Patent Application
20150193817
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to optimization of measurement and charging for displayed and viewed advertisements and interactive content.
When the advertisements (“ads”) are presented to the consumer on a web page, one of the problems faced by advertisers is the problem of appropriately measuring the ad viewing (e.g., the number of ads viewed) by the consumers such that the advertisers are paying for the viewed ads accordingly. Currently, advertisers are paying for ads by the impressions or by the interactions. Today, since the capability to measure viewability is lacking, an impression for which payment is due is considered to be the loading of a web page with the ad on the display. In other words, once a web page is loaded by a mobile device and the webpage includes the ad, the ad is thus considered to be an impression. This leaves a lot to be desired as the ad that is loaded may be below the fold and unless the consumer scroll down the web page the ad remains invisible to the consumer. Referring to
Another problem arises when animations or flash ads and video ads (rich media ads) are displayed below the fold line 104 because the ad starts the animation, flash or video as soon as the animation, flash or video is loaded. For instance, the typical animation duration is of the order of 15 seconds such that by the time the customer scrolls to the portion of the web page that includes the ad, the animation will have completed and the only visible part of the mobile ad seen is the last static page of the rich media ad. However, since the page with the rich media ad has loaded, the advertiser has to pay for the rich media ad even though the consumer has not seen the whole ad.
The Internet Architecture board (IAB) has introduced a standard “making measurements make sense” or 3MS that covers the requirements for considering an ad as viewed under the ad unit guidelines. The standard mandates a viewability criteria that at least 50% of the pixels of each ad frame of the ad should be viewed to consider the ad as seen or to consider it as an impression. It will be of advantage to the advertiser to have a capability to identify as impressions only the ads that have met the viewability criteria set, that is, at least a pre-defined percentage of the pixels (e.g., currently at least 50% of their pixels) are visible to the consumer, in each frame of the ad, are identified as impressions. Thereby enabling the advertiser to pay only for the ads that have been seen by the consumer.
The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment of the invention in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and they mean at least one. In the drawings:
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures, and techniques have not been shown to avoid obscuring the understanding of this description.
In the description, certain terminology is used to describe features of the invention. For example, in certain situations, the terms “component,” “unit,” “module,” and “logic” are representative of hardware and/or software configured to perform one or more functions. For instance, examples of “hardware” include, but are not limited or restricted to an integrated circuit such as a processor (e.g., a digital signal processor, microprocessor, application specific integrated circuit, a micro-controller, etc.). Of course, the hardware may be alternatively implemented as a finite state machine or even combinatorial logic. An example of “software” includes executable code in the form of an application, an applet, a script, a routine or even a series of instructions. The software may be stored in any type of machine-readable medium.
According to one embodiment, a method is disclosed that allow the advertisers to measure and pay for advertisement impressions displayed on web sites, whether over or under the fold based on visibility criteria established, as percentage of visible pixels of an ad, by the internet architecture board standard called “making measurements make sense” or 3MS. The 3MS standard defines an advertisement impression as one where at least 50% of the pixels are visible to the consumer. In one embodiment, the method disclosed provides built-in viewability intelligence within the ad, in the form of executable software, associated with the ad and transferred to the display system as metadata with the ad, typically as an ad-tag that can be run on the web page, to enable reporting of viewed impressions back to advertiser. The ad-tag also called intelligent component, generally in the form of a script, adds the capability or intelligence to check and verify pre-established ad viewability criteria and ad completion criteria. Further, the terms ad-tag, Intelligent-tag, Intelligence-tag, Intelligent component and Intelligence component all have the same meaning within the specification provided.
Accordingly, embodiments of the invention relate to introducing intelligence into the advertisements generated such that the intelligence included in an intelligent ad is able to recognize when the ad is being viewed on the web page. For instance, the intelligence instantiated (I-Intelligence) on the web page when the ad-tag is executed on the web page from the intelligent ad may recognize that the ad is being viewed when more than a pre-defined percentage of the pixels of the ad are visible on the display screen of a device. Thus, the viewability criteria may be set as a pre-defined percentage of pixels being visible on the display. The I-Intelligence when intelligent ad is executed on the web page is therefore able to generate the information regarding impressions based on the viewability criteria that is established. The number of impressions of an ad may be calculated and then transmitted to the publisher and advertiser for reconciling and payment of the viewed ads.
