Patent Application
20080065504
In the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to similar components:
Turning in detail to the drawings,
In the description below, the exemplary auction is intended to allow advertisers to purchase advertising space (“avails”) that remains unsold in the one week time period prior to the week including the desired “on-air” time. In one embodiment, requests to purchase avails (post an auction) are submitted up until a preset deadline, (for example until noon Wednesday for the following Monday) before the targeted week (running Monday through Sunday) of “on-air” time and the auctions are initiated approximately six days prior to the start of the target week. Bids on the auction are accepted for a predetermined period, for example one day, at which time auctions are closed and the winning bidder(s) is/are notified. Thereafter, the advertisements are run by the winning bidder(s) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the auction. The present invention is, however, not limited to use solely within the aforementioned context, as the auction parameters may vary widely without altering the essence of the invention.
The system includes a network server 101 connected to the Internet. The network server 101 allows interested parties to access stored information via a series of web pages, communicate electronically and complete desired transactions. The network server 101 is also configured to provide the host, advertisers, and media carriers with automatic email notices where and when appropriate. Such automatic notification greater facilitates the purchase transactions described herein.
The network server 101 may be accessed by the various parties either directly through a direct network connection or other method, such as a dial-up connection, or indirectly over a public network such as the internet. Different parties have different levels of access to information residing on the network server 101. In general, everyone 111 is provided limited access to the stored information. The limited amount of information available to everyone 111 includes how the advertisement placement process works 113, the privacy policy 115 of the host 151, additional information 117 about the host 151 (including that information which the host wishes to make publicly available), and contact information 119, which enables interested parties to contact the host 151 directly.
Advertisers 121 and radio stations 131 are each given limited access to nonpublic information stored on the network server 101. Both advertisers 121 and radio stations 131 are permitted to change certain information which resides on the network server 101. Each of these parties is generally permitted to change the private contact information which is associated with each respective party. Where appropriate, the host 151 may direct the network server 101 to permit the advertisers 121 and radio stations 131 to change other information stored on the network server 101. For certain changes, the network server 101 may be configured to require host approval before those changes are integrated into the system. In general, the host 151 performs all administrative functions relating to the network server 101 that are necessary. Among these administrative functions is the ability to grant and deny access as desired.
The advertisers 121 are given access to the network server 101 to perform four primary functions, although additional secondary functions may also be granted. These four primary functions include signing up 123 as an advertiser to establish a private account, logging in 125 to a private account previously established, submitting specifications 127 in order to purchase advertising space, and uploading 129 creative material and/or funds to the network server 101 during the transaction process. The radio stations 131 are similarly granted access to four primary functions available on the network server 101. As with the advertisers 121, the radio stations 131 may also be granted access to secondary functions. The primary functions available to the radio stations 131 include signing up 133 as a radio station available to carry advertising, thereby establishing a private account, logging in 135 to an established account, submitting bids 137 in response to a specification posted by an advertiser, and previewing winnings 138 and reviewing available auctions 139.
As indicated, the host 151 has administrative access to the network server 101. This means that the host may view and change any information residing on the network server 101. In addition, the host 151 performs duties which further facilitate an advertiser's purchase of advertising space. These duties include pre-approving advertisers 153, pre-approving stations 155, approving and posting 157 specifications for an auction, generally facilitating 159 the auction process, and running queries 163 and reports 161 from the information stored on the network server. These queries 163 and reports 161 may be customized through standard programming interfaces to suit the needs of the host 151.
Before initiating any transactions, an advertiser signs up with the system and provides identifying information. The advertiser preferably provides this information by accessing one or more web pages stored on the network server 101 for this particular purpose. Basic contact information is requested: advertiser name, advertiser address, and the name, title, phone number, fax number and e-mail address of one or more individuals who will be authorized to access the network server on behalf of the advertiser. In addition, at this initial sign-up stage, the advertiser is asked to provide default instructions for handling excess funds following the close of an auction, in case a budget is not reached. Two different fund-handling options are detailed below. Upon receipt of this initial sign-up information, the host establishes an advertiser profile and prepares and provides paperwork to the advertiser to establish a contract whereby the advertiser agrees to abide by the terms and conditions of the services being provided by the host. Following completion of these formalities, the host activates the advertisers account on the network server 101.
