Method and system for advertising over a data network

• US 20040193488A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Individual Network LLC
• Original Assignee: Individual Network LLC
• Inventors: Huang, Qian, Khoo, Denis, Ratcliff, Raymond F. III, Benevento, Francis A. II
• Application Number:
  US10/738,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20040193488A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.52
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method and system for statistics-based individualized advertising over a network in which an advertiser provides to a content distributor one or more constraints defining the characteristics of desired target users and the manner by which the advertisement is to be delivered. The content distributor determines an estimated price based on statistics computed based on target users selected and the advertising periods allocated based on the constraints and individualized content delivery.

Claims

1. A method for advertising, comprising:

receiving, by a content distributor over a network, one or more constraints related to performance of an advertisement;

determining an estimated price for the advertisement based on estimated statistics computed with respect to one or more target users selected based on the one or more constraints; and

sending, over the network, the estimated price and the estimated statistics, wherein the one or more constraints define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is delivered to the one or more target users.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement is delivered using an advertising period.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the advertising period is allocated based on the delivery parameters.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the advertising period is allocated in content to be delivered to a target user.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content distributor is one of:

a content producer who distributes its own produced content;

a secondary distributor who receives content from another source and distributes the content;

a content portal who provides a gateway to content; and

a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more constraints are received from one of:

an advertiser including one of;

an advertising agency,

a business entity,

an organization, and

an individual; and

a user of the content distributor.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the advertising period is embedded in the content to be transmitted to each of the one or more target users;

and

the advertisement is delivered to each of the one or more target users during transmission of the content, whether before, after or by interrupting the content, or by placing the advertised product or service in the content itself and by inserting the advertisement into the advertising period.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more constraints include at least one of a demographic constraint, a program constraint, a time constraint, a geographic constraint, an institutional constraint, a derivative constraint, and a receiving device constraint.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more constraints includes the demographic constraint based on at least one of gender, income, age, and the number of targeted users at a reception location.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more constraints includes the time constraint specifying delivery parameters, including at least one of a time frame within which the order for the advertising period is to be completed, number of programs with which the advertisement is to be delivered, a desired delivery time, a desired duration of each single exposure, and a desired repetition rate with respect to a unit time.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more constraints includes the program constraint specifying desired content and/or advertisement to be transmitted.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more constraints includes the derivative constraint specifying whether an advertising period can be allocated in replacement of an existing advertisement and/or whether the advertisement to be inserted in the advertising period can be replaced by another advertisement.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

searching information related to a plurality of individuals, each having a profile;

identifying the one or more target users by comparing the one or more constraints to the profiles of the plurality of individuals and identifying the target users whose profiles match the one or more constraints;

computing the estimated statistics based on the identified one or more target users and the advertising period allocated in content to be transmitted to each of the target users; and

calculating, based on the estimated statistics, an estimated price for delivering the advertisement to the identified one or more target users using the allocated advertising period during transmission of content.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising allocating an advertising period based on the delivery parameters contained in the one or more constraints.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the advertising period is allocated in content, when the advertisement is to be delivered with the content.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the estimated statistics include at least one of:

number of the one or more target users;

number of target users at a reception location;

a measure characterizing a degree of match between each target user'"'"'s profile and the one or more constraints;

a measure characterizing a degree of match between the delivery schedule by which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users and the delivery parameters.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein a delivery schedule for a target user includes at least one of:

a destination for the delivery;

content to be delivered to the target user;

a delivery time by which the content is to be delivered to the target user;

an amount of each single exposure;

a repetition rate of exposure in the content; and

a derivative status indicating whether the advertisement is performed by replacing an existing advertisement.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein said calculating the estimated price comprises:

determining an overall desirability for each of the target users from one or both of the advertiser'"'"'s perspective and the content distributor'"'"'s perspective;

calculating an individual price for delivering the advertisement to each of the one or more target users based on the overall desirability of the target user; and

computing the estimated price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users based on the calculated individual prices.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said determining an overall desirability of a target user comprises:

accessing an index value associated with the target user with respect to each of the constraints, wherein the index value indicates the desirability of the target user from the content distributor'"'"'s perspective;