In the case of the rich media ads, there is a requirement that the viewability criteria of each frame of the ad is met and the ad completion criteria (payment criteria) is met for the ad to be considered for registering an impression for payment. The I-Intelligence from the intelligent ad is able to recognize when more than the pre-defined percentage of the pixels on any frame are visible on the web page display and generate a signal for starting the animation or video. When less than that percentage of the frame is visible on the display, that is when the viewability criteria on a frame is not met, the animation is stopped or paused until such time the viewability criteria is met. The completion of the animation is also recognized by the I-Intelligence as a criteria for generating an impression of the rich media ad. The completion based on the payment criteria, that is either a visible last static page or viewable display of an engagement page, causes an impression to be registered. The count of such impressions over a period of time are then provided to the publisher and advertiser for reconciliation and payment.
In the embodiments of the invention, the ads 111 to 115 which are below the fold line 104 and not visible to the consumer are not considered impressions even though they are all on the loaded page. The ads are considered as impressions only if a predefined threshold of pixels of the frame (e.g., over 50% of their pixels per the IAB-3MS standard) are visible (e.g., above the fold line 104).
The advertiser 402 uses an ad generator and server 410 to generate the ad 201 for a campaign. This ad is then converted to the intelligent ad 205 by the ad modifier 501 by adding the necessary intelligence component 202 to the ad 201. The intelligent ad is hence a combination of the ad supplied by the advertiser modified to include the intelligence component 202, typically as an ad-tag or intelligent-tag within the ad. In one embodiment, the intelligent ad generation is performed by the intelligent ad generation system 502 that includes the advertiser 402, the server 410, and the ad modifier 501. The intelligent ad 205 is then provided from the intelligent ad generation system 502 to the publisher 403 directly or through the ad exchange 404. The publisher 403 (which may include a publisher server) enables the intelligent ad 205 to be supplied as ad metadata to be loaded on the web page 103 on the display screens of the chosen display devices either in the visible display area 102 or below the fold line 104 in the invisible area 105 of the web page 103. If the ad loaded in the visible display area 102 where more than pre-defined percentage of pixels (e.g., at least 50% of the pixels as per IAB-3MS standard) of the intelligent ad 205 is visible, then it is immediately registered as an impression. In cases where the intelligent ad 205 is below the fold line 104 or if only less than the pre-defined percentage (e.g., 50% of the pixels as per the IAB-3MS standard) of the ad 205 is visible above the fold line 104, the intelligence component 202 executed on the web page instantiates an intelligence (I-Intelligence) on the web page and associates with the ad to recognize that the intelligent ad 205 has not been seen by the customer. Hence, the ad 205 on the web page is not registered as an impression. If the customer scrolls down the web page such that at any time more than the pre-defined percentage of the pixels of the intelligent ad 205 becomes visible (102) on the display screen 101, the I-Intelligence recognizes the intelligent ad 205 has been seen by the customer and registers it at that time as an impression. Once the impressions have been registered, the impressions count is passed on to the advertiser 402 and the publisher 403 for consolidation reconciliation and payment.
The I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent ads 205 improve the capability to define payment terms by the advertiser 402 by implementing the viewability intelligence component 202 to determine when an ad has been viewed by the consumer. Accordingly, this determination is moved from the publisher 403 (including ad exchanges 404) to the advertiser 402, enabling the advertiser to ensure the viewing of the ad by the consumer prior to payment for impressions.
In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the intelligent ads may be used to affect the registrations of impressions in at least three ways. These three ways relate to three types of ads used in practice and payment terms established for the ad viewed on the webpages. The intelligent ads take into account what constitutes completion of an ad display in enabling registration of an impression for payment. The three ways the intelligent ads affect the registrations of impressions for payment include:
1. Cost per ad view: In this scheme the ads are static ads and payment for completed ads are as described above. That is, any ad delivered is paid for only when a predefined and agreed on percentage of its pixels are made visible to the consumer on the display screen. In this case, the frame viewability criteria (e.g., 50% of the pixels of the ad) has to be met before it is counted and registered as an impression.
2. Cost per completed view: This is applicable to ads which are rich-media ads (or animation ads) such as video ads and flash ads. The advertiser is provided an impression feedback only when the whole ad is considered to have been seen by the consumer in accordance with the viewability criteria established. For instance, when each frame of the ad including the last frame of the ad is completed as per the viewability criteria set (e.g., 50% of the video ad's pixels are visible), an ad complete message (that may be in the form of a registered impression for the rich media ad) is generated by the I-Intelligence on the web page from the execution of the intelligent component 202 associated with the intelligent ad, and sent to the advertiser and the publisher for reconciliation and payment processing. In this case, if at any point during the intelligent ad viewing by the consumer, the viewability criteria is negated (e.g., less than 50% of the video ad's pixels are visible), the display of the intelligent ad is stopped by the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent ad operating within the web page display and the animation of the intelligent ad is only resumed when the viewability criteria is re-established within the web page (e.g., 50% of the video ad's pixels are visible). Hence, any intelligent ad not completed in a visible form is not registered as an impression indicating completion.