Each advertiser's account has one or more authorized users associated therewith. Users fall into one of three categories: executive users, standard users, and read-only users. Each user has an associated user profile. Executive users can access all aspects of an account and perform any task associated with the account, including creating additional users of any type, editing the profile information associated with any user, and initiating or modifying any auction associated with the advertiser. Standard users can initiate auctions on behalf of the advertiser, but can only modify auctions that were created by that particular user. These standard users are also able to view any user profile, but they can only modify their own user profile. Read-only users are able to view all information associated with the advertiser, but cannot modify any information except for that particular user's own profile.
Media carriers also sign up via the web pages stored on the network server 101. The media carrier provides an account name and contact information for one or more users associates with the account. Where the media carrier is acting on behalf of one or more radio stations, the call letters of each radio station is also provided. The users associated with a media carrier may be granted one of three levels of access: executive users, standard users, and read-only users. The executive users can access all information associated with the media carriers account and may modify any of that information, including bids that are placed in response to an auction. Standard users can place bids for an auction, modify bids placed by that user, and modify their own respective profile. A media carrier having more than one radio station may optionally limit a standard user to placing bids on behalf of a selected subset of the radio stations controlled by that media carrier. Read-only users can read or view all information associated with the media carrier, but cannot modify any information except the information which is associated with the read-only user's profile.
Upon the media carrier's completion of the initial sign-up process, the host verifies that the station call letters entered by the media carrier are valid based upon known radio stations throughout the areas being served. Using the call letters, the host gathers additional information from an appropriate ratings service to complete the media carrier's profile. In radio, Arbitron, Inc. of New York, N.Y. is presently the sole provider of ratings in the radio market. Information that may be gathered from the rating service include each station's format, market, designated market area (DMA), and ratings in various demographic categories. The ratings are generally expressed in the form of an average quarter hour (AQH) for a given demographic audience. AQH is defined within the radio industry as the total number of listeners tuned in to a specific radio program for a minimum of five minutes within a fifteen minute period. When completing the profile information for a radio station, the host preferably averages the two most recent Arbitron ratings surveys to come up with an average AQH. Other methodologies of completing a radio station's profile information may also be used.
As with the advertisers, the media carriers are asked to complete necessary legal paperwork to insure that the media carrier agrees to abide by the established terms and conditions of the host. Such contracts preferably include terms whereby media carriers guarantee that the advertisements will air following a winning bid and that the advertisements are not preemptible. Following completion of the above formalities, the host activates the media carrier's account on the network server 101.
To initiate a transaction for purchasing advertising space, the advertiser logs into an active account on the network server and, using web pages specifically designed for this task, enters the specification for placement of the advertisement. The advertiser may modify the specification at any time prior to approval of the specification by the host. The specification includes the following:
Following the advertiser's submission 201 of the specification, the host receives notice of the specification so that it can be reviewed to ensure it is ready for the bidding process. Should any information be missing from the specification, or should any additional information be necessary to complete the specification, the host contacts the advertiser to obtain the additional information and complete the specification. Once complete, and if such is appropriate, the host approves 203 the specification and the advertiser is notified of the approval. The advertiser thereafter transfers 205 the funds, equal to or above (for future usage) the total budget listed in the specification, and the creative material, i.e., the advertisement(s), to the host. The host maintains control of the funds and creative material during the course of the auction
After receipt of the funds and the creative material, the host posts the auction to the server 207. The network server is configured to automatically send out 209 bid invitations to radio stations that meet the format and market criteria of the specification upon posting of the new auction. In one embodiment, the specification also includes radio stations to be excluded. Thus, radio stations satisfying the market and format criteria which are listed as excluded will not receive invitations.
In one embodiment, a user controls multiple radio stations. In this case, the network server determines which radio stations each user controls, and then informs each user of all auctions to which the user controlled radio stations are invited.
Once all desired stations are selected, the media carriers access the central server to submit 211 bids for carrying the advertisements.
