METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRACING USERS OF ONLINE VIDEO WEB SITES

• US 20090083417A1
• Filed: 09/17/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tremor International Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Tremor Video, Inc.
• Inventors: HUGHES, John, HAFER, Brian, WANG, Tim
• Granted Patent: US 8,577,996 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B

Abstract

The method and/or apparatus monitors and records the times when a user interacts with a network video player, e.g. a web video player, while watching an online video clip. Specifically, a data collection agent (DCA) is loaded to the player or to a web page that displays the video clip. The DCA collects detailed viewing information and periodically sends this information to a central server. The viewing information is processed by the central server to generate at least one of: a viewership attention span report, a viewership demographics report, and a viewership geographic report.

Claims

1. A method for collecting viewer behavior data for at least one viewer of at least one video clip displayed on a webpage, the method comprising:

embedding a data collection agent (DCA) into a web page using a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) response from a viewership analytics server (VAS), said DCA containing a script code, said web page having at least one video clip;

generating a first HTTP request, said first request comprising metadata, said metadata comprising an identification (ID) for said at least one video clip, a publisher ID, and a website ID;

transferring said first HTTP request to said VAS;

generating a second HTTP request, said second HTTP request comprising viewership information; and

transferring said second HTTP request to said VAS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said metadata for said first HTTP request further comprises at least one of a length of said at least one video clip and a current time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said viewership information for said second HTTP request comprises at least any action performed on a player that displays said at least one video clip on said webpage and a timestamp of start and end times for said at least one video clip.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said action performed on said player comprises playing, pausing, rewinding, and forwarding.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving said metadata and said viewership information at said VAS from at least one DCA;

analyzing said metadata and said viewership information using said VAS; and

generating at least one report of said metadata and said viewership information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said first and second HTTP requests are generated at least one of once a minute, once an hour, once a day, once a week, and once a month.

7. A method for processing viewer behavior data for at least one viewer of at least one video clip, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of metadata and viewership information, said metadata and viewership information corresponding to an individual viewer that views at least one video clip on a webpage;

associating said metadata and viewership information with tracking information;

processing said metadata, viewership information, and tracking information; and

generating at least one report based on said metadata, viewership information, and tracking information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising

receiving a plurality of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests at a viewership analytics server (VAS), said HTTP requests comprising a plurality of metadata and viewership information;

and

extracting said metadata and viewership information from said HTTP requests.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of saving said metadata and viewership information to a database.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said tracking information comprises an internet protocol (IP) address, and operating system (OS), and a browser for each video clip.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said database including a table comprising at least one of video identification (ID), website ID, publisher ID, IP address, OS, browser type, and action to timestamp pairs.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said report comprises at least one of viewership-related analytic data, said viewership-related analytics data comprising at least one viewer of said at least one video clip during a period of time;

wherein said video clip is located on at least one website.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein said report comprises an attention span report, said attention span report comprising at least one of a duration and repetition of each view of said at least one video clip, a total number of viewers for each video clip, and a number of viewers of a total length of each video clip.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein said report comprises viewership demographics, said viewership demographics comprising a number of viewers of at least one of a country, a race, an age, a gender, an income, an education, and an employment status.

15. A server system for collecting viewer behavior data for at least one viewer of at least one video clip comprising:

a data collection agent (DCA) for collecting metadata and viewership information for at least one video clip on at least one web page; and

a viewership analytics server (VAS) comprising;

an information collection component for receiving said metadata and said viewership information from said DCA;

an analyzing component for analyzing said metadata and said viewership information; and

a graphical user interface (GUI) component for generating at least one report of said analyzed metadata and said viewership information.

16. The server system of claim 15, wherein said DCA generates a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) comprising said metadata and viewership information, wherein said VAS receives a plurality of HTTP request, and wherein said analyzing component extracts said metadata and said viewership information said plurality of HTTP requests and.

17. The server system of claim 15, wherein said DCA receives tracking information for each video clip comprising at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address, and operating system (OS), and a browser.

18. The server system of claim 17, further comprising a database for storing said metadata, viewership information, and said tracking information.

19. The server system of claim 18, wherein said database includes a table comprising at least one of video identification (ID), website ID, publisher ID, IP address, OS, browser type, and action to timestamp pairs.

20. The server system of claim 15, wherein said at least one report is defined according to at least one of demographics, time, geography, and video clip.