retrieving a coefficient value, specified by the advertiser, with respect to each of the constraints, wherein the coefficient value indicates the desirability of the constraint from the advertiser'"'"'s perspective; and

computing the overall desirability for the target user based on the index value and the coefficient value associated with the target user with respect to each of the constraints.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein said calculating an individual price for delivering the advertisement to a target user comprises:

determining a unit price for delivering the advertisement to each of the target users based on a delivery schedule for the target user;

determining a total exposure amount by which the advertisement is to be exposed to the target user; and

computing the individual price based on the overall desirability of the target user, the unit price, and the total exposure amount.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising delivering, after receiving an order for performing the advertisement over a network, the advertisement to the one or more target users.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the advertisement is delivered during transmission of content using an advertising period allocated in the content to each of the target users.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the advertisement is delivered to each of the target users in a media form determined based on a specific device on which the target user is to receive the advertisement and the media form includes at least one of multimedia, video, audio, text, paper, and any combination thereof.

24. The method according to claim 21, further comprising receiving feedback statistics after the delivering of the advertisement.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the feedback statistics include at least one of delivery statistics, derivative statistics, and user response statistics.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the delivery statistics include at least one of actual content with which the advertisement is delivered, actual delivery time, and actual amount of exposure of the advertisement.

27. The method according to claim 24, further comprising generating an actual price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users or target reception locations by adjusting the estimated price based on the received feedback statistics.

28. The method according to claim 27, further comprising sending, from the content distributor, the actual price and the feedback statistics to an advertiser who ordered the delivery.

39. The method according to claim 27, further comprising receiving an actual price wherein the actual price is derived by adjusting the estimated price based on the feedback statistics.

40. The method according to claim 28, wherein the feedback statistics comprise delivery statistics, which describe actual content with which the advertisement is delivered, actual delivery time, and actual amount of exposure of the advertisement.

41. The method according to claim 28, wherein the feedback statistics comprise derivative statistics, which indicate whether an existing advertisement is replaced by the advertising period.

42. The method according to claim 28, wherein the feedback statistics comprise user response statistics.

29. A method for an advertiser, comprising:

receiving, over a network, an estimated price and estimated statistics related to deliver an advertisement to one or more target users or target reception locations;

placing an order, based on the estimated price and the estimated statistics, for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users or reception locations, wherein the one or more target users or reception locations are determined according to one or more constraints which define;

desired characteristics of the one or more target users or reception locations to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users or reception locations.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the advertisement is delivered using an advertising period.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the advertising period is allocated based on the delivery parameters.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the advertising period is allocated in content to be delivered to a target user.

33. The method according to claim 29, wherein

the estimated price and the estimated statistics are received from one of an advertising agency and a content distributor;

and

the estimated price is derived based on the estimated statistics computed based on the one or more target users and the advertising period allocated based on the delivery parameters of the one or more constraints.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the content distributor is one of:

a content producer who distributes its own produced content;

a secondary distributor who receives content from another source and distributes the content;

a content portal who provides a gateway to content; and

a combination thereof.

35. The method according to claim 29, wherein the advertisement is delivered to each of the one or more target users during transmission of the content, whether before or after, or by interrupting the content, or by placing the advertised product or service in the content itself and by inserting the advertisement into the allocated advertising period.

36. The method according to claim 33, wherein the one or more constraints are provided by one of the advertiser, a content distributor, and a third party.

37. The method according to claim 29, wherein

the estimated price and the estimated statistics are received as a bid from a content distributor after an advertiser sends the one or more constraints related to the advertisement;

and

the order placed corresponds to a best bid among one or more bids received from one or more content distributors receiving the one or more constraints for the advertisement.

38. The method according to claim 29, further comprising receiving feedback statistics after the advertisement is delivered to the target users.

