Content hosting and advertising systems and methods

• US 8,196,166 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Roberts, Brian, Stallings, Heath, Relyea, Don
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
• Application Number:
  US11/614,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20080155588A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,993 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725 34- 36
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

In an exemplary system, a data store includes at least a subset of media content, media content attribute data associated with the media content, user profile data associated with at least one consumer having access to the media content, advertising content, and content matching data associated with the advertising content. An access module is communicatively coupled to an access device and configured to receive a request sent by the access device, the request being for access to a media content instance included in the media content. A matching module is configured to match at least one advertising content instance included in the advertising content to the media content instance based on the media content attribute data, user profile data, and content matching data. The access module is configured to provide the matched advertising content instance to the access device for user presentation.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data store including

at least a subset of media content,

media content attribute data associated with the media content, the media content attribute data including a popularity score associated with a media content instance,

user profile data associated with at least one consumer having access to the media content,

advertising content distinct from the media content, and

content matching data associated with the advertising content, the content matching data being provided by an advertiser and including targeted media popularity criteria associated with an advertising content instance,

an access module communicatively coupled to an access device, said access module configured to receive a request sent by the access device, the request being for access to a media content instance included in the media content;

and

a matching module configured to match at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance based on the media content attribute data, user profile data, and content matching data;

wherein said matching module is configured to determine a match value for matching the advertising content instance to the media content instance, the match value being determined for a combination of the user profile data, the media content attribute data, and the content matching data, the match value being based on an advertiser bid value;

wherein the matching module matches the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance by giving a greater weight to demographic data in the media content instance than to user-provided target audience data included in the user profile data; and

further wherein said access module is further configured to provide the matched at least one advertising content instance to the access device for user presentation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tracking module is further configured to update the user profile data stored in said data store based on the tracked media consumption events.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said matching module is configured to dynamically match the at least one advertising content instance based on a generally real time snapshot of the media content attribute data, user profile data, and content matching data stored in said data store.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the user profile data includes media consumption information descriptive of the tracked media consumption events associated with a user.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user profile data includes demographic information provided by the user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the media content attribute data includes target audience information provided by a producer of the media content instance, said matching module being configured to qualify the target audience information based on the tracked media consumption information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the popularity score is based on an actual access rate of the media content instance.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the content matching data also includes at least one of targeted user demographic criteria, and targeted media rating criteria associated with the advertising content.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the content matching data includes bid data representative of payments that advertisers are willing to make for placement of the advertising content.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said matching module is configured to determine another match value for another advertising content instance based on the user profile data, media content attribute data, and content matching data, wherein said matching module is configured to select between matching the advertising content instance and the other advertising content instance to the media content instance based on the determined match values.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tracking module configured to track media consumption events associated with the media content instance and to generate real time performance metrics based on the tracked media consumption events, said access module being configured to provide the real time performance statistics to a producer of the media content instance.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the real time performance metrics include at least one of revenue generated by the media content instance, a number of times the media content instance has been accessed, an average consumer rating of the media content instance, and a number of consumers that have rated the media content instance.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tracking module configured to track advertising content distribution events associated with the advertising content and to generate real time distribution metrics based on the tracked advertising content distribution events, said access module being configured to provide the real time distribution metrics to advertisers associated with the advertising content.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the real time distribution metrics include, for the advertising content instance, at least one of fees charged for distribution of the advertising content instance, a number of times that the advertising content instance has been distributed, and an average fee per distribution event for the advertising content instance.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a revenue module configured to charge a fee to the at least one advertiser for the matching of the at least one advertising content instance to the media content instance and to share revenue from the fee between a producer associated with the media content instance and at least one party distributing the media content instance.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the matching module matches the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance by utilizing the targeted media popularity criteria and the popularity score.

27. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tracking module configured to track media consumption events and update media content attribute data stored in said data store based on the tracked media consumption events, wherein the media content attribute data includes media consumption information descriptive of the tracked media consumption events associated with the media content instance, the media consumption information including data compiled from demographic information about users of the media content instance.

16. A system comprising:

an access module configured to receive the following from a plurality of access devices communicatively coupled to said access module;

media content and associated media content attribute data from at least a first source,

advertising content and associated content matching data from at least a second source, wherein the advertising content is distinct from the media content, the content matching data being provided by an advertiser, and

user profile data from a third source having access to the media content, said access module being further configured to receive requests for access to the media content and to distribute the media content;

a data store configured to store the media content, media content attribute data, advertising content, content matching data, and user profile data, wherein the media content attribute data includes a popularity score associated with a media content instance, and the content matching data includes targeted media popularity criteria associated with an advertising content instance;

a tracking module configured to track the distribution of the media content, generate tracking data based on the tracked distribution, and provide the tracked data to said data store for inclusion in at least one of the user profile data and media content attribute data; and

a matching module configured to dynamically match, in response to a request for access to a media content instance included in the media content, at least one advertising content instance included in the advertising content to the requested media content instance based on the media content attribute data, the user profile data, and the content matching data stored in said data store;

wherein the matching module matches the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance by giving a greater weight to demographic data in the media content instance than to user-provided target audience data included in the user profile data; and

further wherein said access module is further configured to provide the matched at least one advertising content instance to at least one of the access devices for presentation.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one network communicatively coupling said access module to said plurality of access devices, wherein the at least one network includes a provider-specific television network and the Internet.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the matching module matches the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance by utilizing the targeted media popularity criteria and the popularity score.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the media content attribute data includes media consumption information descriptive of the tracked media consumption events associated with the media content instance, the media consumption information including data compiled from demographic information about users of the media content instance.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving media content attribute data that includes a popularity score associated with a media content instance;

receiving content matching data from an advertiser that includes targeted media popularity criteria associated with an advertising content instance;

tracking media consumption events associated with the media content instance;

receiving a request over a network from an access device for a media content instance;

matching at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance by determining a match value for matching the advertising content instance to the media content instance, the match value being determined for a combination of the user profile data, the media content attribute data, and the content matching data, the match value being based on an advertiser bid value, wherein matching the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance includes giving a greater weight to demographic data in the media content instance than to user-provided target audience data included in the user profile data; and

providing the matched advertising content instance and the requested media content instance over the network to the access device, wherein the advertising content instance is distinct from the media content instance.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

tracking media consumption events associated with the user; and

including tracked media consumption information representative of the media consumption events in the user profile data for use in said matching step.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving target audience data from a producer of the media content instance; and

including the target audience data in the media content attribute data for use in said matching step.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein said matching includes qualifying the target audience information based on the tracked media consumption information.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating a popularity score for the media content instance in real time based on the tracked media consumption events; and

including the popularity score in the media content attribute data for use in said matching step.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

charging a fee to an advertiser associated with the advertising content instance for said providing of the advertising content instance; and

sharing revenue from the fee between a producer of the media content and at least one party distributing the media content instance.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein matching the at least one advertising content instance to the requested media content instance includes utilizing the targeted media popularity criteria and the popularity score.

29. The method of claim 18, further comprising including tracked media consumption information representative of the media consumption events in the media content attribute data, the media consumption information including data compiled from demographic information about users of the media content instance.