3. Cost per Engagement: This is applicable to rich media ads which have an engagement screen or an additional ad frame which starts to display once the last frame of the original rich-media animation ad is completed as indicated for the cost per completed view. The engagement screen auto expands at the end of the last frame of the original ad, to display details and encourage engagement by the consumer. The expansion of the engagement screen meeting the viewability criteria is recognized by the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent ad 205 to generate a completion message in the form of a registered impression. The impression count is sent to the advertiser and the publisher to reconcile and enable payment. In this case, the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent ad is able to recognize when the frames of the animation meet the viewability criteria to enable the ad to continue until the end. If at any point in the intelligent ad display the viewability for a frame goes below the viewability criteria established, the ad display is stopped or halted and resumed only when the viewability for the frame is re-established.
Thus, by adding intelligent component 202 to the ad, the resultant I-Intelligence on the loaded web page and associated with the intelligent ad is able to define when an intelligent ad has been seen by the consumer and enable the advertiser to make the necessary payments for only the intelligent ads that have been seen by the consumer based on the impressions registered indicating meeting of any of the defined payment criteria established between the publisher and the advertiser.
The communication interface indicated in the embodiments can be a network communication interface that may include a wired network interface such as an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet interface as well as a wireless interface such as an IEEE 802.11 WiFi interface. Data may also be received and sent out using any one of a variety of different wireless communications networks and in accordance with any one of several different protocols. These include: a cellular mobile phone network (e.g. a Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, network), including current 2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE networks; and an IEEE 802.11 network (WiFi or Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN).
Embodiments of the invention may use a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which program the processor to perform some or all of the operations described above. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), such as Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROMs), Read-Only Memory (ROMs), Random Access Memory (RAM), and Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM). In other embodiments, some of these operations might be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic. Those operations might alternatively be performed by any combination of programmable computer components and fixed hardware circuit components.
The following embodiments of the invention may be described as a process, which is usually depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed. A process may correspond to a method, a procedure, etc.
As shown in
At S805, the ad-modifying server 501 incorporates the intelligence information, the intelligent component 202 into the ad 201 to modify the ad 201 and generate the intelligent ad 205.
At S806, the ad-modifying server 501 stores the intelligent ad 205 in an the intelligent ad store or database 605. The ad-modifying server 501 may access the intelligent ad 205 from the intelligent ad database 605 and transmit the intelligent ad 205 ready for delivery to the publisher (e.g., during the ad campaign).
The method 900 starts at S901 with the intelligent ad 205 being received by the publisher 403 and inserted in the web page such that, when the consumer loads the web page for viewing on the device, the intelligent static ad(s) 205 also load on the web page. The intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202, incorporated within the intelligent ad 205 loaded on the web page is executed on the web page, as the page loads, to instantiate an intelligence (I-Intelligence) associated with the intelligent ad 205 on the web page 103. At S902, once the web page is loaded on the display device 401, and the intelligent component 202 (e.g., the intelligent-tag) of the intelligent ad 205 is executed on the loaded web page 103, to instantiate an intelligence (I-Intelligence) on the web page 103 associated with the intelligent ad 205. At S903 the I-Intelligence causes checking of the approved viewability criteria. For instance, if the viewability criteria which is included in the intelligent component 202 is the requirement that a percentage of the ad be visible (e.g., above the fold line 104), the I-Intelligence, that is the intelligence implemented or instantiated on the web page from the intelligent component 202's execution on the web page 103, is enabled to check and identify whether the intelligent ad 205 is above or below the fold line 104 and if the required percentage of the intelligent ad 205 is visible above the fold line 104.
The execution of the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202, to implement the necessary I-Intelligence on a loaded web page can be done directly on the loaded web page using the capabilities of the web page (preferred mode) using the processing capability of the display device 401 or by the processor 701 of the display device 401 or a combination of the two.
