U.S. patent application number 16/127867 was filed with the patent office on 2019-01-10 for analytic system for automatically combining advertising and content in media broadcasts.
The applicant listed for this patent is GVBB HOLDINGS S.A.R.L.. Invention is credited to Alex HOLTZ, Charles MEYER.
Application Number | 20190014390 16/127867 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56409083 |
Filed Date | 2019-01-10 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190014390 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HOLTZ; Alex ; et
al. |
January 10, 2019 |
ANALYTIC SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY COMBINING ADVERTISING AND CONTENT
IN MEDIA BROADCASTS
Abstract
An analytic platform, article of manufacture, system,
computer-readable medium, and method for selecting and inserting
advertisements for delivery to a content viewing device. A
plurality of advertising metrics are generated from data
originating from a plurality of content viewing devices. Then, an
advertisement is selected for presentation along with content
directed to one of the content viewing devices, the advertisement
being selected based on the advertising metrics. Once selected, the
advertisement is added to the content for delivery to said one of
the content viewing devices.
Inventors: |
HOLTZ; Alex; (Suwanee,
GA) ; MEYER; Charles; (Crystal Bay, NV) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
GVBB HOLDINGS S.A.R.L. |
Luxembourg |
|
LU |
|
|
Family ID: |
56409083 |
Appl. No.: |
16/127867 |
Filed: |
September 11, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
14922681 |
Oct 26, 2015 |
10129604 |
|
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16127867 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0276 20130101;
G06Q 30/0251 20130101; G06Q 30/0269 20130101; G06Q 30/0255
20130101; H04N 21/812 20130101; H04N 21/252 20130101; G06Q 30/0241
20130101; H04N 21/4667 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04N 21/81 20060101
H04N021/81; G06Q 30/02 20060101 G06Q030/02; H04N 21/466 20060101
H04N021/466; H04N 21/25 20060101 H04N021/25 |
Claims
1. A system for delivering media to a content viewing device to
maximize quality of experience (QoE), the system comprising: an
advertising metric generator configured to generate a plurality of
advertising metrics based on data received from a plurality of
content viewing devices; a quality of playout determiner configured
to receive quality of playout information from at least one of the
plurality of content viewing devices; a media selector configured
to select media for content directed to the at least one content
viewing device based on the generated plurality of advertising
metrics and based on the received quality of playout information
associated with the at least one content viewing device to maximize
a QoE of the selected media on the at least one content viewing
device; and a media playout controller configured to add the
selected media to the content for delivery to the at least one
content viewing device, wherein the generated plurality of
advertising metrics are based on at least one of content analytics,
advertising analytics, sales analytics, pricing analytics, and
social media analytics, and wherein the quality of playout
information includes bitrate and buffering levels for the content
to be transmitted and displayed on the at least one content viewing
device.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertising metric generator
generates the plurality of advertising metrics based on first data
originating from a social media application on a first device of
the plurality of content viewing devices and second data
originating from a second device of the plurality of content
viewing devices that is connected to a packet based network.
3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a media transmission
controller configured to automatically select at least one content
delivery network (CDN) to deliver the selected media to the at
least one content viewing device, the at least CDN being selected
to maximize the QoE at the at least one viewing device.
4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a QoE determiner
configured to determine a maximized QoE based on at least one of: a
quality of service (QoS) performance measurement associated with a
physical transmission of the content and the selected media to the
at least one content viewing device, a performance measurement
regarding infrastructure involved with the physical transmission of
the content and the selected media to the at least one content
viewing device, a performance measurement regarding a content
delivery network involved with the physical transmission of the
content and the selected media to the at least one content viewing
device, a performance measurement regarding a website involved with
the delivery of the content and the selected media to the at least
one content viewing device, a performance measurement regarding a
mobile application of the at least one content viewing device
involved with the delivery of the content and the selected media,
and a performance measurement regarding reception of the content
and the delivery media by the at least one content viewing
device.
5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a best stream profile
generated configured to generate a best stream profile based on the
determined maximized QoE and to automatically and dynamically
change a routing of the selected media to at least one content
viewing device based on the generated best stream profile.
6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a bitrate selector
configured to automatically select the bitrate for a data stream to
deliver the selected media to the at least one content viewing
device to maximize the QoE at the at least one content viewing
device.
7. A system for delivering media to a content viewing device to
maximize quality of experience (QoE), the system comprising: an
advertising metric generator configured to generate a plurality of
advertising metrics based on data received from a plurality of
content viewing devices; a quality of playout determiner configured
to receive quality of playout information from at least one of the
plurality of content viewing devices, wherein the quality of
playout information is based at least on a bitrate for content to
be transmitted and displayed on the at least one content viewing
device; a media selector configured to select media for content
directed to the at least one content viewing device based on the
generated plurality of advertising metrics and based on the
received quality of playout information associated with the at
least one content viewing device to maximize a QoE of the selected
media on the at least one content viewing device; and a media
playout controller configured to add the selected media to the
content for delivery to the at least one content viewing
device.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the generated plurality of
advertising metrics are based on at least one of content analytics,
advertising analytics, sales analytics, pricing analytics, and
social media analytics.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the quality of playout
information is further based on at least one buffering level for
the content to be transmitted and displayed on the at least one
content viewing device.
10. The system of claim 7, wherein the advertising metric generator
generates the plurality of advertising metrics based on first data
originating from a social media application on a first device of
the plurality of content viewing devices and second data
originating from a second device of the plurality of content
viewing devices that is connected to a packet based network.
11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a media transmission
controller configured to automatically select at least one content
delivery network (CDN) to deliver the selected media to the at
least one content viewing device, the at least CDN being selected
to maximize the QoE at the at least one viewing device.
12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a QoE determiner
configured to determine a maximized QoE based on at least one of: a
quality of service (QoS) performance measurement associated with a
physical transmission of the content and the selected media to the
at least one content viewing device, a performance measurement
regarding infrastructure involved with the physical transmission of
the content and the selected media to the at least one content
viewing device, a performance measurement regarding a content
delivery network involved with the physical transmission of the
content and the selected media to the at least one content viewing
device, a performance measurement regarding a website involved with
the delivery of the content and the selected media to the at least
one content viewing device, a performance measurement regarding a
mobile application of the at least one content viewing device
involved with the delivery of the content and the selected media,
and a performance measurement regarding reception of the content
and the delivery media by the at least one content viewing
device.
13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a best stream
profile generator configured to generate a best stream profile
based on the determined maximized QoE and to automatically and
dynamically change a routing of the selected media to at least one
content viewing device based on the generated best stream
profile.
14. The system of claim 7, further comprising a bitrate selector
configured to automatically select the bitrate for a data stream to
deliver the selected media to the at least one content viewing
device to maximize the QoE at the at least one content viewing
device.
15. A system for delivering advertising content to a content
viewing device based on quality of content playout data associated
with the content viewing device, the system comprising: an
advertising content selector configured to select advertising
content to be transmitted to a content viewing device based on a
plurality of advertising metrics associated with the advertising
content and based on quality of content playout data associated
with the content viewing device, the quality of content playout
data comprising a detected bitrate quality of content playout data
associated with the content viewing device; and a media playout
controller configured to control media playout of the selected
advertising content to be transmitted to the content viewing device
based on the plurality of advertising metrics associated with the
advertising content and based on the detected bitrate quality of
content playout data associated with the content viewing
device.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of advertising
metrics are based on at least one of content analytics, advertising
analytics, sales analytics, pricing analytics, and social media
analytics.
17. The system of claim 15, wherein the quality of playout data is
further based on at least one buffering level for the selected
advertising content to be transmitted and displayed on the content
viewing device.
18. The system of claim 15, further comprising an advertising
metric generator configured to generate the plurality of
advertising metrics based on first data originating from a social
media application on a first content viewing device and second data
originating from a second content viewing device that is connected
to a packet based network.
19. The system of claim 15, further comprising a media transmission
controller configured to automatically select at least one content
delivery network (CDN) based on a path of least resistance to
deliver selected advertising content to the content viewing device,
wherein the at least CDN is selected by the media transmission
controller in order to maximize the QoE at the content viewing
device.
