one performance parameter of the advertisement and a monetary amount associated with the advertisement.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one performance parameter is selected from a group of performance parameters consisting of the performance information is a measure of user interest in the associated advertisement and may be a function of one or more of the following:

(a) a click-through rate of the associated advertisement, (b) user ratings of the advertisement, (c) focus group ratings of the advertisement, (d) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a size of the advertisement relative to that of other advertisements, (e) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for past positions of the advertisement relative to those past positions of other advertisements, (f) expected user interest in the advertisement, (g) a time needed to render the advertisement relative to that needed to render other advertisements, (h) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a media type of the advertisement, and (i) a conversion rate associated with the advertisement.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of determining whether to move the advertisement from an ad spot for the first ad spot type to an ad spot of the second ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement includes comparing the score of the advertisement with a threshold value.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) text only, (B) text and video, (C) text and audio, (D) text, audio and video, (E) text and image, (F) text, image and video, (G) text, image and audio, (H) text, image, audio and video, (I) video only, (J) audio only, (K) audio and video, (L) image only, (M) image and audio, (N) image and video, and (O) image, audio and video.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different footprint when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different shape when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different volume when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different resolution when served in association with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.

19. A method for serving advertisements for a document having at least one ad spot of a first ad spot type, at least one ad spot of a second ad spot type, and at least one ad spot of a third type, where the first ad spot type is preferred over the second ad spot type which is preferred over the third ad spot type, the method comprising:

a) provisionally assigning each of a plurality advertisements, each having a score, to an ad spot of a particular ad spot type;

b) determining whether there are any ad spots of the first ad spot type without an assigned advertisement to determine available ad spots of the first ad spot type;

c) if it is determined that there is an available ad spot of the first ad spot type, then for each such available ad spot, determining whether to move an advertisement provisionally assigned to an ad spot of the second ad spot type to an available ad spot of the first ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement;

d) if it is determined to move the advertisement from the ad spot of the second ad spot type to the available ad spot of the first ad spot type, then assigning the advertisement to the available ad spot of the first ad spot type, otherwise assigning the advertisement to an ad spot of the second ad spot type;

e) determining whether there are any ad spots of the second ad spot type without an assigned advertisement to determine available ad spots of the second ad spot type;

f) if it is determined that there is an available ad spot of the second ad spot type, then for each such available ad spot, determining whether to move an advertisement provisionally assigned to an ad spot of the third ad spot type to an available ad spot of the second ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement; and

g) if it is determined to move the advertisement from the ad spot of the third ad spot type to the ad spot of the second ad spot type, then assigning the advertisement to the available ad spot of the second ad spot type, otherwise assigning the advertisement to an ad spot of the third ad spot type.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein acts (c) and (d) are repeated until there is either (A) no more available ad spots of the first type, or (B) no more ads provisionally assigned to ad spots of the second type.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein acts (f) and (g) are repeated until there is either (A) no more available ad spots of the second type, or (B) no more ads provisionally assigned to ad spots of the third type.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the act of determining whether to move the advertisement from an ad spot for the second ad spot type to an available ad spot of the first ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement includes comparing the score of the advertisement with a threshold value.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the advertisements provisionally assigned to ad spots of the second type are ordered based on their score, and wherein acts (c) and (d) are repeated for each of the advertisements provisionally assigned to ad spots of the second type in the order of their scores until there is either (A) no more available ad spots of the first type, (B) no more ads provisionally assigned to ad spots of the second type, or (C) it is determined not to move an advertisement provisionally assigned to an ad spot of the second type to an available ad spot of the first type.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) text only, (B) text and video, (C) text and audio, (D) text, audio and video, (E) text and image, (F) text, image and video, (G) text, image and audio, (H) text, image, audio and video, (I) video only, (J) audio only, (K) audio and video, (L) image only, (M) image and audio, (N) image and video, and (O) image, audio and video.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein each of the first, second and third ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein each of the first, second and third ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different footprint when served on a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

28. The method of claim 19 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different shape when served on a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

29. The method of claim 19 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different volume when served in association with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.

30. The method of claim 19 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different resolution when served in association with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.

31. Apparatus for serving advertisements for a document having at least one ad spot of a first ad spot type and at least one ad spot of a second ad spot type, the apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting an advertisement having a score and being provisionally associated with an ad spot of the first ad spot type;

b) means for determining whether to move the advertisement from an ad spot of the first ad spot type to an ad spot of the second ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement; and

c) means for assigning the advertisement to the ad spot of the second ad spot type if it is determined to move the advertisement from the ad spot of the first ad spot type to the ad spot of the second ad spot type, and otherwise assigning the advertisement to an ad spot of the first ad spot type.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in the ad spots of the second ad spot type generally perform better than ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type.

33. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ad spots have performance scores, wherein the performance scores are based on at least one of (A) click through rate, and (B) conversion rate, and wherein ads served in the ad spots of the second ad spot type generally have better performance scores than ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type.

34. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in the ad spots of the first ad spot type generally perform better than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

35. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ad spots have performance scores, wherein the performance scores are based on at least one of (A) click through rate, and (B) conversion rate, and wherein ads served in the ad spots of the first ad spot type generally have better performance scores than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

36. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of at least one performance parameter of the advertisement.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the at least one performance parameter is selected from a group of performance parameters consisting of the performance information is a measure of user interest in the associated advertisement and may be a function of one or more of the following:

(a) a click-through rate of the associated advertisement, (b) user ratings of the advertisement, (c) focus group ratings of the advertisement, (d) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a size of the advertisement relative to that of other advertisements, (e) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for past positions of the advertisement relative to those past positions of other advertisements, (f) expected user interest in the advertisement, (g) a time needed to render the advertisement relative to that needed to render other advertisements, (h) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a media type of the advertisement, and (i) a conversion rate associated with the advertisement.

38. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of a monetary amount associated with the advertisement.

39. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the score of the advertisement is a function of at least one performance parameter of the advertisement and a monetary amount associated with the advertisement.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the at least one performance parameter is selected from a group of performance parameters consisting of the performance information is a measure of user interest in the associated advertisement and may be a function of one or more of the following:

(a) a click-through rate of the associated advertisement, (b) user ratings of the advertisement, (c) focus group ratings of the advertisement, (d) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a size of the advertisement relative to that of other advertisements, (e) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for past positions of the advertisement relative to those past positions of other advertisements, (f) expected user interest in the advertisement, (g) a time needed to render the advertisement relative to that needed to render other advertisements, (h) a measure of user interest for the advertisement weighted for a media type of the advertisement, and (i) a conversion rate associated with the advertisement.

41. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the means for determining whether to move the advertisement from an ad spot for the first ad spot type to an ad spot of the second ad spot type based on the score of the advertisement include means for comparing the score of the advertisement with a threshold value.

42. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) text only, (B) text and video, (C) text and audio, (D) text, audio and video, (E) text and image, (F) text, image and video, (G) text, image and audio, (H) text, image, audio and video, (I) video only, (J) audio only, (K) audio and video, (L) image only, (M) image and audio, (N) image and video, and (O) image, audio and video.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

44. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein each of the first and second ad spot types is selected from a group of ad spot types consisting of (A) mixed with content, (B) temporarily obscuring content, (C) upper document margin, (D) lower document margin, (E) left document margin, and (F) right document margin.

45. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different footprint when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

46. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in ad spots of the first ad spot type have a different shape when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of the second ad spot type.

47. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different volume when served with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.

48. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein ads served in ad spots of a first ad spot type have a different resolution when served in association with a document than ads served in ad spots of a second ad spot type.