It is noted that
As noted above, the user enters an amount the user will accept for each spot in each day part ($55.00 in
Although a single bid is shown in
According to an aspect of the present invention, the user need only enter a single bid for each station, day part and spot length. That is, the user need not enter separate bids for each auction. Rather, the host bids on behalf of the user in every selected auction, based upon the bids entered by the user. For example, if three auctions have been selected for KAAA, and each selected auction includes a thirty second spot during the Monday-Friday AM drive, the host will place bids on behalf of KAAA in all three selected auctions. The bid will be based upon the single bid KAAA entered in
The minimum rates entered in column 510 need only be a minimum because the host can raise the bids to obtain increased winnings. This calculation will also be described in more detail below. Although not shown, the bid entry screen could also include fields to receive the maximum value for each spot and a minimum number of spots required to be sold.
Once all bids are entered, the user can select a “Preview Winnings” button to preview the winnings that would occur with the bids just entered.
If the user is satisfied with the winnings, the user can submit the bids to the host. Otherwise, the user can return to the bidding screen to refine the bids.
Of course, other users will also be bidding, which will change the winnings. Thus, the user should monitor the previewed winnings up until the auction closes, to ensure that the winnings are acceptable or if not, to further revise the bids.
All bids accepted by the network server are evaluated to determine the bid CPM for each day part that is bid upon. The CPM for each day part bid is calculated as the cost per spot of the bid divided by the AQH during that particular day part for the given demographic audience. For administrative purposes, the network server can rate the bid CPM for each day part according to an index which is scaled to have the maximum CPM in the specification correspond to a value of 100. The index may be linear such that a dollar decrease in the bid CPM results in a 1 point decrease in the index. Alternatively, the index may be curved using, for example, a logarithmic algorithm.
After the prearranged closing time of the auction, the network server identifies 213 all winning bids and sends out 215 notifications to the winning media carriers and to the advertiser. Winning bids are determined by ranking all accepted bids by the assigned index value. The bid with the lowest index value below 100 is the first winning bid. If two bids have the same index value, then the first submitted bid is the winning bid. If funds remain in the budget after the first winning bid is awarded, then the bid with the next lowest index value below 100 is also a winning bid. Again, if funds remain in the budget, then additional winning bids are identified. This process continues until either the funds in the budget are exhausted or there are no more bids having an assigned index value under 100.
An exemplary screen showing awarded winnings is illustrated in
Although riot shown, the winner notifications also include instructions on how the winning media carriers are to obtain the creative material and how they are to obtain payment following completion of the advertising run. By following the instructions in the winning bid notices, the creative material is released 217 to the winning media carriers. These winning media carriers place 219 the advertisements in accordance with the agreement established by the specification and the terms and conditions of the auction that are pre-established and maintained by the host.
After all advertisements have run as agreed upon, the winning media carriers submit 221 a certification that the advertisements ran as agreed, and may also submit 221 an invoice to the host via the network server. The host reviews and approves 223 the certification and invoice to determine if both meet with all the terms and conditions of the auction. Thereafter, funds are released 225 to the compliant media carriers. This process is repeated for each of the winning media carriers, after which the advertiser's account is reconciled 227 and any remaining funds in that account may be returned to the advertiser if such was previously requested. Otherwise, the funds remain on account for the advertiser's next auction.
As noted above, in one embodiment the user enters a minimum bid (rather than an absolute bid) and the system increases the bid without action by the user. Description of the incrementing is now provided.
The process begins after the host has received the selection of auctions, as well as the radio station bid for at least one daypart and spot length.
In one example (independent from the examples provided above), 100 sixty second spots in a Monday-Friday morning drive are available for sale for at least $40 per spot. An auction includes a maximum CPM of $20.00.
The host receives bids from other stations and calculates everyone's position assuming the stations are bidding at the minimum. All spots having a minimum bid that exceed the maximum CPM auction requirement are removed. An example with one day part is shown in Table 1. In this example, it is assumed that the auction specifies a maximum CPM at $20.00 Thus, stations 1 through 4 are still eligible in the auction after phase I. During phase I, inventory and budget constraints are ignored.