20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a QoE determiner
configured to determine a maximized QoE based on at least one of: a
quality of service (QoS) performance measurement associated with a
physical transmission of the selected advertising content to the
content viewing device, a performance measurement regarding
infrastructure involved with the physical transmission of the
selected advertising content to the content viewing device, a
performance measurement regarding a content delivery network
involved with the physical transmission of the selected advertising
content to the content viewing device, a performance measurement
regarding a website involved with the delivery of the selected
advertising content to the content viewing device, a performance
measurement regarding a mobile application of the content viewing
device involved with the delivery of the selected advertising
content, and a performance measurement regarding reception of the
selected advertising content by the content viewing device.
21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a best stream
profile generator configured to generate a best stream profile
based on the determined maximized QoE and to automatically and
dynamically re-route the selected advertising content to the
content viewing device based on the generated best stream
profile.
22. The system according to claim 15, further comprising a bitrate
selector configured to automatically select the bitrate for a data
stream to deliver the selected advertising content to the content
viewing device to maximize the QoE at the content viewing device.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a divisional application of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 14/922,681, filed Oct. 26, 2015, the
entire contents of which are hereby incorporated in their
entirety.
BACKGROUND
Field
[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to information
management in media broadcasting and advertisement insertion, and
more particularly, using analytic data to automatically select and
insert targeted advertisements in combination with media content
leveraging multiple analytic sources to derive return-on-investment
(ROI) results for campaigns across all platforms including
connected TV, web, mobile and social platforms.
Background
[0003] Media content providers, such as national television
networks and television station groups, have evolved to serve the
demand for online viewing across various formats. Consequently, in
addition to regular television broadcasts of programs, the same
content may be streamed over the internet as video on demand and/or
live streaming. Examples of delivery formats include over the top
(OTT) bypassing typical "managed services" such as cable, satellite
and IPTV infrastructure that can be subscription and/or transaction
based or ad supported, online video platforms (OVP) such as
YouTube, and TV Everywhere used by "managed services" providers to
provide their subscribers access to their content on connected TV,
web and mobile devices for both live and pre-recorded
broadcasts.
[0004] Traditional approaches to advertising and monetization are
becoming ineffective and outdated due to the evolving manner in
which media is presented to viewers.
SUMMARY
[0005] A method, article of manufacture, system, apparatus, and
computer-readable medium are provided to enable an analysis of an
optimized return on investment for advertisement campaigns and of
content creation in order to determine an effective combination of
advertisement placement and content on the best combination of
delivery platforms. Advertising may be served in live streams,
"as-live" such as channel playout and/or on-demand. Advertising may
be of a select duration that best serves the delivery platform of
choice, time of day, content type that it is being associated with
and targeted as determined by the campaign objectives and profile
definition.
[0006] Aspects are provided that gather all sources of analytic
data to be used to analyze, derive and deliver the best ROI
campaign results for advertisers, allow broadcasters to provide the
best creative programming and determine the best combination of
platforms to deliver, monitor, report and monetize results and
target both advertising and specific content on a unique, per
viewer basis. Different algorithms may be used to provide suitable
analysis for maximizing ROI, and different data gathering methods
may be employed to provide the basis for analysis. Beyond inserting
existing content, ROI can be increased further by responding to the
data analysis with personally created content including, but not
limited to, keyed in coupons, or purchase incentives, as web-links
or email subscription, either on-screen, or in traditional lower
third, or pillar box location, personalized menus of program
choices, or automatically selected programs feeds, based on genre
and psychographic data profiles.
[0007] The method and system may use analytic data to automatically
select and insert targeted advertisements in combination with media
content leveraging multiple analytic sources to derive
return-on-investment (ROI) results for campaigns across multiple
platforms including connected TV, web, mobile and social platforms.
An advertiser will then be able to create a campaign with the best
combination of ad creative, content type and target platforms. The
broadcaster will be able to gain insights into content categories
and type that best drive ROI therefore providing their advertising
customers with the best campaign results.
[0008] Aspects may include means for generating a plurality of
advertising metrics from data originating from a plurality of
content viewing devices, means for selecting an advertisement for
content directed to one of the content viewing devices, the
advertisement being selected based on the advertising metrics; and
means for adding the selected advertisement to the content for
delivery to said one of the content viewing devices.
[0009] The means for selecting an advertisement may be configured
to select the advertisement from a plurality of advertisements. The
means for selecting an advertisement may be configured to select
the advertisement based on any of an advertising profile for the
advertisement, metadata for content with which the advertisement is
inserted, and/or information regarding the playout of the content
at one of the content viewing devices. At least a portion of the
data may originate from any of a social media application on one of
the content viewing devices, a search application on one, or more
of the content viewing devices, and/or a television connected to a
packet based network via any method of access such as a
set-top-box, cable modem access, smart-tv internet access built
into the TV itself, or any other interact access method.
[0010] Aspects may further include any of means for deriving return
on investment for adding the selected advertisement to the content,
the return on investment being derived from the advertising
metrics, means for deriving pricing for adding the selected
advertisement to the content, the pricing being derived from the
advertising metrics, means for creating content based on the
advertising metrics and/or means for providing specific content
based on the advertising metrics. Advertising metrics may include a
quality of experience (QoE) associated with each of the content
viewing devices.
[0011] Aspects may further include means for deriving return on
investment for adding the selected advertisement to the content,
the return on investment being based on one or more of the quality
of experience associated with said one of the content viewing
devices, the measurable actions, such as web link clicks, on said
one of the content device, and the audited purchase behavior
measure by the commissioning associated with a purchase connected
to the web-link, or coupon enabled transaction.
[0012] Additional advantages and novel features of these aspects
will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in
part will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon
examination of the following or upon learning by practice of the
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example a system 100 for automatically
selecting advertisements for delivery along with media content in
accordance with aspects presented herein.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the
data flow between different means/components in an example system
in accordance with aspects presented herein.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the
data flow between different means/components in an example system
in accordance with aspects presented herein.
[0016] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an example method for managing
advertising in media broadcasts in accordance with aspects
presented herein.
[0017] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an example method for managing
advertising in media broadcasts in accordance with aspects
presented herein.
[0018] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware
implementation for a processing system in accordance with aspects
presented herein.
[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates an example national and affiliate system
in accordance with aspects presented herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] The detailed description set forth below in connection with
the appended drawings is intended as a description of various
configurations and is not intended to represent the only
configurations in which the concepts described herein may be
practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for
the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various
concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art
that these concepts may be practiced without these specific
details. In some instances, well known structures and components
are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such
concepts.
[0021] Certain aspects of video production systems will now be
presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These
apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed
description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing by various
blocks, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc.
(collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be
implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any
combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as
hardware or software depends upon the particular application and
design constraints imposed on the overall system.
[0022] By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element,
or any combination of elements may be implemented with a
"processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples
of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital
signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic,
discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured
to perform the various functionality described throughout this
disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may
execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean
instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code,
programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software
applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects,
executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc.,
whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode,
hardware description language, or otherwise.
[0023] Accordingly, in one or more examples, the functions
described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or
any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions
may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on
a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes
computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media
that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not
limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a
random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an
electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), compact disk ROM
(CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or
other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned
types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be
used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions
or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.
[0024] Advertising revenue for content providers may be obtained
from advertisers for advertising campaigns, e.g., with fixed
budgets. Content providers may improve advertising sales by
demonstrating an accurate and optimized return on investment (ROI)
for such advertising campaigns. Moreover, demand for advertising
may be increased by effective ad selection and placement, and
creative content that draws persistent viewers. Traditional methods
for determining effective advertisement placements and
advertisement pricing are becoming obsolete with the combined
delivery of television programming and online streaming. In
addition, different target groups have various viewing preferences
and different responses to advertisement types, further
complicating management of advertising sales.
[0025] As described herein, analytics may be a key driver for
broadcasters. An analysis of multiple data sources, certain types
of which are referred to as big data, may assist broadcasters in
calculating an ROI for advertisement agencies. Such an ROI may be
predicted (pre-sales) for use in filling advertisement spots in a
broadcast or post-sales in order to show the actual benefit derived
from the advertisement/advertisement campaign.
[0026] Metadata, e.g., metadata associated with media content, may
be processed throughout the broadcast production chain and may be
used in combination with the analytics as well as traffic and
billing information in order to generate more accurate ROI metrics
for selling ad avails, e.g., advertisement spots in a broadcast, to
ad agencies.