43. A method for a content distributor, comprising:

determining one or more target users or reception locations based on one or more constraints related to an advertisement;

estimating statistics based the on one or more target users or reception locations to whom an advertisement is to be delivered;

computing an estimated price for delivering the advertisement based on the estimated statistics;

sending, over a network, the estimated price and the estimated statistics, wherein

the one or more constraints define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the advertisement is delivered using an advertising period.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the advertising period is allocated based on the delivery parameters.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein the advertising period is allocated in content to be delivered to a target user.

47. The method according to claim 43, wherein the content distributor is one of:

a content producer who distributes its own produced content;

a secondary distributor who receives content from another source and distributes the content;

a content portal who provides a gateway to content; and

a combination thereof.

48. The method according to claim 43, wherein the estimated price and the estimated statistics are sent to one of:

an advertiser including one of;

an advertising agency,

a business entity,

an organization, and

an individual; and

a user of the content distributor.

49. The method according to claim 43, wherein the estimated price and the estimated statistics are sent to a plurality of advertisers to solicit purchasers.

50. The method according to claim 44, wherein

the advertising period is embedded in the content to be transmitted to each of the one or more target users;

and

the advertisement is delivered to each of the one or more target users during transmission of the content, whether before or after, or by interrupting the content, or by placing the advertised product or service in the content itself and by inserting the advertisement into the advertising period.

51. The method according to claim 43, wherein said determining comprises:

searching information related to a plurality of individuals, each having a profile; and

selecting the one or more target users by comparing the one or more constraints to the profiles of the plurality of individuals and identifying the target users whose profiles match the one or more constraints.

52. The method according to claim 46, further comprising allocating, based on the one or more constraints, the advertising period in content scheduled to be transmitted to a target user.

53. The method according to claim 52, wherein said allocating the advertising period for a target user comprises:

retrieving a delivery schedule for the target users;

identifying content scheduled to be transmitted to the target user at a time satisfying a constrained advertisement delivery time specified in the one or more constraints; and

allocating the advertising period in the identified content based on an advertisement exposure requirement specified in the one or more constraints.

54. The method according to claim 43, wherein the estimated statistics include at least one of:

number of the one or more target users;

a measure characterizing a degree of match between each target user'"'"'s profile and the one or more constraints;

a measure characterizing a degree of match between the delivery schedule by which the advertisement is to be delivered to the one or more target users and the specified delivery parameters.

55. The method according to claim 54, wherein a delivery schedule for a target user includes at least one of:

a destination for the delivery;

content to be delivered to the target user;

a delivery time by which the content is to be delivered to the target user;

an amount of each single exposure;

a repetition rate of exposure in the content; and

a derivative status indicating whether the advertisement is performed by replacing an existing advertisement.

56. The method according to claim 43, wherein said computing the estimated price comprises:

determining an overall desirability for each of the target users from both the advertiser'"'"'s perspective and the content distributor'"'"'s perspective;

calculating an individual price for delivering the advertisement to each of the one or more target users based on the overall desirability of the target user; and

computing the estimated price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users based on the calculated individual prices.

57. The method according to claim 43, further comprising delivering, after receiving an order for the advertising period over a network, the advertisement to the one or more target users.

58. The method according to claim 57, wherein the advertisement is delivered during transmission of content using an advertising period allocated in the content to each of the target users.

59. The method according to claim 57, wherein the advertisement is delivered to a target users in a media form determined based on a specific device on which the target user is to receive the advertisement and the media form includes at least one of multimedia, video, audio, text, paper, and any combination thereof.

60. The method according to claim 57, further comprising receiving feedback statistics after the delivering the advertisement.

61. The method according to claim 60, wherein the feedback statistics include at least one of delivery statistics, derivative statistics, and user response statistics.

62. The method according to claim 61, wherein the delivery statistics include actual content with which the advertisement is delivered, actual delivery time, and actual amount of exposure of the advertisement.

63. The method according to claim 56, further comprising:

generating an actual price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users by adjusting the estimated price based on the received feedback statistics; and

sending the actual price and the feedback statistics to an advertiser who ordered the delivery.

64. A method for pricing individualized advertising, comprising:

receiving one or more constraints to be used in determining one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is to be delivered;

selecting the one or more target users by comparing the one or more constraints to profiles of a plurality of individuals and identifying target users or reception locations whose profiles match the one or more constraints; and

calculating a price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users or reception locations based on statistics computed based on a degree of match between the one or more target users or reception locations and the one or more constraints, wherein

the one or more constraints define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users or reception locations.

