Video Viewer Targeting based on Preference Similarity

• US 20110225608A1
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: WILSON, Brett, HUGHES, John, ROSE, Adam, LOPATECKI, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/743 a collection of video files or sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/278 Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44226 on social networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

Presentation of a video clip is made to persons having a high probability of viewing the clip. A database containing viewers of previously offered video clips is analyzed to determine similarities of preferences among viewers. When a new video clip has been watched by one or more viewers in the database, those viewers who have watched the new clip with positive results are compared with others in the database who have not yet seen it. Prospective viewers with similar preferences are identified as high likelihood candidates to watch the new clip when presented. Bids to offer the clip are based on the degree of likelihood. For one embodiment, a data collection agent (DCA) is loaded to a player and/or to a web page to collect viewing and behavior information to determine viewer preferences. Viewer behavior may be monitored passively by different disclosed methods.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for presenting a video clip to a viewer in a target list of viewers, comprising:

building a database of characteristics of a plurality of viewers who have viewed the video clip;

determining a profile based on the viewer'"'"'s characteristics, the profile reflecting a viewer most likely to watch the video clip;

generating the target list of prospective viewers who match the profile and who have not previously viewed the video clip; and

presenting the video clip to at least one prospective viewer in the target list of viewers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein viewer characteristics are collected passively without requesting the viewer for a specific input for rating a video clip.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the viewer characteristics reflect a viewer action occurring at least one of prior to playing the video clip, while playing the video clip, and after playing the video clip.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the viewer action prior to playing the video clip comprises any of:

viewing a pre-roll advertisement;

accessing the video clip by a particular method comprising any of;

authenticating or logging-in, and being incentivized to see the video clip;

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip prior to playing the video clip, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate; and

clicking play if the video clip is not an auto-playing video clip.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the viewer action while playing the video clip comprises any of:

adjusting volume level, muting, or un-muting the video clip;

pausing or un-pausing the video clip;

fast-forwarding or rewinding the video clip;

replaying the video clip, how many times the video clip was replayed, and what portion of the video clip was replayed;

viewing the video clip for a recorded duration and percent completion;

viewing the video clip in full-screen mode;

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip while playing it, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate;

clicking-through on an overlay image or on the video clip itself to be taken to another webpage or website;

spending time viewing certain segments of the video clip that are judged to have higher value based on actions of previous viewers; and

viewing a mid-roll advertisement.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the viewer action after playing the video clip comprises any of:

sharing the video clip via an embed code;

sharing the video clip via e-mail;

sharing the video clip via a social network;

sharing the video clip in multiple separate events, where a number representing separate sharing events initiated by the viewer to share the video clip are recorded;

waiting for a time duration between viewing the video clip and initiating a sharing event, wherein said time duration is recorded;

bookmarking the video clip for later viewing;

downloading and saving the video clip for later viewing; and

subscribing to a channel or feed for the video clip content producer or artist.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile is determined at least in part by way of a collaborative filter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the video clip is an advertisement.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

assigning a bid for one or more ad impressions of the video clip according to the profile and an identified prospective viewer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the video clip automatically plays when a webpage is viewed that offers the video clip.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a viewer may opt to play the video clip when a webpage is viewed that offers the video clip.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding the viewer characteristics of a viewer from the list of viewers who has viewed the video clip to the database to generate an updated profile.

29. A storage medium having stored therein program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the method of either of claims 1 and 13.

13. A computer implemented method for presenting a video clip to a viewer, comprising:

building a database of viewer characteristics respective of a first set of video clips;

analyzing the database to determine preference similarities among viewers of the first set of video clips;

recording in the database viewer characteristics respective of a second video clip;

analyzing viewer characteristics respective of the second video clip with respect to the database to produce a list of viewers in the database who have not yet viewed the second video clip and are most likely to watch the second video clip based on preference similarities; and

presenting the second video clip to at least one viewer in the list of viewers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein viewer characteristics are collected passively without requesting the viewer for a specific input for rating a video clip.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein viewer characteristics reflecting viewer actions prior to playing the video clip comprise any of:

viewing a pre-roll advertisement;

accessing the video clip by a particular method comprising any of;

authenticating or logging-in, and being incentivized to see the video clip;