In phase II, every bid is increased. In one embodiment, the bid beneath the highest eligible bid (station 3 in this example) is increased to match the CPM of the highest eligible station (station 4 in this example) minus a configurable value, e.g., $0.20. The process then repeats with the next lowest bid. In this example, station 2 to match station 3, and station 1 to match station 2. Although a $0.20 gap is described, the gap is adjustable via configuration. The result after the initial push in phase II is shown in Table 2:
Using the increased bids, the winners for this auction are established, taking account of budget constraints. Because station 1 through 3 are effectively bidding at a higher amount for each spot, some of the stations that were eligible in Table 1 may not be winning because the budget is consumed by stations 1 to 3. In this example, it is assumed that station 4 is not winning because stations 1 to 3 have accounted for the entire budget specified in the auction.
The bids are then further increased to consume as much of the budget as possible. Starting with the bid of the lowest ranked winner (station 3), the bids are increased by the maximum amount calculated to be allowed while staying within the budget. In one embodiment, this push will not cause a winning bid to become a losing bid. Each other winning bid is increased in the same manner.
At this point, it is known that if every station has infinite inventory, these are their best possible positions.
Next, a ranking of all the bids occurs (as mentioned above), taking into account the other day parts within the same auction. That is, the bids are listed, lowest to highest, including all day parts of each auction. It is noted that every radio station is bidding in every auction in every day part with their best bid.
Table 3 shows exemplary bids ranked in order of lowest CPM to highest for all day parts of an auction. Those bids exceeding the maximum CPM are omitted from Table 3. The data in Table 3 includes the winning bids from the day part illustrated in Table 2 (e.g., PM drive), as well as the (not shown) winning bids from the other day parts in the same auction (e.g., AM drive).
Table 4 shows the winning bids from this example, the number of spots the winning bidders will run, the day parts in which those spots will run, and the total cost to the advertiser for running those spots. The last-listed winning bidder is only awarded six of the seven spots that were included in the bid for the PM Drive day part. This limitation occurs because the maximum budget for the PM Drive day part listed in the specification (not shown) would be exceeded if all seven spots of the bid are awarded.
After the initial ranking and awards, the best spread exists assuming all radio stations have infinite inventory. However, some radio stations may be awarded more spots then their available inventory. Therefore, some of the winnings need to be removed from the stations winning more spots than are available.
In one embodiment, the first radio station have its winnings reduced is the station requiring the most trimming. For example, if one station is winning 100 spots and it has 40 spots for sale, then 60 of its winning spots must be trimmed. In one embodiment, the winnings are trimmed from auctions that have the most bids that are eligible to win but could not win because of the competition. In other words, the budget has been exceeded but bids from other stations exist that do not exceed the maximum CPM. In Table 2, station 4 is one such bid that is eligible to win but could not win because of the competition.
After the trimmed station is removed, the winners in this auction are recalculated, and the process repeats with the next auction(s) until this radio station's inventory can support the number of winning spots specified by the station. The process repeats itself for the next radio station that requires trimming, until all stations' winnings are equal to or less then their available inventory.
The last step is to refill any gap that is created by trimming the winnings. In order to refill the gaps, the host starts with the bid of the lowest ranked winner, and increases the bid by the maximum amount calculated to be allowed while staying within the budget. This process is similar to the process previously described.
Thus, an improved way to easily place bids within multiple auctions is disclosed. The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.
In a particular embodiment, a disk drive unit may include a computer-readable medium in which one or more sets of instructions, e.g. software, can be embedded. Further, the instructions may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions may reside completely, or at least partially, within the main memory, the static memory, and/or within the processor during execution by a computer system. The main memory and the processor also may include computer-readable media.
In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.
In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein.
The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions or receives and executes instructions responsive to a propagated signal so that a device connected to a network can communicate voice, video or data over the network. Further, the instructions may be transmitted or received over the network via the network interface device.
While the computer-readable medium is discussed as a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.
In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. Further, the computer-readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a distribution medium that is equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored.
Although the invention has been described with reference to several exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the words that have been used are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims, as presently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention in its aspects. Although the invention has been described with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed; rather, the invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods, and uses such as are within the scope of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application. No. 60/825,109 filed on Sep. 8, 2006, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The present disclosure is related to the subject matter of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/959,295 to NEWMARK, filed on Oct. 5, 2004, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60825109 | Sep 2006 | US |