At S903, the I-Intelligence on the web page determines whether viewability requirement is met for the intelligent ad 205 loaded on the web page 103. At S904 if the viewability criteria is not met, the I-Intelligence on the web page continues to check the status of the viewability criteria of the intelligent ad 205 loaded. At S904, if at any time during the period when the web page is loaded (e.g., when the consumer is able to view the webpage), the viewability criteria is met, either as the web page 103 is loaded or by the consumer scrolling down the page during viewing, the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent ad 205 on the web page recognizes that the viewability criteria has been met and registers an impression indicating that the intelligent ad 205 has been seen by the consumer as indicated at S905. At S906, the I-Intelligence on the web page causes a count of the number of registered impressions over a pre-defined period of time to be accumulated. At S906, the I-Intelligence on the web page also causes the processor 701 of the display device 401 to store the registered impressions count with the identification (ID) of the intelligent ad 205 and to send the registered impressions count with the ID of the intelligent ad 205 to the advertiser 402 and the publisher 403 over a communication channel for payment processing.
The method 1000 starts at S1001 with the intelligent mobile ad 205 being received by the publisher 403 and inserted in the web page such that, when the consumer loads the web page for viewing on the device 401, the intelligent mobile ad(s) 205 also load on the web page. At S1002, the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202 associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205 loaded on the web page 103 is executed on the web page 103 as the page loads to instantiate an intelligence (I-Intelligence) associated with the intelligent ad 205 on the web page 103.
The execution of the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202, to implement and instantiate the intelligence (I-Intelligence) associated with the intelligent ad 205 on a loaded web page 103 can be done directly on the loaded web page using the capabilities instantiated on the web page (preferred mode) using the processing capability of the display device 401 or by the processor 701 of the display device 401 or a combination of the two processing capabilities.
At S1003, the intelligence instantiated (I-Intelligence) implemented by the execution of the intelligent component 202 associated with the intelligent ad 205, executed on the web page 103 loaded on the display device 401 checks the payment criteria for the intelligent mobile ad 205, which is included in the intelligent component 202 and verifies that the payment criteria is cost per completed view. At S1004, the I-Intelligence on the web page 103 causes checking of the viewability criteria included in the intelligent component 202 on each of the animation frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 on the web page. For instance, if the viewability criteria included in the intelligent component 202 is a requirement that a percentage of the ad be visible (e.g., above the fold line), the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205 on the web page 103, checks and identifies whether the intelligent mobile ad 205 is above or below the fold line 104 and if the required percentage of the frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is visible above the fold line 104 meeting the viewability criteria for that frame. At S1005, the I-Intelligence on the web page further determines whether viewability requirement is met and if it is not met, the I-Intelligence implemented on the web page further causes the display system to stop the animation of the intelligent ad 205 at S1006. Accordingly, any time the viewability criteria is determined not to be met, the I-Intelligence component associated with the ad 205 does not allow the animation to start or continue. In one embodiment, if the animation is started and running when the I-Intelligence determines that the viewability criteria is no longer met, the animation is stopped at that frame being displayed, which is then held on the display until such time that the viewability is improved and the viewability criteria is met again. If at S1005, the viewability criteria is determined to be met by the I-Intelligence, the method 1000 proceeds to S1007, where the I-Intelligence checks each ad frame displayed to see if the last page or frame has been displayed completing the display of the intelligent mobile ad 205, which indicates that the viewing of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is complete. If at S1007, it is determined that the last page is not completed or the last frame has not been reached, the next frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is enabled to start on the web page 103 on the display device 401 as indicated at S1008, so that the animation can continue to display as indicated at S1004 to S1007. If, at S1007, the last frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is detected by the I-Intelligence indicating that the intelligent mobile ad 205 has been completely viewed by the consumer, at S1009, the I-Intelligence causes registration of the intelligent mobile ad as an impression. At S1010, the I-Intelligence on the web page 103 causes the processor 701 to establish a count the registered impressions (“registered impressions count”) over a pre-defined period of time. At S1010, the I-Intelligence also causes the processor 701 to store the registered impressions count with the identification (ID) of the intelligent ad 205 and send the registered impressions count with the ID of the intelligent ad 205 to the advertiser 402 and the publisher 403 over a communication channel for payment processing.
The method 1100 starts at S1101 with the intelligent mobile ad 205 being received by the publisher 403 and inserted in the web page such that, when the consumer loads the web page for viewing on the device 401, the intelligent mobile ad(s) 205 also load on the web page. The intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202 associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205 loaded on the web page 103 is executed on the web page 103 as the web page loads.