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip prior to playing the video clip, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate; and

clicking play if the video clip is not an auto-playing video clip.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein viewer characteristics reflecting viewer actions while playing the video clip comprise any of:

adjusting volume level, muting, or un-muting the video clip;

pausing or un-pausing the video clip;

fast-forwarding or rewinding the video clip;

replaying the video clip, how many times the video clip was replayed, and what portion of the video clip was replayed;

viewing the video clip for a recorded duration and percent completion;

viewing the video clip in full-screen mode;

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip while playing it, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate of the video clip;

clicking-through on an overlay image or on the video clip itself to be taken to another webpage or website;

spending time viewing certain segments of the video clip that are judged to have higher value based on actions of previous viewers; and

viewing a mid-roll advertisement.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein viewer characteristics reflecting viewer actions after playing the video clip comprise any of:

sharing the video clip via an embed code;

sharing the video clip via e-mail;

sharing the video clip via a social network;

sharing the video clip in multiple separate events, where a number of separate sharing events initiated by the viewer to share the video clip are recorded;

waiting for a time duration between viewing the video clip and initiating a sharing event, wherein said time duration is recorded;

bookmarking the video clip for later viewing;

downloading and saving the video clip for later viewing; and

subscribing to a channel or feed for the video clip content producer or artist.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said analyzing the database to determine preference similarities is determined at least in part with a collaborative filter.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the second video clip is a video advertisement.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

assigning a bid value for an ad impression of the video advertisement to be offered to an identified prospective viewer, the assignment of the bid value based on the relative likelihood that the identified prospective viewer will watch the video advertisement.

21. A system for presenting a video clip to a viewer based on preference similarities with other viewers, comprising:

a data collection agent (DCA) for passively collecting metadata and viewership information related to a viewer for a video clip on a web page, wherein said collecting takes place without requesting the viewer for a specific input for rating the first video clip;

a viewership analytics server (VAS) comprising an information collection component for receiving said metadata and said viewership information from said DCA;

a database component for storing said metadata and said viewership information;

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

wherein the viewership information is used to create a user preference score that is thereafter associated in a database with a viewer of a video clip;

wherein viewer characteristics respective of a first set of video clips viewed by a plurality of viewers are stored in the database, and are analyzed to determine preference similarities among viewers of the first set of video clips;

wherein a second video clip is offered to a second viewer who has not yet viewed the second video clip, wherein the second viewer has previously viewed at least one video clip of the first set of video clips; and

wherein the second viewer has been determined to be likely to view the second video clip based on preference similarities with viewers of the first video clip.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the viewership information is collected at least one of before, during, or after the video clip is played by the viewer.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein viewership information reflecting viewer actions prior to playing the video clip comprises any of:

viewing a pre-roll advertisement;

accessing the video clip by a particular method comprising any of;

authenticating or logging-in, and being incentivized to see the video clip;

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip prior to playing the video clip, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate of the video clip; and

clicking play if the video is not an auto-playing video clip.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein viewership information reflecting viewer actions while playing the video clip comprises any of:

adjusting volume level, muting, or un-muting the video clip;

pausing or un-pausing the video clip;

fast-forwarding or rewinding the video clip;

replaying the video clip, how many times the video clip was replayed, and what portion of the video clip was replayed;

viewing the video clip for a recorded duration and percent completion;

viewing the video clip in full-screen mode

adjusting a bit rate for streaming or downloading the video clip while playing the video clip, including a direction in which the viewer adjusted the bit rate of the video clip;

clicking-through on an overlay image or on the video clip itself to be taken to another webpage or website;

spending time viewing certain segments of the video clip that are judged to have higher value based on actions of previous viewers; and

viewing a mid-roll advertisement.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein viewership information reflecting viewer actions after playing the video clip comprise any of:

sharing the video clip via an embed code;

sharing the video clip via e-mail;

sharing the video clip via a social network;

sharing the video clip in multiple separate events, where a number of separate sharing events initiated by the viewer to share the video clip are recorded;

waiting for a time duration between viewing the video clip and initiating a sharing event, wherein said time duration is recorded;

bookmarking the video clip for later viewing;

downloading and saving the video clip for later viewing; and

subscribing to a channel or feed for the video clip content producer or artist.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the likelihood that the second viewer will view the second video clip is determined by a likelihood score based on preference similarities of the second viewer and viewers of the first set of video clips.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising:

a mechanism for assigning a bid for an opportunity to present an ad impression of the second video clip to the second viewer according to the likelihood score.

28. The system of claim 26, said system comprising any of a client-based system, a server-based system, and a network-based system.