[0027] An automated process enables an accurate and up to date
calculation and allows advertising metrics to be continually
updated. The analytics may be generated using data from a number of
sources, including data mined, or received, from an OVP video
player client on content viewing devices. Among other types of
content viewing devices, this data may be received for web, mobile,
or connected TVs. For example, OVP/OTT TV Everywhere (e.g.,
authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) mine
analytic data and return the data, e.g., to an analytics system.
This analytics system may be a part of a broadcast system. The
received analytic data may be analyzed, reported, and used to
generate advertising metrics for use in advertisement selection and
advertisement sales. Through an automated process for calculating
an ROI, advertising metrics may be generated and maintained and
used to decide a best fit placement for an advertisement.
[0028] In addition calculating and reporting an ROI for
advertisement placement for advertisers, aspects may further
include selecting and/or generating best fit content and its
associated ROI for broadcasters. This data, analyzed in combination
with content metadata, enables an identification of content that
works best with a particular advertisement and demographic along
with the pricing information from traffic & billing. This may
include an automatic calculation of an ROI for the broadcaster
and/or potential advertiser.
[0029] As presented herein, analytics may also be used in video
streaming optimization. For example, Internet infrastructure and
CDNs may be monitored along with website and application
performance to determine a quality of experience (QoE) at a content
viewing device. This QoE data may be collected by the analytics
system and used to identify and reroute video streams in order to
improve or optimize QoE. For example, video streams may be rerouted
through the paths of least resistance and/or paths with a highest
level of performance. The use of such an automated process provides
an analytics platform that provides vendors significant value
because QoE is a key metric to drive more consumer viewership and
higher cost per impression (CPI) or cost per thousand impressions
(CPM).
[0030] Aspects provided herein provide an article of manufacture,
such as an analytics system providing an intelligent, automated
content and advertisement selection and sales management
solution.
[0031] Aspects include the generation and maintenance of
advertising metrics used to automatically drive advertisement
decisions and insertion into a content transmission. Advertising
metrics may be generated using analytics and data from OVP, OTT, or
TV Everywhere, etc. type content viewing devices. Advertising
metrics may be generated and maintained using analytics and data
from social media video publishing. Such social media data may
include measurements of pre-production, production and post
campaign impact illustrating the effectiveness of at least one
particular campaign throughout its process as compared to other
content and served advertisements.
[0032] Aspects may include the generation and maintenance of
advertising metrics for use in automatically performing an ROI
analysis for advertisement pricing and sales. Performance metrics
may be received and used to update the advertising metrics. Such
performance measurements may include, e.g., information regarding
demographics, geo-location, client profiles, content served
with/adjacent to the advertisement, time of day of the
advertisement, advertisement category type, such as "exclusive",
"targeted" or "non-targeted," whether the content was live
streaming or on-demand, sources, i.e. broadcaster website, mobile
app, connected TV and/or syndicated sites and "creative", i.e.
identifying creative aspects of the content and/or advertisement
that evoked a positive response such as selecting suggested
programming or responding to commissionable advertising. Pricing
information and analytics may be received and used to update the
advertising metrics. Pricing data may include, e.g., data derived
from historical performances based on different pricing models. The
analytics system may use this historical pricing information to
automatically determine a best pricing ROI for an
advertisement/advertisement campaign. For example, an optimum
pricing ROI may be determined for a specific content type, creative
and placement.
[0033] Aspects may include the generation and maintenance of
advertising metrics for use in automatically driving content
creation, selection and programming mix. For example, data
regarding historical programming and sales may be used to
automatically identify and prioritize the topics that best perform
for both viewership and revenue. This identification may be
automatically generated and used in a broadcast system to trigger
the creation of content for the identified topics. The
identification and prioritization of content topics may also be
based on social media information. For example, historical social
media campaign metrics may be used to automatically identify topics
or story categories performs best through certain social media
campaigns and sites. Examples of social media include, among
others, social networks, blogs, business networks, enterprise
social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing,
products/services review, social bookmarking, social gaming, social
networks, video sharing and virtual worlds. Examples of social
media include, e.g., Facebook.RTM., Twitter.RTM., Pinterest.RTM.,
Google+.RTM., YouTube.RTM., Texting, Interactive Voice Response
(Call Ins), etc. The social media information may identify not only
topics that are trending, but may also indicate factors of
engagement, demographic information for the people
discussing/viewing such social media content, etc.
[0034] Social media information may include pre-campaign, during
campaign, and post-campaign information. Such information may
include a number of "likes," "shares," views, recalls, exposure,
etc. for each period of time. A trending peak may be identified for
a particular time.
[0035] Aspects may include the generation and maintenance of
advertising metrics for use in automatically drive performance
optimization. Performance optimization may be measured using QoE.
Thus, aspects may include, e.g., real time monitoring of
infrastructure, CDNs, websites, mobile apps and connected TVs to
optimize QoE. This may also include automating a selection in real
time of which CDN to use for content/advertisement
transmission/delivery, what bitrate to stream for any given video
player based on pre-selected destination profiles, etc. Aspects may
include continuous monitoring allowing automated dynamic changes to
Internet routing and best stream profile served to maximize QoE.
This data and metrics can then be used to update the ROI
calculation as performance improves.
[0036] In addition to receiving QoE information for content viewing
devices, viewer histories may be received from a video player on a
content viewing device.
[0037] The analytics and metrics involved in these determinations
may be automatically updated on an ongoing basis. Thus, data may
continually be received and used to update the advertising
metrics.
[0038] FIG. 1 illustrates example aspects of a system 100 for
automatically selecting advertisements for delivery along with
media content. System 100 may also be configured to identify
content for creation.
[0039] A media production component 10 creates, stores, and/or
provides media content for delivery to any of a number of content
viewing devices 50. Delivery of media content is also referred to
herein as playout or transmission of such content.
[0040] Media production includes the production of any and all
forms of media or multimedia. A media production, also referred to
herein as "media content" or "content" includes, but is not limited
to, news programs, television programming (such as, documentaries,
situation comedies, dramas, variety shows, interviews, or the
like), sporting events, concerts, infomercials, movies, video
rentals, government content, public service content, corporate
content, educational content, retail sales content, community
content, or any other content. For example, and without limitation,
media productions can include streaming video related to corporate
communications and training, educational distance learning, or home
shopping video-based "e" or "t"-commerce. Media productions may
also include live or recorded audio (including radio broadcast),
video, graphics, animation, computer generated, text, and other
forms of media and multimedia. Media productions may also include
combinations of the foregoing.
[0041] Media content may be presented in any of various formats,
including, among others, live, OTT, OVP, VoD, TV everywhere, over
social media, via traditional broadcast, etc.
[0042] Media productions may be encoded and transmitted over a
computer network, such as the global Internet, a local intranet,
private virtual networks, or any other computer or communication
network, medium, and/or mode, as well as over a traditional
broadcast medium including, over-the-air, digital broadcast
satellite (DBS), terrestrial cable, etc. As such, aspects presented
herein support distributions to a recipient's television, enhanced
digital television, monitor or other display, as well as over wired
and/or wireless communication or computer networks (e.g., the World
Wide Web) onto a personal computer (PC), laptop, mobile tablet,
mobile phone, connected TV or other display or data processing or
communication device. Thus content viewing devices 50 are
illustrated as being various types of viewing devices.
[0043] "On-demand" content may be recorded or produced at a hosting
facility (e.g., television station, radio station, newspaper,
webcasting/online only station, private homepage or web site, or
other media "hosting" environment(s)), segmented, categorized, and
indexed for retrieval and viewing.
[0044] "Live or as-live broadcast" may comprise a media production
broadcast over traditional airwaves or other mediums (e.g., cable,
satellite, etc.) to a television set. At the same time (or
substantially the same time), the production may be encoded for
distribution over a computer/communication network. The production
for distribution over a computer/communication network may be
modified, e.g., segmented and/or enhanced. The traditional and
network distribution modes/methods may be synchronized and
transmitted substantially at the same time, or they can be
distributed at different times. The distribution can be live or
repurposed from previously stored media. The media production may
be distributed only via a traditional medium. In another example,
the media production may be distributed only over a computer
network. In another example, they may be distributed multiple
times, in a synchronized and/or unsynchronized manner. In an
example, the computer network may include the Internet, and the
enhanced media is formatted in hypertext markup language
(HTML/HTML5) or other formats including but not limited to Apple
HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe HDS and/or the approved
International standard, MPEG-DASH for distribution over the World
Wide Web.
