Dynamic Floor Pricing for Managing Exchange Monetization

• US 20130097028A1
• Filed: 10/14/2011
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: GORMAN, ROBERT PAUL, XU, QING, DONG, XIAOBIN, HANKS, STEVEN J., HAN, PENG, HANSON, ERIK J.
• Application Number:
  US13/273,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097028A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Systems and method are provided for conducting an auction to match an advertising payload to an available advertising impression. In the auction, a dynamic floor price is provided. The dynamic floor price provides a way for a publisher to incorporate the internal value of the available impression into the auction process, while still allowing the publisher to maximize the value of the available impression by exposing the impression to bids from outside parties. The dynamic floor price can be calculated based on both internal valuations of an available impression as well as external valuations derived from feedback from prior auctions. To facilitate determination of a dynamic floor prices, advertisers and available impressions can be categorized into various segments.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for matching an advertising payload with an available impression, comprising:

selecting a hosted advertisement that corresponds to an available impression, the hosted advertisement having an assigned user segment, the assigned user segment being associated with first floor price information;

assigning an inventory segment to the available impression, the assigned inventory segment being associated with second floor price information;

determining a floor price based on the first floor price information and the second floor price information;

forwarding information related to the available impression, bid information for the selected hosted advertisement, and the determined floor price to an auction marketplace;

transmitting an advertising payload in response to the available impression, the advertising payload corresponding to at least one of the selected hosted advertisement or a payload associated with a winning bid from an auction corresponding to the available impression;

receiving auction bid information, from the auction marketplace, related to the auction corresponding to the available impression; and

updating at least one of the first floor price information or the second floor price information based on the received auction bid information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving, by the auction marketplace, a plurality of auction bids, the auction bids comprising auction bid values, at least one of the bids corresponding to the selected hosted advertisement;

and

selecting a bid based on the received auction bid values and the determined floor price.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating biased auction bids from the received auction bids by applying one or more bid bias values to an auction bid value for at least one received auction bid,

wherein selecting a bid based on the received auction bid values comprises selecting a bid based on at least one generated biased auction bid value.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein selecting a bid based on the received auction bid values comprises:

determining that the floor price is greater than the received auction bid values; and

selecting the bid corresponding to the selected hosted advertisement.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received auction bid information corresponding to the auction for the available impression comprises a bid structure, the bid structure including a winning bid value, an identity of a party that submitted the winning bid, and at least one additional bid value.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein updating at least one of the first floor price information or the second floor price information comprises:

determining an inventory segment corresponding to the received auction bid information;

aggregating the received auction bid information with additional auction bid information corresponding to the determined inventory segment;

calculating a distribution of winning bid values based on the aggregated auction bid information; and

updating the second floor price information based on the calculated distribution of winning bid values.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a floor price based on the first floor price information and the second floor price information comprises:

determining a bid value for the selected hosted advertisement based on the first floor price information;

determining a potential value for the available impression based on the second floor price information;

calculating a weighted average of the determined bid value and the determined potential value;

identifying a probability function corresponding to a probability that a received bid value will be greater than a floor price; and

selecting a floor price that maximizes an expected value of the available impression, the expected value of the available impression being based on the identified probability function and the calculated weighted average.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a floor price comprises determining a plurality of floor price values, the plurality of floor price values being based at least in part on identity of one or more parties submitting bids to the auction marketplace.

9. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method for matching an advertising payload with an available impression, comprising:

selecting a hosted advertisement that corresponds to an available impression, the hosted advertisement having an assigned user segment, the assigned user segment being associated with first floor price information;

assigning an inventory segment to the available impression, the assigned inventory segment being associated with second floor price information;

associating the selected hosted advertisement and the available impression with a plurality of interaction segments;

detecting a match between an interaction segment associated with the hosted advertisement and an interaction segment associated with the available impression, the matching interaction segment being associated with third floor price information;

determining a floor price based on the third floor price information;

forwarding information related to the available impression, bid information for the selected hosted advertisement, and the determined floor price to an auction marketplace;

transmitting an advertising payload in response to the available impression, the advertising payload corresponding to at least one of the selected hosted advertisement or a payload associated with a winning bid from an auction corresponding to the available impression;

receiving auction bid information, from the auction marketplace, related to the auction corresponding to the available impression; and

updating at least one of the first floor price information, the second floor price information, or the third floor price information based on the received auction bid information.

10. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein the advertising payload is transmitted to an interface containing the available impression, comprising a web page for display in a browser, an application, or a screen for display on a computing device.

11. The computer-storage media of claim 10, the method further comprising:

generating biased auction bids from the received auction bids by applying one or more bid bias values to auction bid values for at least one received auction bid,

wherein selecting a bid based on the received auction bid values comprises selecting a bid based on at least one generated biased auction bid value.

12. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein selecting a bid based on the received auction bid values comprises:

determining that the floor price is greater than the received auction bid values; and

selecting the bid corresponding to the selected hosted advertisement.

13. The computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein updating at least one of the first floor price information or the second floor price information comprises:

determining an interaction segment corresponding to the received auction bid information;

aggregating the received auction bid information with additional auction bid information corresponding to the determined interaction segment;

calculating a distribution of winning bid values based on the aggregated auction bid information; and

updating the third floor price information based on the calculated distribution of winning bid values.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein determining a floor price based on the third floor price information comprises:

determining a bid value for the selected hosted advertisement based on the third floor price information;

identifying a probability function corresponding to a probability that a received bid value will be greater than a floor price; and

selecting a floor price that maximizes an expected value of the available impression, the expected value of the available impression being based on the identified probability function and the determined bid value.

15. A computer-implemented method for matching an advertising payload with an available impression, comprising:

selecting a hosted advertisement that corresponds to an available impression, the hosted advertisement having an assigned user segment;

assigning an inventory segment to the available impression;

determining a floor price based on the assigned user segment and the assigned inventory segment;

receiving a plurality of auction bids, the auction bids comprising auction bid values, at least one of the bids having a bid value greater than the determined floor price;

selecting a bid from the plurality of received auction bids based on the auction bid values;

determining a final auction price for the available impression based on the determined floor price; and

transmitting an advertising payload corresponding to the selected bid in response to the available impression.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising

receiving auction bid information from the auction marketplace;

and

updating information associated with at least one of the assigned inventory segment or the assigned user segment based on the received auction bid information.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising associating the hosted advertisement and the available impression with a plurality of interaction segments, wherein determining a floor price based on the assigned user segment and the assigned inventory segment comprises:

detecting a match between an interaction segment associated with the assigned inventory segment and an interaction segment associated with the assigned user segment; and

determining a floor price based on the matched interaction segment.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the determined final auction price is equal to the determined floor price.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the bid selected from the plurality of received auction bids is the only auction bid with an auction bid value greater than the floor price.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

generating biased auction bids from the received auction bids by applying one or more bid bias values to auction bid values for at least one received auction bid,

wherein the bid selected from the plurality of received auction bids is the only auction bid with a biased auction bid value greater than the floor price.