The execution of the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202, to implement or instantiate the necessary intelligence on a loaded web page can be done directly presented to the consumer. In this embodiment, the intelligent component 202 being executed accounts for this payment criteria. The method 1100 starts at S1101 with the intelligent mobile ad 205 being received by the publisher 403 and inserted in the web page such that, when the consumer loads the web page for viewing on the device 401, the intelligent mobile ad(s) 205 also load on the web page. The intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202 associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205 loaded on the web page 103 is executed on the web page 103 as the web page loads.
The execution of the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202, can be done directly on the loaded web page using the capabilities instantiated on the web page (preferred mode) using the processing capability of the display of the device 401 or by the processor 701 of the display device 401 or a combination of the two.
At 1102 the intelligence component implemented on the web page 103 from the intelligent component 202 executed on the web page 103 loaded on the display device 401 to instantiate an intelligence (I-Intelligence) on the web page 103. At S1103 the I-Intelligence enable checking of the payment criteria for the intelligent mobile ad 205, which may be included in the intelligent component 202 and verifies that the payment criteria is cost per engagement. At S1104, the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205 implemented on the web page 103 from the intelligent-tag or intelligent component 202 loaded and executed on the web page 103 causes checking of the viewability criteria included in the intelligent component 202 on each of the animation frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 on the web page. For instance, if the viewability criteria which may be included in the intelligent component 202 is a requirement that a percentage of the ad be visible (e.g., above the fold line), the I-Intelligence on the web page 103 checks and identifies whether the intelligent mobile ad 205 is above or below the fold line 104 and if the required percentage of the frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is visible above the fold line 104 meeting the viewability criteria for that frame. At S1106, the I-Intelligence on the web page 103 determines whether viewability requirement is met and if it is not met, the I-Intelligence on the web page further causes the display system to stop the animation of the intelligent ad 205 at S1106. Accordingly, any time the viewability criteria is determined not to be met, the I-Intelligence implemented on the web page does not allow the animation of the intelligent mobile ad 205 to start or continue. In one embodiment, if the animation is started and running when the I-Intelligence on the web page 103 determines that the viewability criteria is no longer met, the animation is stopped at that frame being displayed, which is then held on the display until such time that the viewability is improved and the viewability criteria is met again. If at S1105, the viewability criteria is determined to be met by the I-Intelligence on the web page 103, the method 1100 proceeds to S1107, where the I-Intelligence associated with the intelligent mobile ad 205, implemented on the web page 103, checks the ad frame displayed to see if the last page or last frame display has been completed, which indicates that the viewing of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is complete. If at S1007, the I-Intelligence on the web page determines that the last page is not completed or the last frame has not been reached, the next frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is enabled as at S1108 to start on the web page 103 on the display device 401, so that the animation can continue to display as discussed at S1104 to S1107 till the last frame is displayed. If, at S1107, the last frame of the intelligent mobile ad 205 is detected such that the intelligent mobile ad 205 has been completely viewed by the consumer, at S1107, the I-Intelligence causes the triggering or an expansion of an engagement screen, which may be a static or mobile screen giving the consumer an opportunity to interact with the engagement screen. The expanded engagement screen itself is also provided by the advertiser as a part of the intelligent mobile advertisement.
If, at S1109, the engagement screen does not expand or it does not expand in a viewable fashion (e.g., the expanded engagement screen does not meet the viewability criteria), the method 1100 stops any animation and waits until the viewability criteria for the expanded screen is determined to be met or re-established. If, at S1109, the engagement screen is expanded in a viewable fashion (e.g., the expanded engagement screen meets the viewability criteria) such that it indicates completion of the ad viewing, the method 1100 then proceeds to S1110 where the intelligent component 202 causes the processor 701 to recognize completion of the intelligent mobile ad 205 and registers an impression.
At S1111, the I-Intelligence causes the processor 701 to count the registered impressions (“registered impressions count”) over a pre-defined period of time. At S1111, I-Intelligence also causes the processor 701 to store the registered impressions count for each intelligent mobile ad 205 with the identification (ID) of the intelligent mobile ad 205. This registered impressions count with the ID of the intelligent ad 205 is sent by the Display device 40, to the advertiser 402 and the publisher 403 over a communication channel for payment processing.
An embodiment of the invention may be a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which program a processor to perform some or all of the operations described above. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), such as Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROMs), Read-Only Memory (ROMs), Random Access Memory (RAM), and Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM). In other embodiments, some of these operations might be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic. Those operations might alternatively be performed by any combination of programmable computer components and fixed hardware circuit components.
While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting. There are numerous other variations to different aspects of the invention described above, which in the interest of conciseness have not been provided in detail. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the claims.