[0045] Advertisements may be presented to a viewer at a content
viewing device along with the content.
[0046] Advertisements may include video or audio commercials;
dynamic or static displays; sponsorship advertisements; still
images, public service messages; community messages; government
messages; pre-roll, post-roll, mid-roll advertisements; active or
passive advertisements; skyscrapers; email correspondence; or like
forms of media and multimedia promotions. It is noted that the term
"advertisement" as used herein includes any type of message and
content.
[0047] Video or audio commercials can be integrated into a media
stream such that the commercial feed can be presented to the user
while the user views the media production. For example, the
commercial feed can be presented after one or more news stories, at
the beginning of the media production, at the end, between scenes
within a video production, or at any other place designated by the
video producer/director or automated through the intelligence of
the system pre-programmed to specific rules, pre-determined
profiles and historically driven and learned artificial
intelligence.
[0048] The advertisements may also include banners (sometimes
referred to as "display" advertising). A display, or banner,
includes any combination of text, graphics and other forms of media
and multimedia that promotes a good or service, or otherwise
provides information or an announcement. The display can be
strictly descriptive, or include hypertext, a hot spot, or a
hyperlink to open additional display, place an order, or send a
request for additional information to the server of the hosting
facility or another server. The display can include a hyperlink to
any pre-defined destination. The display can be a static display
that only displays the promotional advertisement. However, the
display can also be an active display that blinks, spins, fades,
and the like. The display can also be a scrolling display that
includes a scroll bar that allows the user to move through contents
of the display. Resizable displays can also be used to allow the
user to expand or enlarge the display to receive more data. The
aforementioned is a representative list of displays that can be
used with the present invention, it should be understood that any
other type of display capable of promoting a product or conveying a
message or content, including, but not limited to, displays
developed with Macromedia.RTM. Flash.TM. or Macromedia.RTM.
Shockwave.RTM., or the like, as would be apparent to one skilled in
the relevant art(s), could be easily included and would not change
the scope of the invention.
[0049] The advertisements can also be active or passive. An active
advertisement requires or permits interaction from the user, such
as clicking-through, scrolling and the like. Passive advertisements
are displayed and require no interaction from the user.
Additionally, the advertisements can take the form of pre-roll,
mid-roll or post-roll advertisements. Such advertisements may
comprise, for example, commercials, displays, or the like that are
transmitted to the display device prior to the startup of the media
production or served "server-side" such that the ad is delivered or
streamed to the video player already inserted or "stitched"
together for both live and on-demand content applications.
[0050] Advertisements may be "exclusive," "targeted" or
"non-targeted," for example. Exclusive advertisements may be served
with a specified topic or category. Exclusive advertisements may
be, for example, served with on-demand media productions, and may
be linked to a media production by a topic or category that has
been established for the media production. Exclusive advertisements
might not be rotated among other advertisements. As such, exclusive
advertisements may be sold at a premium price, and the exclusive
display, button, video, or the like is displayed with the specified
topic or category throughout the duration of the linked media
production or a segment thereof.
[0051] Targeted advertisements may also be served with a specified
topic or category. However, unlike exclusive advertisements,
targeted advertisements may be rotated among other targeted
advertisements. In one example, display or button advertisements
may be rotated in and out on a ten-second interval, although
intervals of other durations are contemplated by the invention.
With respect to video or audio-streaming advertisements, such
advertisements may be rotated with other targeted streaming
advertisements. Targeted advertisements may also be sold at a
premium price, but at a lower price than exclusive
advertisements.
[0052] Non-targeted advertisements may be served without regard to
a specified topic or category, and may therefore be sold at a lower
price than targeted advertisements. Additionally, non-targeted
advertisements are rotated among other non-target
advertisements.
[0053] As such, aspects presented herein support all types of
advertisements that can be transmitted over a client-server network
to a display device. In one example, as a video show is being
transmitted, the advertisements may be streamed at specified
intervals and durations with the video show. In an example, the
advertisements may be presented on the side panels of the same
frame or window in which the video show is displayed. In another
example, the advertisements may be streamed in separate frames. In
another example, the advertisements may be streamed prior to the
display of the related segment video. The advertisements may also
include a hyperlink to a web site for the sponsor of the
advertisement. Aspects presented herein may include any combination
of the above.
[0054] Aspects presented herein enable advertisements, in various
formats, to be linked and integrated with a media production.
Several methodologies and/or techniques are available for selecting
and integrating the advertisements into the media production. The
advertisements can be embedded directly into the media production
as an introductory piece, at a break within the media production,
and/or at the end of the media production. The parallel
distribution of the advertisements can be implemented by presenting
the advertisement in another window, frame, or region.
[0055] Linear advertisements may be located before, during (i.e.,
commercial breaks), and after a media production. Linear
advertisements may include audio and/or video commercials, public
service announcements, and other contents, as described above, that
are served in series with the media production. Non-linear
advertisements may be simultaneously displayed during the
presentation of media production. Non-linear advertisements may
include displays, buttons, audio/video content, and the like that
are located in a separate region, frame, or window than the media
production. Non-linear advertisements may support a combination of
serial and parallel servicing. In other words, non-linear
advertisements may be served in parallel with the media production,
but in series with other non-linear advertisements
[0056] In FIG. 1, system 100 includes an advertisement management
component 20. This advertisement management component may include
an ad bank 22 that stores advertisements to be presented to
viewers. In addition to the advertisements, the advertisement
management component 20 may comprise an advertising profile
component 24 that stores an advertising profile associated with
each of the corresponding advertisements in the ad bank 22.
[0057] An advertising profile for an advertisement may comprise,
among other profile parameters, demographics, geographic location,
client profiles, content topic, time of day, category type,
live-streaming or on-demand, source, creative information. The
category type may indicate whether the advertisement is exclusive,
targeted, non-targeted, etc. The source may include, e.g., a
broadcaster website, mobile application, connected TV and/or
syndicated sites, etc. Creative information may include, e.g.,
content category, type, source, origination date,
author/editor/producer/director, or other metadata description,
etc.
[0058] System 100 also includes an analytics system 30 that
generates a plurality of advertising metrics from data originating
from a plurality of content viewing devices. Analytics system 30
may dynamically update and maintain the plurality of advertising
metrics based on information received from any of a number of
sources. At least a portion of the data may originate from a social
media application on one of the content viewing devices. Thus, the
analytics system 30 includes a social media component 36 that
receives information from social media and incorporates the
information into the advertising metrics. A portion of the data may
originate from a television connected to a packet based network. As
one example, the social media module may track the number of
"shares" or "likes," where viewers have shared a viewed ad or
content clip with a friend. Information may be continually mined
from video players on the content viewing devices in order to
provide content/advertisement viewing history information to the
analytics system.
[0059] Using the advertising metrics, advertisement media selection
component 31 may select media to be presented along with content
directed to at least one of the content viewing devices 50. In one
example, the selected media may comprise content. In another
example, the selected media may comprise at least one
advertisement. Playout component 33 may add the selected media to
the content, e.g., from content received from media production
component 10 for delivery to one of the content viewing devices 50
via content delivery network (CDN) 40.
[0060] For example, an advertisement may be selected from one of
the plurality of advertisements stored in advertisement bank
22.
[0061] The selection of the media, whether content or
advertisement, may further be based on the advertising profile
stored at advertising profile component 24 for the media. The
analytics system 30 includes an advertising profile component 32
that receives/accesses the advertising profile information. The
advertising profile may include, e.g., a budget, creative
information, demographics for a target audience, time of day
parameters, delivery platform parameters, social media platform
parameters, geo-location targets, content restrictions, etc. The
analytics system 30 may use its generated advertising metrics in
order to analyze advertising profiles for a plurality of
advertisements in the ad bank and to determine an advertisement
that will provide a predicted optimum ROI. An ROI is a calculation
of the benefit to the advertiser resulting in their investment in
advertising.