65. The method according to claim 64, wherein said calculating the price comprises:

determining an overall desirability for each of the target users;

calculating an individual price for delivering the advertisement to each target user based on the overall desirability of the target user and a delivery schedule for delivering the advertisement to the target user; and

calculating the price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users based on the calculated individual prices, wherein

the overall desirability is determined based on both the perspective of a content distributor who is to deliver the advertisement to the target users and the perspective of an advertiser who desires to deliver the advertisement to target users who satisfy the one or more constraints.

66. The method according to claim 65, wherein said determining an overall desirability of a target user comprises:

accessing an index value associated with the target user with respect to each of the constraints, wherein the index value indicates the desirability of the target user from the content distributor'"'"'s perspective;

retrieving a coefficient value, specified by the advertiser, with respect to each of the constraints, wherein the coefficient value indicates the desirability of the constraint from the advertiser'"'"'s perspective; and

computing the overall desirability for the target user based on the index value and the coefficient value associated with the target user with respect to each of the constraints.

67. The method according to claim 65, wherein said calculating an individual price for delivering the advertisement to a target user comprises:

determining a unit price for delivering the advertisement to each of the target users based on a delivery schedule for the target user;

determining a total exposure amount by which the advertisement is to be exposed to the target user; and

computing the individual price based on the overall desirability of the target user, the unit price, and the total exposure amount.

68. A method for adjusting an estimated price for delivering an advertisement using an advertising period, comprising:

receiving feedback statistics relating to and after delivering the advertisement using the advertising period to one or more target users or reception locations during transmission of content;

adjusting the estimated price based on the feedback statistics to produce an actual price, wherein

the one or more target users are determined based on one or more constraints which define;

desired characteristics of the one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users.

69. The method according to claim 68, wherein the one or more constraints comprise at least one of a demographic constraint, a program constraint, a time constraint, an institutional constraint, a derivative constraint, and a receiving device constraint.

70. The method according to claim 69, wherein the demographic constraint includes at least one of gender, income, hobby, age, and the number of targeted users at a reception location.

71. The method according to claim 69, wherein the time constraint specifies delivery parameters, which include at least one of a time frame within which the order for the advertisement is to be completed, number of programs with which the advertisement is to be delivered, desired delivery time, amount of each single exposure, and a repetition rate of exposure.

72. The method according to claim 69, wherein the derivative constraint specifies whether the advertising period can be allocated in replacement of an existing advertisement or whether the advertisement to be inserted in the advertising slot can be replaced by another advertisement.

73. The method according to claim 68, wherein the estimated price is computed based on estimated statistics relating to the one or more target users and delivery schedule by which the advertisement is delivered to the target users.

74. The method according to claim 68, wherein the feedback statistics include at least one of delivery statistics, derivative statistics, and user response statistics.

75. The method according to claim 74, wherein the delivery statistics include actual content with which the advertisement is delivered, actual delivery time, and actual amount of exposure of the advertisement.

76. The method according to claim 68, wherein said adjusting comprises:

identifying a discrepancy between the estimated statistics and the feedback statistics;

and generating the actual price based on the estimated price and the discrepancy.

77. The method according to claim 76, wherein the discrepancy includes at least one of:

a difference between estimated content and actual content with which the advertisement is delivered;

a difference between the estimated one or more target users or reception locations and actual target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is delivered;

a difference between an estimated time and an actual time by which the advertisement is delivered;

a difference between an estimated length in time and an actual length in time during which the actual target users are exposed to a single impression of the advertisement;

a difference between an estimated repetition rate and an actual repetition rate by which the actual target users are exposed to the advertisement; and

a difference between an estimated allocation and an actual allocation of the advertising period through which the advertisement is delivered to the actual target users.

