REVENUE ADJUSTMENT PROCESSES

Abstract

In a system that provides an open exchange environment to connect business entities through a network, methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for performing a revenue adjustment process to distribute one of a revenue surplus or a revenue deficit amongst business entities involved in one or more transactions from which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit originates over a predefined time interval, the performing including identifying a set of business entities involved in the one or more transactions to which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit is to be distributed; and determining a proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which each business entity of the set is distributed.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an open media exchange environment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a process for facilitating an online advertisement transaction.

FIG. 3 schematically depicts an environment in which a transaction management system provides a platform for facilitating online advertisement transactions; and

FIGS. 4-8 each schematically depict a hierarchical auction process.

Claims

1. In a system that provides an open exchange environment to connect business entities through a network, a computer-implemented method comprising: performing a revenue adjustment process to distribute one of a revenue surplus or a revenue deficit amongst business entities involved in one or more transactions from which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit originates over a predefined time interval, the performing including:identifying a set of business entities involved in the one or more transactions to which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit is to be distributed; anddetermining a proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which each business entity of the set is distributed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more transactions involves an online advertisement creative to be displayed on a web page associated with one of the business entities of the set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the business entities involved in the one or more transactions comprise an advertiser, one or more advertisement networks, and one or more publishers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein: the advertiser has a relationship with a first of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement creative being offered for display on a web page.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the line item comprises a unit price for the online advertisement creative, the unit price being adjusted based on one of the following units: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein: at least one of the one or more publishers has a relationship with the first of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement space of a web page.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein: at least one of the one or more publishers has a relationship with a second of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement space of a web page.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the set of business entities comprises: excluding, from the set of business entities to which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit is to be distributed, any publisher that has an exclusive relationship with the second of the one or more advertisement networks.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising: measuring, by the system, an amount of activity related to the online advertisement creative during the predefined time interval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the system-measured amount of activity is expressed as a value with a unit identifier, the unit identifier being based on one of the following: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving a request for a revenue adjustment from an advertiser associated with the online advertisement creative.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the revenue adjustment request provides an advertiser-measured amount of activity, associated with the online advertisement creative over the predefined time interval, expressed as a value with a unit identifier, the unit identifier being based on one of the following: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.e

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more transactions involves a particular product, commodity or service that is being offered for purchase or sale by a first of the business entities.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: identifying a system-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: measuring, by the system, the amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service for each of the business entities of the set over each of one or more portions of the predefined time interval.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving a request for a revenue adjustment from the first of the business entities, the revenue adjustment request identifying a first-entity-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which each business entity of the set is distributed comprises: calculating a weighted adjustment; andfor each business entity, generating an interval-based activity amount disparity by applying the weighted adjustment to a system-measured amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service for that business entity during each of the one or more portions of the predefined time interval; anddetermining the proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which the business entity is distributed based on the interval-based activity amount disparity generated for each of the one or more portions of the predefined time interval.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the weighed adjustment is calculated according to the formula (x−y)/y, where x is a value that represents a first-entity-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval, and y is a value that represent a system-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.

19. A machine-readable medium that stores executable instructions to cause a machine in a system that provides an open exchange environment to connect business entities through a network to: perform a revenue adjustment process to distribute one of a revenue surplus or a revenue deficit amongst business entities involved in one or more transactions from which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit originates over a predefined time interval, the instructions to perform the revenue adjustment process including instructions to: identify a set of business entities involved in the one or more transactions to which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit is to be distributed; anddetermine a proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which each business entity of the set is distributed.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein each of the one or more transactions involves an online advertisement creative to be displayed on a web page associated with one of the business entities of the set.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the business entities involved in the one or more transactions comprise an advertiser, one or more advertisement networks, and one or more publishers.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein: the advertiser has a relationship with a first of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement creative being offered for display on a web page.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the line item comprises a unit price for the online advertisement creative, the unit price being adjusted based on one of the following units: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 22: at least one of the one or more publishers has a relationship with the first of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement space of a web page.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 22: at least one of the one or more publishers has a relationship with a second of the one or more advertisement networks, the relationship being defined in part by a line item related to an online advertisement space of a web page.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions to identify the set of business entities comprises instructions to: exclude, from the set of business entities to which the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit is to be distributed, any publisher that has an exclusive relationship with the second of the one or more advertisement networks.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions to: measure, by the system, an amount of activity related to the online advertisement creative during the predefined time interval.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the system-measured amount of activity is expressed as a value with a unit identifier, the unit identifier being based on one of the following: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions to: receive a request for a revenue adjustment from an advertiser associated with the online advertisement creative.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the revenue adjustment request provides an advertiser-measured amount of activity, associated with the online advertisement creative over the predefined time interval, expressed as a value with a unit identifier, the unit identifier being based on one of the following: impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

31. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein each of the one or more transactions involves a particular product, commodity or service that is being offered for purchase or sale by a first of the business entities.

32. The machine-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising instructions to: identify a system-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.

33. The machine-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising instructions to: measure, by the system, the amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service for each of the business entities of the set over each of one or more portions of the predefined time interval.

34. The machine-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising instructions to: receive a request for a revenue adjustment from the first of the business entities, the revenue adjustment request identifying a first-entity-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.

35. The machine-readable medium of claim 31, wherein instructions to determine a proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which each business entity of the set is distributed comprises instructions to: calculate a weighted adjustment; andfor each business entity, generate an interval-based activity amount disparity by applying the weighted adjustment to a system-measured amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service for that business entity during each of the one or more portions of the predefined time interval; anddetermine the proportion of the one of the revenue surplus or the revenue deficit to which the business entity is distributed based on the interval-based activity amount disparity generated for each of the one or more portions of the predefined time interval.

36. The machine-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the weighed adjustment is calculated according to the formula (x−y)/y, where x is a value that represents a first-entity-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval, and y is a value that represent a system-measured aggregate amount of activity associated with the particular product, commodity or service over the predefined time interval.