[0062] For example, the ROI measurement may be based on an increase
in sales resulting from an amount paid for advertisements or it may
be based on "reach" of the targeted audience to achieve a
"branding" objective or based on targeted consumer actions such as
viewing duration, continued viewing during changes in programming
and insertion of advertising, social media sharing parameters,
click-throughs for engagement goals. The ROI may include an
analysis of any of the amount of exposure to the advertisement,
exposure for a particular demographic, and an amount of sales after
exposure. The ROI may also consider an amount of action created.
The ROI may identify a number of times that the advertisement was
viewed in completion and a number of partial views for the
advertisement. Partially viewed advertisements may be scaled in the
ROI calculation.
[0063] The analysis may further include an analysis of the content
for playout, e.g., the content to which an advertisement is being
selected for delivery to a display device. Thus, analytics system
includes content component 38 that receives content information for
use in the selection of the advertisement. For example, content for
playout may comprise associated metadata for the content. The
metadata may include, among others, a content type, show and/or
story title, producer/director, keywords, historical demographics,
viewing times and platform of choice for like content, content
association restrictions, rights management, syndication
parameters, duration information, content rating, etc. Thus, the
advertisement selection component 31 may select the advertisement
further based on the metadata for the content that will be
presented with the advertisement.
[0064] In addition to assisting in the selection of an
advertisement, content component may use the advertising metrics
and other information gathered by the analytics system in order to
create content. For example, the content component may identify
topics, distribution platforms of choice, social media "viral"
sharing and trending data, content types (interview, editorial,
documentary, etc.) and demographic profile, of particular interest
or of particular benefit when used in combination with
advertisements. This identification can be communicated to media
production component for creation of the content. Thus, the
analytics system not only enables a dynamic optimization of the
selection of an advertisement, but also enables the creation of
content to form an optimum combination of content and
advertisement.
[0065] The analytics system 30 may also receive information
regarding a content viewing device 50 to which the content is being
delivered, e.g., via viewing device component 37. Such information
may include a QoE 38 associated with each of the content viewing
devices to which the content is directed. A QoE may comprise, e.g.,
a quality of service (QoS) performance measurement associated with,
jittering, blockiness, artifacts and buffering, metrics. Viewing
device information 39 may also comprise QoE type information such
as information regarding the performance of infrastructure, CDNs,
websites, mobile applications, content viewing devices, etc.
involved in the transmission and display of content and
advertisements. Viewing device information may also include other
information.
[0066] For example, a local server may generate and store metadata
in response to the viewer behavior and treatment of the media
content, including the time of day, duration of viewing, context,
category, number of views and repeated views per client, number of
downloads, consumer demographics, media rotation (e.g., live or on
demand), and the like. The metadata may be generated by period,
show, topic, account, or the like. Page views and click-throughs
represent another type of collected data. Page views refer to the
actual number of web pages received by an online user.
Click-throughs refer to the online user actually clicking on, for
example, a display advertisement to get more information on the
advertised product or acknowledge that the user has considered the
advertisement. The data collected in response to page views and
click-throughs include statistical data with respect to consumer
demographics, linked topic and show metadata, download time of day,
medium of advertisement, type of advertisement, and the like.
[0067] The media selection component 31 may select the media, e.g.,
advertisement or content, further based on such information
regarding the viewing device.
[0068] The analytics system may include an ROI component 34
configured to derive a return on investment for adding the selected
advertisement to the content. The return on investment may be
derived from the advertising metrics. The ROI may be based at least
in part on the QoE associated with the content viewing devices.
[0069] The analytics system 30 may also include a pricing component
35 configured to derive prices for adding the selected media, e.g.,
advertisement or content, to the content. The pricing may be
derived from the advertising metrics. For example, data derived
from historical performances based on different pricing models may
be used in the determination of a best pricing ROI for a specific
content type, creative, placement, etc.
[0070] System 100 may be connected to a media broadcast facility as
well as to various servers including content delivery servers, ad
servers, social media servers, application servers, and at least
one local host server via a network.
[0071] Media content may be produced at such a media broadcast
facility for a television broadcast, online streaming, and other
types of delivery. Content may be generated at a live feed or may
include prerecorded content. Such prerecorded content may include
segments of a live broadcast.
[0072] In a case where media broadcast facility is a parent network
producing a national broadcast, content viewing devices may receive
the broadcast from a local host server used by a local network
affiliate, which may be configured to insert ads in the media
broadcast tailored to profiles and demographics corresponding to
the local viewing audience. FIG. 7 illustrates a system with a
national system and local affiliate systems. Advertisements may
originate from advertisement bank 22 at the media broadcast
facility for ad slots reserved for the national broadcast, while
local ads may originate from ad servers and/or ad banks of a local
host server.
[0073] Social media servers may be used by the broadcaster for
online streaming of content and ads, such as for example, a video
clip or segment shown on broadcaster's Facebook page.
[0074] Application servers may be used by the broadcaster when
video on demand requires an application to display the video on the
content viewing devices, in which case the client may pull the
application code from the application server for a one-time
playback use, or the application may be cached at the content
viewing device for further online video playbacks.
[0075] FIG. 2 illustrates a workflow through a system comprising an
analytics system. The analytics system may include aspects similar
to those described in connection with analytics system of FIG.
1.
[0076] Content creation and delivery may begin at a media content
source. This may include, e.g., a network or a television station,
among other sources of media content. Dashed line 202 illustrates
an example network perimeter. The media content source may create
content at 204. Content may comprise a live production and/or other
content for playout. Segments of a live production may be stored
and presented to viewers at a later time. The content undergoes
encoding and transcoding at 208 for delivery to at least one
content viewing device, e.g., consumer(s) 250 via contend delivery
network 210.
[0077] In addition to the content, advertisements may be selected
for delivery to the content viewing device. Online ad platform 212
may receive the content stream and identify segment demarcations,
advertisement breaks, or other available spots for advertisements.
These available sports are also referred to herein as ad avails.
This information may be provided to online ad services 214 in order
to select an advertisement for insertion/delivery along with the
content. As described above, the content may include metadata. The
content metadata may be received and provided to the online ad
services 214 for use in selecting an advertisement. In one example,
the online ad platform may strip metadata from the content stream
for use in selecting advertisements to be delivered with the
content.
[0078] Online ad services 214 may maintain continuously updated
analytics as well as providing reporting, reconciling, and
decisioning regarding advertisement selections and advertisement
campaigns. Online ad services 214 may include a decision engine
that receives and uses an advertising profile and uses dynamically
updated metrics in order to deliver advertisements in an optimum
manner.
[0079] FIG. 3 illustrates an example flow of information into the
analytics system. The analytics system may then generate and/or
update the advertising metrics in order to select targeted
advertising having a highest ROI and QoE delivery. Additionally,
content programming may be selected using the analytics system in
order to create a content and targeted advertisement combination
that further increases the ROI and QoE.
[0080] FIG. 3 illustrates the analytics aspects that may be
combined in a combined analytics system 312, e.g., in order to
generate and update metrics for use in selecting advertisements to
be presented at content viewing devices with media content.
[0081] For example, content and advertisement analytics 302 may be
formulated and used to determine content and advertisement creation
and selection. Such analytics may also be used to create or select
a programming mix. In an automated manner, historical programming
and sales may be used to define and prioritize topics for media
content and advertisements that provide the best performance for
both viewership and/or revenue. In addition, ad styles, target
profiles may be identified and prioritized using content and
advertisement analytics. This may include accounting for duration,
placement, targeting, and messaging, among others. The content and
advertisement analytics may be used to identify a best ROI through
a combination of both content and advertisements. For example, the
best ROI may correspond to the best predicted return on payment for
an advertisement or for an advertisement campaign.
[0082] Social media analytics 304 may receive, analyze, and search
current, or recent, information on social media. For example, the
social media analytics may monitor social media sources to identify
trending topics and to determine the effectiveness of previously
displayed advertisements. Social media pre-production, production,
and post-production advertisement feedback metrics used to drive
viewership may be used to calculate both content and advertisement
effectiveness. For example, the social media analytics may measure
the effectiveness of advertisements using a number of data points,
including, e.g., creative, content type, messaging, demographic,
geographic location, social media platform, time of day, etc. For
example, various social media platforms may be continuously
monitored in order to identify trending topics. The identified
trending topics may be used to select content and/or advertisements
for delivery to a content viewing device. Additionally, trending
topics may be used to select content/type/creative for the creation
of content or advertisements.
