System and Methods for Distributing Sales of Advertisement Slots

• US 20080126192A1
• Filed: 11/27/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wojcicki, Susan, Rajaram, Gokul, Patel, Satya
• Application Number:
  US11/563,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20080126192A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0274 Split fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A system and methods for distributing sales of advertisement slots involves the presentation of at least two advertisement slots, each slot from a different source. One or more potential sellers are able to select one or more advertisement slots through a user interface associated with one of the sources. A determination of the outcome of such selection is made, including whether the selection resulted in purchase by the source associated with the user interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting at least two advertisement slots, each slot from a different source;

enabling selection of the advertisement slots through a user interface associated with one of the sources; and

determining an outcome of the selection, including whether the selection resulted in purchase by the source associated with the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes presenting two types of advertisement slots, one type with a sales commission payable to one of the sources and the other type without a sales commission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sources are on-line content publishers, and wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes associating the advertisement slots without commission with a first one of the on-line content publishers, and associating the advertisement slots with commissions with at least one, on-line content publisher other than the first content publisher.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes accessing data corresponding to the advertisement slots over a network and displaying data related to available advertisement slots on the user interface;

and wherein enabling selection of the advertisement slots includes receiving user input corresponding to the selection; and

further comprising updating the data to reflect the selection.

5. The method of claim 2, further including determining whether a user associated with one of the Sources purchased an advertisement slot including factoring in the sales commission payable to another one of the sources.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling at least one of the sources to associate an advertisement slot with a corresponding sales commission; and

determining a purchaser of the advertisement slot as between the sources including optimizing revenue to the one source.

7. A system comprising:

a direct sales catalog of on-line advertisement slots and a distributed sales catalog of on-line advertisement slots, the catalogs stored in a user-accessible data structure, the data structure including data corresponding to sales commissions; and

at least one computer processor programmed to;

present available advertisement slots from the catalogs; and

update the data structure to reflect selection from the available advertisement slots.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the data structure includes further data corresponding to publishers associated with the on-line advertisement slots, advertisement slot information, and cost;

and further comprising;

a network for selectively transmitting the data; and

at least one user interface for presenting the transmitted data.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

receive input corresponding to a selection of one of the available advertisement slots; and

determine a purchaser of the selected advertisement slot.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is programmed to enable multiple selection options for available advertisement slots, the options including a reservation and a bid.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the options enabled by the processor further include an auction-based reservation.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is programmed to

enable receipt of a bid for a selected one of the available on-line advertisement slots;

and

determine a purchaser including determining a winning bid for a selected on-line advertisement slot.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the distributed sales catalog and the direct sales catalog include at least one identical advertisement slot, the identical advertisement slot being associated with a corresponding sales commission in the distributed sales catalog, and wherein the processor is programmed to determine a purchaser of the identical advertisement slot as between selection from the distributed catalog by a first user and selection from the direct catalog by a second user different from the first user.

14. A method comprising:

associating advertisement slots with content available over a network;

designating at least a portion of the advertisement slots as subject to commission payment; and

enabling access to the designated advertisement slots by distributed sellers.

15. The method of claim 14, in which the content includes web pages and the network includes the world-wide web.

16. The method of claim 14, further including enabling access to direct sellers of the advertisement slots.

17. The method of claim 16, further including defining a First advertisement slot catalog and enabling access to the first catalog by distributed sellers, and defining a second advertisement slot catalog, and enabling access to the second catalog by direct sales representatives.

18. The method of claim 14, further including providing excess inventory of advertisement slots for access by the distributed sellers.

19. A method comprising:

presenting at least two advertisement slots, each slot from a different source;

enabling selection of the advertisement slots through a user interface; and

determining an outcome of the selection, including whether the selection resulted in purchase of the advertisement slot.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes presenting two types of advertisement slots, one type with a sales commission payable to one of the sources and the other type without a sales commission.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the sources are on-line content publishers, and wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes associating the advertisement slots without commission with a first one of the on-line content publishers, and associating the advertisement slots with commissions with at least one, on-line content publisher other than the first content publisher.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein presenting the advertisement slots includes accessing data corresponding to the advertisement slots over a network and displaying data related to available advertisement slots on the user interface;

and wherein enabling selection of the advertisement slots includes receiving user input corresponding to the selection; and

further comprising updating the data to reflect the selection.

23. The method of claim 20, further including determining whether a user associated with one of the sources purchased an advertisement slot including factoring in the sales commission payable to another one of the sources.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

enabling at least one of the sources to associate an advertisement slot with a corresponding sales commission; and

determining a purchaser of the advertisement slot as between the sources including optimizing revenue to the one source.