78. The method according to claim 77, wherein the estimated allocation is specified as at least one of:

the advertising period is to replace an advertisement existing in the content;

the advertising period is not to replace an advertisement existing in the content;

the advertising period, once allocated, is not to be replaced by another advertisement; and

the advertising period, once allocated, can be replaced by another advertisement.

79. A system for advertising, comprising:

a content distributor configured to offer at an estimated price to deliver an advertisement;

an advertiser capable of placing an order with the content distributor for delivering the advertisement at the estimated price; and

one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertiser desires to deliver and the content distributor delivers the advertisement, wherein

the one or more target users or reception locations are determined according to one or more constraints which define;

desired characteristics of the one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users or reception locations, and

the estimated price is determined based on estimated statistics computed based on a degree of match between the one or more target users or reception locations and the one or more constraints.

80. The method according to claim 79, wherein the advertisement is delivered using an advertising period.

81. The method according to claim 80, wherein the advertising period is allocated based on the delivery parameters.

82. The method according to claim 81, wherein the advertising period is allocated in content to be delivered to a target user.

83. The system according to claim 79, wherein the content distributor is one of:

a content producer who distributes its own produced content;

a secondary distributor who receives content from another source and distributes the content;

a content portal who provides a gateway to content; and

a combination thereof.

84. The system according to claim 79, wherein the one or more constraints are received from one of:

an advertiser including one of;

an advertising agency,

a business entity,

an organization, and

an individual; and

a user of the content distributor.

85. The system according to claim 82, wherein

the advertising period is embedded in the content to be transmitted to each of the one or more target users;

and

the advertisement is delivered to each of the one or more target users during transmission of the content by inserting the advertisement into the advertising period.

86. The system according to claim 79, wherein the one or more constraints include at least one of a demographic constraint, a geographic constraint, a time constraint, a program constraint, an institutional constraint;

a derivative constraint, and a receiving device constraint.

87. The system according to claim 79, wherein the content distributor comprises:

a target user matching mechanism configured to identify the one or more target users based on the one or more constraints;

an advertising period allocator configured to allocate the advertising period in the content based on the one or more constraints; and

a pricing mechanism configured to derive the estimated price based on the estimated statistics.

88. The system according to claim 87, further comprising a delivery scheduler configured to produce a delivery schedule of each of the one or more target users, wherein the delivery schedule is used in allocating the advertising period.

89. The system according to claim 88, further comprising a delivery mechanism configured to transmitting content and/or advertisement to the one or more target users according to the delivery schedules.

90. The system according to claim 88, further comprising:

a feedback receiver configured to receive feedback statistics after delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users; and

a price adjuster configured to adjust the estimated price based on the feedback statistics to produce an actual price.

91. The system according to claim 79, wherein the advertiser comprises:

an advertising soliciting mechanism configured to solicit an offer for delivering the advertisement; and

an advertising ordering mechanism configured to accept an offer for delivering the advertisement, wherein the offer provides the estimated price with the estimated statistics characterizing the one or more target users and offered delivery schedules by which the advertisement is transmitted to the one or more target users.

92. The system according to claim 91, further comprising a constraint generation mechanism configured to generate, prior to soliciting the offer, the one or more constraints to be used in determining the one or more target users.

93. A system for a content distributor, comprising:

an information processor configured to receive and to process one or more constraints;

a target user matching mechanism configured to identify one or more target users or reception locations based on the one or more constraints;

a pricing mechanism configured to derive an estimated price to deliver the advertisement using the advertising period to the one or more target users or reception locations during transmission of content, wherein the one or more constraints define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users or reception locations to which the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users or reception locations, and

the estimated price is determined based on estimated statistics computed based on the one or more target users or reception locations and the one or more constraints.

94. The method according to claim 93, further comprising an advertising period allocator configured to allocate an advertising period in content for an advertisement based on the one or more constraints.

95. The system according to claim 93, wherein the pricing mechanism comprises:

an individual delivery price estimator configured to calculate an individual price for delivering the advertisement to one of the one or more target users based on an overall demand for the target user and a delivery schedule to deliver content to the target user; and

a total delivery price estimator configured to compute the estimated price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users based on the individual prices computed with respect to delivering the advertisement to each of the one or more target users.