[0083] Flow Optimization Analytics 306 may be used to continually
update performance optimization of the advertisement being sent to
the content viewing device. This may include, e.g., real time
monitoring of infrastructure, CDNs, websites, mobile applications,
and connected TVs in order to determine an optimum QoE. This may
further include automatically selecting a CDN with the least
congestion for distribution of content/advertisements to a content
viewing device for the best performance results. This may also
include automatically selecting a bitrate for the stream for any
given video player based on pre-selected destination profiles. As
well, continuous monitoring may allow automated dynamic changes to
Internet routing and best stream profile in order to maximize QoE.
Additionally, these QoE metrics may then be used to update the ROI
calculation as performance of the stream improves addressing
"minimum" standards of acceptable performance for monetization.
[0084] Advertisement serving analytics 308 may be used to formulate
the selection of advertisements and the dynamic insertion of such
advertisement into streams of published content. This may include
live media streams as well as VOD published content. Information
for the advertisement serving analytics 308 may be gathered, e.g.,
received, from content viewing devices themselves. For example,
information may be gathered from OVP and OTT TV players, from
social media video publishing, etc. Generated metrics for an
advertisement or for an advertisement campaign may be measured and
compared to other content and advertisements. By comparing their
performance, advertising metrics may be continuously updated. For
example, the ROI calculation may be continuously updated based on
the gathered information. The metrics and ROI calculation may
further be optimized by comparing an advertiser's ad target profile
to these metrics and analyzing both a predictive ROI (pre-sales)
and a real time result ROI (post sales).
[0085] Pricing and Sales Analytics 306 may be used to formulate an
ROI analysis for advertisement pricing and sales performance. Among
others, such analytics may include metrics based on demographics,
geographic location, client profiles, media content served, time of
day, category type, live streaming versus on demand type content,
source destination, etc. Pricing analytic data may be derived from
historical performance based on different pricing models in order
to determine a pricing for a specific content type, creative and
placement that is estimated to provide a best ROI. Similar to the
other analytics, the pricing analytic data may be continuously
updated, e.g., using information from the other analytic sources,
e.g., 302, 304, 308, and 310.
[0086] Thus, the analytics system 312 may merge data from any of
the different analytics sources 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310 in
order to generate a single set of combined advertising metrics. The
advertising metrics may use the data from the different sources to
generate metrics for selecting advertisements predicted to have the
best ROI and for adding those selected advertisements to media
content for delivery to a content viewing device.
[0087] Additional tools may be provided that track the
impact/effectiveness of an advertisement or an advertisement
campaign. The tools may provide a performance based review, e.g.,
comparing an amount of sales to an amount paid for an advertisement
campaign.
[0088] A combination of the analytics 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310
and sharing metrics among different analytics components enables
the selection/creation of programming and targeted advertising that
is predicted to have a highest ROI. Additionally, the consideration
of QoE delivery in combination with the other analytics allows a
broadcast a significant advantage.
[0089] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 of selecting media,
e.g., advertisements or content, for addition to media content for
delivery. The method may be performed, e.g., by a broadcast
advertisement analytics system, e.g., such as analytics system 30,
200, 312. At 402, the system generates a plurality of advertising
metrics from data originating from a plurality of content viewing
devices, e.g., 50. These advertising metrics may include, e.g.,
analytics to drive ad decisioning and dynamic insertion into live
streams, VOD, OTT, on-demand, internet or mobile based content
delivery, traditional broadcasts, etc. Information regarding
published content may be gathered from OVP & OTT TV Everywhere
Video Players as well as from "Social Media" video publishing
measuring campaign metrics with comparisons to other content and
served ads to "continuously" drive the development and update of
the advertising metrics that can be used to calculate an optimized
advertising campaign.
[0090] Once generated, the advertising metrics may be stored, e.g.,
at 404. Optional aspects in FIG. 4 are illustrated with a dashed
line.
[0091] At 406, the system selects media, e.g., an advertisement or
content, for presentation in connection with content directed to at
least one of the content viewing devices. The media may be selected
based on the advertising metrics generated at 402. For example, an
advertisement may be selected from a plurality of potential
advertisements.
[0092] At 408, the system, adds the selected media to the content
for delivery to the content viewing device(s). Once selected, the
media, along with the content, may be encoded/transcoded and
transmitted to a content delivery network for transmission to the
content viewing device. Where the selected media being selected is
an advertisement, for example, the system may receive a
transmission and use segment demarcations or advertisement breaks
in order to trigger the selection of an advertisement.
[0093] In addition to receiving the advertising metrics generated
at 402, the system may further receive an advertising profile for
the media, e.g., content or advertisement, at 410. The selection of
the advertisement at 406 may be further based on the advertising
profile for the media. An advertisement target profile may be
compared to metrics maximizing performance, e.g., maximizing a ROI
calculation. This comparison may be made in order to generate
predictive (pre-sales) and/or post sale ROI. Among others, the
advertising profile may include e.g., any of a target demographic,
geo-location, client profiles, content type, time of day, category
type, live streaming or on-demand, source destination, price,
etc.
[0094] The system may further receive metadata at 412 associated
with content for delivery to the content viewing device. Among
others, the metadata may include, e.g., any of a content topic,
time, date, demographic, creative, etc. When the system receives
media content that will be transmitted to a content viewing device,
in addition to using segment demarcations in order to identify
advertisement breaks, the system may also strip/access metadata
from the content. The advertisement may be selected, at 406, based
further on the metadata for the content.
[0095] The system may further receive information regarding social
media at 414. Thus, at least a portion of the data may be
originated from a social media application on one of the content
viewing devices. Social Media pre-production, production and
post-production campaign feedback metrics to drive viewership may
be used to calculate ad effectiveness, as well as content
selection/creation. Various types of social media information/data
points may be received, e.g. regarding any of by various data
points such as creative, content type, messaging, demographic,
geo-location, platform (Facebook, Twitter, etc), time-of-day, etc.
Thus, the selection of the advertisement at 406 may further be
based on the received social media information.
[0096] In addition to social media, at least a portion of the data
used for generating the advertising metrics may originate from a
television connected to a packet based network.
[0097] The system may further receive content player information
from each of the content viewing devices at 416. This may include
information regarding the content viewing device itself or about
the quality of playout at the content viewing device, such as a bit
rate, buffering levels, as well as other demographic information
about the content viewing device. This may also provide
characteristics regarding the person operating the content viewing
device. This may include a geographic location, viewing/searching
characteristics from the content viewing device, etc. The
advertisement may be selected at 406 based further on the received
QoE information. Thus, QoE analytics may be used to automatically
drive performance optimization with real time monitoring of
infrastructure, CDNs, websites, mobile apps and connected TVs to
optimize QoE. This may include automatically selecting which CDN to
choose for delivery of the advertisement. In another example, a
bitrate may be automatically selected to stream for any given video
player based on pre-selected destination profiles. In addition,
continuous monitoring of QoE at a content viewing device allows
automatic dynamic changes to Internet routing and best stream
profile in order to maximize QoE. As well, these QoE metrics may
then be used to update an ROI calculation as performance
improves.
[0098] Thus, at least a portion of the data used to generate the
advertising metrics at 402 may be obtained by mining analytic data
at a video player on a content viewing device, whether web based,
mobile based, or television based.
[0099] The system may further receive pricing or sales information
at 418. The selection of the advertisement at 406 may be further
based on the received pricing or sales information. This allows the
media selection to be based on budget in addition to other metrics,
such as advertising profiles, creatives, etc. Thus, the selection
of the media may further include an analysis regarding ad pricing
and sales performance. This analysis may be further based on other
received information, including, e.g., information such as
demographics, geo-location, client profiles, content served, time
of day, category type, live streaming or on-demand and source
destination. Pricing analytic data may be derived from historical
performances based on different pricing models to automatically
determine a best pricing for a specific content type, creative and
placement, for example.
[0100] The information received at any of 410, 412, 414, 416, and
418 may also be incorporated into the advertising metrics. For
example, such information may be used to generate the initial ad
metrics and/or may be used to update the advertising metrics.
[0101] The metrics and received information may be used, not only
to select an advertisement for presentation at a content viewing
device, but may also be used for the creation of content itself.
Thus, the metrics and information may be used to identify a topic
of interest or that would generate a maximum number of views or
that would combine with an advertisement to generate a maximum
number of views to a particular audience so that an optimum
content/advertising combination may be created. Thus, at 420, the
system may use the advertising metrics and any of the received
advertising profile, content metadata, social media information,
QoE metrics, and advertisement pricing information to identify
content for creation. This may include, e.g., identifying trending
topics, topics of general interest, types of content, etc. that are
of particular interest to consumers.
[0102] The creation of content may be based on any of viewing
performance metrics, social media topic trend metrics, social media
content sharing metrics, and advertising performance metrics.
Social media content sharing metrics may include a quantity and/or
duration of the sharing, e.g., minutes, hours, days, weeks,
etc.
[0103] The content may be selected to be of interest to a maximum
number of content viewers or to a particular demographic of content
viewers. The content may be identified that will form a financially
beneficial combination with a particular advertisement or
advertisement campaign.
[0104] Thus, the generation of content at 420, or the
identification of content for generation, may include analyzing
what combination of content and advertisement works best, e.g.,
provides the highest ROI. Thus, content may be created and
advertisements may be selected to form a content and advertisement
combination that maximizes an estimated ROI. This analysis may be
broken down by demographics. Thus, the analysis may identify the
content and advertisement combination that performs the best for a
particular demographic. This analysis may be used in order to
identify content for creation. The identification of content may
further be based on an advertisement profile for a particular
advertisement or advertisement campaign, in order to create a
combination of content with which such advertisements may be
inserted in order to generate the best ROI for the advertisement or
advertisement campaign.
[0105] The system may further derive a ROI at 422 for adding the
advertisement to the content. The ROI may be derived, e.g., based
at least in part on the advertising metrics. The ROI may be a
predicted ROI. Additionally, the system may monitor consumption
and/or viewer feedback so that the ROI may comprise a real-time
result or "post-sales" ROI. The ROI may be derived from the
advertising metrics, the advertising metrics including multiple
analytics comprising at least two of content analytics, advertising
analytics, social media analytics, quality of experience analytics,
sales analytics, and pricing analytics.
[0106] This ROI may be determined at 422 not only for a particular
display of an advertisement, but for an advertisement campaign, as
well. Thus, the method may comprise tracking the
impact/effectiveness of an advertisement or an advertisement
campaign. This may include making a performance based analysis,
e.g., comparing an amount of sales to an amount paid for an
advertisement campaign. The analysis may include measuring content
viewing, e.g., both traditional broadcast viewing and/or internet
streaming. The analysis may also include measuring the purchases by
those same individuals or same demographic.
[0107] This information may be used along with the advertising
metrics, the Advertisers "Ad Target Profile", and/or content
metadata, to maximizing performance. These aspects may also be used
to generate both "predictive" (pre-sales) and "real time results"
(post-sales) ROI reports.
[0108] The ROI may be based further on the QoE associated with the
content viewing device. The QoE may be monitored, and as QoE
information is received, e.g., at 416, video and/or advertisement
transmission may be rerouted in order to maximize a QoE for the
content viewing devices. This may be done, e.g., on a software as a
service (SaaS) model. In addition to rerouting the transmission, an
advertisement may be selected based on the monitored QoE
information in order to drive performance optimization. This may
include, e.g., real-time monitoring of infrastructure, CDNs,
websites, mobile applications, and connected televisions in order
to optimize QoE for an advertisement/advertisement campaign.
Aspects may include automating the selection of any of a CDN, a
bitrate for streaming for a given video player, etc. These
selections for the transmission may be based on pre-selected
destination profiles.
[0109] Continuous monitoring allows automated dynamic changes to
internet routing and a best stream profile in order to maximize
QoE. These metrics can then be used to update the ROI calculation
as performance improves. For example, these metrics can be used to
update the advertising metrics at 426. The updated advertising
metrics may be used to calculate an updated ROI.
[0110] Additionally, the system may derive pricing at 424 for
adding the selected advertisement to the content, the pricing being
derived, at least in part, from the advertising metrics.
[0111] Although the ROI and pricing determinations are illustrated
in a block after the selection of the advertisement, these aspects
may be performed as a part of the selection at 406 of the
advertisement itself. Additionally, the derived ROI and derived
pricing may be incorporated into the advertising metrics. Thus, at
426 the system may update the advertising metrics based on this new
information.
[0112] The system may continue to monitor viewing of the
advertisement and/or feedback regarding the advertisement at 428.
Feedback may be obtained regarding the creative aspects of the
advertisement. An analysis regarding the efficacy of the
advertisement may also analyze the context in which the
advertisement was presented to the content viewing device. For
example, the content with which the advertisement was presented may
be analyzed. For example, certain customer groups may respond to a
particular type of advertisement over another. Thus, this analysis
allows the identification of the context in which the
advertisements are most effective.
[0113] The analysis may include an analysis of the effect for a
target market. The analysis may include an analysis of whether the
sales were made at a higher product price, or whether the sales
were discount driven.
[0114] This feedback information, along with other received data
can be used to update the advertising metrics, e.g., at 426.
[0115] Thus, the advertising metrics are continually updated to
reflect a changing content viewer environment into which
advertisements will be transmitted. This includes not only QoE
changes, but also addresses ongoing changes in viewers'
interests.
[0116] Although the advertising metrics are illustrated as being
separate from the information regarding the advertising profile,
social media information, pricing information, QoE information, and
content metadata, any of these sources of information may be used
in generated and/or updating the advertising metrics.
[0117] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of aspects of a method 500 of
selecting media, e.g., advertisements or content, for addition to
media content for delivery. The method 500 may include the receipt
of information from a number of sources and the generation of
advertising metrics, as described in detail in connection with FIG.
4. The same references numbers are used for these sources of
information and the generation, storage, and update of advertising
metrics.
[0118] As illustrated in FIG. 5, once the advertising metrics are
generated at 402, an advertising profile for an advertising
campaign may be received at 502. The profile may include
information similar to that descried for advertisement profile 410,
and may include a price to be paid for the advertising campaign.
The advertising profile may be for a single advertisement or may
comprise a plurality of advertisements. The plurality of
advertisements may differ in type, creative, demographic,
geographic location for placement, etc.
[0119] At 504, ad avails may be received. The system may identify,
for example, openings or opportunities for the insertion or
delivery of advertisements and content. The ad avails provide an
indication of available advertisement placement positions, slots,
etc. The system may use the information in the advertising campaign
and the generated advertising metrics to determine an optimum
placement of advertisements/content in order to generate an optimum
ROI at 506. For example, the system may identify a placement for a
single advertisement that is predicted to generate the highest ROI
for the price indicated in the advertising profile. Similarly, the
system may identify a combination of placements at a plurality of
ad avails having a highest predicted ROI for the price indicated in
the advertising profile. As well, when the advertising profile
includes a plurality of advertisements, the system may identify a
combination of placements for the plurality of advertisements that
having a highest predicted ROI for the price indicated in the
advertising profile.
[0120] At 508, the system may also automatically add an
advertisement/content from the advertisement profile to content for
delivery to a content viewing device at the placement identified in
506.
[0121] Once the advertisement/content has been delivered to a
content viewing device at 508, the system may monitor feedback
and/or consumption at 510 in order to update the advertising
metrics at 426. Likewise, the system may update the determination
of the advertisement placements at 506 for future ad avails based
on the feedback received at 510.
[0122] An article of manufacture e.g., such as systems 100, 200,
300 may include components that perform each of the blocks of the
algorithm in the aforementioned flowcharts of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5. As
such, each block in the aforementioned flowcharts of FIG. 4 and/or
FIG. 5 may be performed by a component and the article of
manufacture may include one or more of those components. The
components may be, e.g., one or more hardware components
specifically configured to carry out the stated
processes/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to
perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a
computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some
combination thereof.
[0123] FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example of a
hardware implementation for an article of manufacture employing a
processing system 614. The processing system may include a data
reception component, e.g., configured to receive data relating to
advertising profiles, content metadata, social media information,
QoE measurements, pricing information, advertisement campaigns,
feedback regarding advertisement or content, ad avails, consumption
related to advertisements, etc. The processing system may include
an advertisement and/or content transmission component 622 that
adds an advertisement to content for delivery to a content viewing
device. The processing system may include an advertising metric
generation component 624 that generates and updates advertising
metrics using information from a plurality of sources, such as
those described in connection with data reception component 602.