96. The system according to claim 93, further comprising a delivery scheduler configured to produce a delivery schedule of each of the one or more target users, wherein the delivery schedule is used in allocating the advertising period and in determining the estimated price.

97. The system according to claim 96, further comprising a delivery mechanism configured to transmitting the advertisement and/or content embedded with the advertising period inserted with the advertisement to the one or more target users according to the delivery schedule.

98. The system according to claim 96, further comprising:

a feedback receiver configured to receive feedback statistics after delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users; and

a price adjuster configured to adjust the estimated price based on the feedback statistics to produce an actual price.

99. A system for an advertiser, comprising:

an advertising soliciting mechanism configured to solicit, over a network, an offer for delivering an advertisement; and

an advertising ordering mechanism configured to accept, over the network, an offer for delivering the advertisement at an estimated price to deliver the advertisement to one or more target users during transmission of content, wherein

the one or more target users are determined based on one or more constraints which define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of

the one or more target users, and

the estimated price is offered with estimated statistics characterizing the one or more target users and an offered delivery schedule by which the advertisement is to be delivered.

100. The system according to claim 99, further comprising a constraint generation mechanism configured to generate, prior to soliciting the offer, the one or more constraints to be used in determining the one or more target users and the offered delivery schedule.

101. The system according to claim 100, wherein the estimated price is determined based on the estimated statistics computed based on the one or more target users and the one or more constraints.

102. A system for computing a price for delivering an advertisement, comprising:

a target user matching mechanism configured to identify one or more target users based on one or more constraints; and

a pricing mechanism configured to derive an estimated price for delivering the advertisement using the advertising period to the one or more target users during transmission of content, wherein

the one or more constraints define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of

the one or more target users, and

the estimated price is derived based on estimated statistics characterizing the one or

more target users and a delivery schedule by which the advertisement is to be delivered.

103. The method according to claim 102, further comprising an advertising period allocator configured to allocating the advertising period based on the one or more constraints.

104. The system according to claim 102, wherein the pricing mechanism comprises:

an individual delivery price estimator configured to calculate an individual price for delivering the advertisement to one of the one or more target users based on an overall desirability for the target user and a delivery schedule to deliver content to the target user; and

a total delivery price estimator configured to compute the estimated price for delivering the advertisement to the one or more target users based on the individual prices computed with respect to each of the one or more target users.

105. The system according to claim 104, further comprising:

a demand index retriever configure to access an index value associated with a target user with respect to each of the one or more constraints;

a coefficient retriever configured to retrieve a coefficient value with respect to each of the one or more constraints, wherein the overall demand for the target user is computed based on the index value associated with the target user and the coefficient value with respect to each of the one or more constraints, wherein

the index value indicates the desirability of the target user having a feature meeting one of the constraint from the content distributor'"'"'s perspective, and

the coefficient value indicates the desirability of the feature from the advertiser'"'"'s perspective.

106. A system for adjusting a price for delivering an advertisement using an advertising period, comprising:

a feedback receiver configured to receive feedback statistics characterizing a delivery of the advertisement to one or more target users or reception locations using the advertising period during transmission of content; and

a price adjuster configured to adjust the price based on the feedback statistics to produce an actual price, wherein

the price is estimated prior to the delivery based on estimated statistics characterizing projected target users or reception locations determined based on one or more constraints and a projected delivery schedule, which define

desired characteristics of the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is to be delivered, and

delivery parameters based on which the advertisement is to be delivered to each of the one or more target users, and

the price is adjusted based on at least one of a discrepancy between the projected target users and the one or more target users to whom the advertisement is actually delivered and a discrepancy between the projected delivery schedule and the delivery carried out and if the advertiser has paid for the advertisement prior to determination of the actual price, providing a rebate or credit to the advertiser when the actual price is less than the amount paid.

107. The system according to claim 106, wherein the feedback statistics include at least one of delivery statistics, derivative statistics, and user response statistics.

108. The method according to claim 107, wherein the delivery statistics include actual content with which the advertisement is delivered, actual delivery time, and actual amount of exposure of the advertisement.