The processing system may include advertisement media selection
component 626 that selects media, e.g., advertisements or content,
to be matched with content and to be directed to at least one
content viewing device using the advertising metrics generated at
624 and an advertisement profile. The processing system may include
a content creation component 628 that identifies content to be
created based on the advertising metrics generated at 624. For
example, content may be identified that is predicted to provide a
high ROI for advertisers. The processing system may include an ROI
derivation component 630 that derives an ROI for adding the
selected media to the content using the generated advertising
metrics. The ROI derivation component 630 may also use QoE
information in the derivation. The processing system may also
include a pricing Derivation component 632 configured to derive
pricing for adding the selected media to the content. The pricing
may be derived from the advertising metrics.
[0124] The processing system 614 may be implemented with a bus
architecture, represented generally by the bus 602. The bus 602 may
include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending
on the specific application of the processing system 614 and the
overall design constraints. The bus 602 links together various
circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware
components, represented by the processor 604, the components 620,
622, 624, 626, 628, 630, 632, and the computer-readable
medium/memory 606. The bus 602 may also link various other circuits
such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power
management circuits, which are well known in the art, and
therefore, will not be described any further.
[0125] The processing system 614 may be coupled to at least one CDN
610 involved in the transmission of content and/or advertisements
to at least one content viewing device 608. The CDN provides a
means for communicating with various other apparatus over a
transmission medium. Data may also be received over such a network
for updating the advertising metrics. The receiving component
receives data from one or more sources, extracts information from
the received signal, and provides the extracted information to the
advertising metric generation component. In addition,
advertisement(s) and/or content may be sent from processing system
614 for transmission over CDN 610 to content viewing device 608,
e.g., from transmission component 622. The processing system 614
includes at least one processor 604 coupled to a computer-readable
medium/memory 606. The at least one processor 604 is responsible
for general processing, including the execution of software stored
on the computer-readable medium/memory 606. The software, when
executed by the processor 604, causes the processing system 614 to
perform the various functions described supra for any particular
system. The computer-readable medium/memory 606 may also be used
for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 604 when
executing software. The processing system 614 further includes at
least one of the components 620, 622, 624, 626, 628, 630, 632. The
components may be software components running in the processor 604,
resident/stored in the computer readable medium/memory 606, one or
more hardware components coupled to the processor 604, or some
combination thereof.
[0126] The processing system 614 may also include a communications
interface, which allows software and data to be transferred between
processing system 614 and external devices. Examples of such a
communications interface may include a modem, a network interface
(such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal
Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and
card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications
interface may be in the form of signals, which may be electronic,
electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received
by communications interface. These signals may be provided to
communications interface via a communications path (e.g., channel).
This path may carry signals and may be implemented using any of
wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a
radio frequency (RF) link and/or other communications channels.
[0127] The processing system 614 may be a component of a broadcast
network system at the facility itself or as a cloud-based service
whose resources may be located at the facility or remotely.
[0128] In one configuration, the article of manufacture 600
includes means for generating a plurality of advertising metric,
means for selecting an advertisement, means for adding the
advertisement to content for delivery, means for deriving an ROI
for adding a selected advertisement to the content, means for
deriving pricing for adding the advertisement to the content, and
means for creating content based on advertising metrics. The
aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned
components of system 100, 200, 312 and/or the processing system 614
of the article of manufacture 600 configured to perform the
functions recited by the aforementioned means.
[0129] The method, system, and computer program product of the
present disclosure enable an individual to view real-time or
customized media productions. Additionally, the present disclosure
enables a hosting facility to automatically link advertisements or
other types of messages to a specific media production or show (or
a specific show element/story) by time, duration, and/or topic, or
any other desired criteria.
[0130] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a distributed advertisement
network 700 that comprises a plurality of advertisement management
systems. Such a system may include both a National, or larger
regional, advertising system 702, and affiliate advertising systems
704(a)-704(n). A Central host server 710 may reside at the facility
for a national internet service provider (ISP), such as AOL,
AT&T, Verizon, or the like or cloud-based service such as
Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure or private cloud and/or network
operations center (NOC). In an embodiment, central host server 710
resides at the facility for a national information service provider
that offers information content, such as news, entertainment,
travel, history, art, business, education, science, health,
recreation, careers, and/or the like. An information service
provider primarily hosts a national portal operating over the
Internet, such as Verizon/AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and
the like. An information service provider also includes web sites
operated by major networks (such as, CNN, MSNBC), local
broadcasting networks, private/personal web sites or homepages, and
the like.
[0131] Central host server 710 may include an advertising
management database for tracking availabilities, demographics,
pricing, social media, QoE, content metadata, historical
advertisement metrics, and for generating and updating advertising
metrics, as discussed herein.
[0132] Central host server 710 may also include an advertisement
database for storing national advertisement media for national
advertisement campaigns and/or a media database for encoding and
transmitting media productions with linear advertising, e.g., as
described in connection with FIG. 1.
[0133] Local host servers 720(a)-720(c) may be located within the
local geographical areas of a corresponding affiliate advertising
system 704(a)-704(n). As shown, an affiliate advertising system
704(a)-704(n) does not necessarily communicate with a corresponding
local host server 720(a)-720(c). Affiliate advertising systems
704(b) and 704(d), for example, may communicate directly with
central host server 710.
[0134] Local host servers 720(a)-720(c) may also include local
databases and processing system similar to those for the central
host server 710.
[0135] Each affiliate advertising system 704(a)-704(n) includes
components of system that enables the sale and distribution of
advertising in its respective local or regional market. In other
words, local advertisements may be sold and managed by each
affiliate advertising system 720(a)-720(n).
[0136] Additionally, some affiliate advertising systems
704(a)-704(n) interact with a central advertisements server or
media server at central host server 710 for integrating and serving
media and advertisement productions to client-recipients, as
described herein. Affiliate advertising systems may communicate
with both central host 710 and a corresponding local host in order
to fill different ad avails at different times.
[0137] Central host server 710 may periodically poll, update,
and/or synchronize information from the local host servers
720(a)-720(c) with the central records. The periodic communications
enable national advertisement server to collect, verify, and modify
information related to advertisement sales, reporting, accounting,
trafficking, social media information, QoE, user authorization,
and/or the like, as described herein, at a national level.
[0138] National advertising system 702 may provide national
advertisements that can be selected and/or sold to the local
markets managed by each affiliate advertising system 704(a)-704(n).
In an embodiment, national advertisements (from national
advertising system 702 or central host 710) may be served in open
advertising spots by the traffic modules of affiliate advertising
system 704(a)-704(n). Open advertising spots may be defined by
locations or time slots which are not sold locally by show, show
segment, topic, or the like. Affiliate advertising systems
704(a)-704(n) may execute a media priority scheme, described in
greater detail below, that enables local exclusive and target
advertisements to be served prior to national exclusive and
targeted advertisements. National exclusive and targeted
advertisements may be served before local non-targeted
advertisements. Local non-targeted advertisements may likewise be
served prior to national non-targeted advertisements, or can be
configured to be shared by rotating between local and national
non-targeting advertisements.
[0139] Media content may be live or as-live with a time shifted
distribution. As-live content may include the same linear and
non-linear advertisements as the live content or may include at
least one new advertisement inserted according to the advertisement
selection described herein.
[0140] By way of example and without limitation, the aspects of the
present disclosure are presented with reference to systems and
methods used to configure various components of a media production
system that may be used for production of television programming or
at sports events. The various concepts presented throughout this
disclosure may be implemented across a broad variety of media
production/advertisement systems.
[0141] It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of
blocks in the processes/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of
example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood
that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the
processes/flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be
combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present
elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant
to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
[0142] The previous description is provided to enable any person
skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described
herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily
apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles
defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims
are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is
to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims,
wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to
mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather
"one or more." Combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C,"
"at least one of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination
thereof" include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include
multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically,
combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "at least one of
A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be A
only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C,
where any such combinations may contain one or more member or
members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to
the elements of the various aspects described throughout this
disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of
ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by
reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims.
Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to
the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly
recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under
the provisions of 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the
element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for."
* * * * *