US20190114676A1 - Allocating Offline Advertising Inventory - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of allocating offline advertising, the method including receiving an offer price for audience-member responses for an offline advertising campaign and campaign information describing the offline advertising campaign, comparing the received campaign information to one or more other advertising campaigns to determine a portion of offline advertising inventory to allocate to the offline advertising campaign, and allocating the determined portion of advertising inventory to the offline advertising campaign.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/348,260, filed Jan. 2, 2009, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
• This document generally describes allocating offline advertising inventory to offline advertising campaigns such as those appearing on television, radio and in print.
BACKGROUND
• Advertisements can be included in various forms of offline media. For example, offline ads, such as broadcast on radio, can be a powerful way for advertisers to reach an audience. Members of the audience can be influenced, e.g., to make purchases, investigate products or use services that are advertised. Offline media providers, such as radio stations and newspapers, can make advertising inventory available to advertisers. Advertising inventory can include advertising spots (e.g., 30-second time slots in a radio broadcast or parts of a newspaper page) and can be allocated to advertising campaigns. Allocating can include scheduling and reserving the spot for a particular campaign. An advertising campaign can be a comprehensive advertising plan that consists of a series of messages published or broadcast in a variety of media over a specific time frame. Advertisers can create campaigns that center on a single theme or idea, such as to promote a product or service. The campaign messages, sometimes called “creatives,” can be media content such as recorded audio or video. The campaign messages can be referred to generically as advertisement messages or simply as advertisements.
SUMMARY
• This document describes techniques for allocating offline advertising inventory. In general, advertising inventory can be allocated to an offline advertising campaign based on comparing the campaign to other offline advertising campaigns.
• In one implementation, the described subject matter in this specification can be a computer-implemented method of allocating offline advertising, the method including receiving an offer price for audience-member responses for an offline advertising campaign and campaign information describing the offline advertising campaign; comparing the received campaign information to one or more other advertising campaigns to determine a portion of offline advertising inventory to allocate to the offline advertising campaign; and allocating the determined portion of advertising inventory to the offline advertising campaign. Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.
• These and other implementations can optionally include one or more of the following features. The received campaign information can include price, target audience and category details of an advertising offering of the offline advertising campaign. The received campaign information can include a past response rate for the offline advertising campaign. The received campaign information can include an estimated number of audience members. The audience-member responses can include mobile device responses. Comparing can include predicting a number of the audience-member responses based on the campaign information. Comparing the campaign information to other advertising campaigns can include using similar information for the other advertising campaigns as the campaign information.
• These and other implementations can also optionally include one or more of the following features. Some implementations can include comparing the offer price to offer prices of the other advertising campaigns so that the determined portion is favorable for the offline advertising campaign when either the offer price compares favorably to the offer prices of the other advertising campaigns or the campaign information compares favorably to the other advertising campaigns. The determined portion being favorable can include being beneficial to an objective relating to the offline advertising campaign. Some implementations can include providing updates, relating to the allocating, through a user interface in substantially real time. Some implementations can include broadcasting an advertisement from the offline advertising campaign to an audience. Some implementations can include receiving an amount of audience member responses to the broadcast advertisement and charging for the broadcasting based on the amount and the offer price. The offline advertising can be conducted using one or more of broadcast radio, television or a newspaper.
• The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary overview of offline advertising.
• FIG. 2 is a diagram showing allocation of offline advertising inventory.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system for allocating offline advertising inventory.
• FIG. 4 is a diagram showing exemplary data that can be included in campaign information.
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process for allocating offline advertising inventory.
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process for allocating offline advertising inventory.
• FIG. 7 is a block diagram of computing devices that may be used to implement the systems and methods described in this document.
• Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• In general, this document describes allocating offline advertising inventory. Offline advertising can refer to advertising taking place through media channels other than the World Wide Web (e.g., advertising on radio and television stations, in newspapers, or through mail or email). An advertiser can provide campaign information and offer to pay a particular amount for each response generated by a campaign (e.g., making a purchase online or in a store, requesting additional information over the phone, visiting a retail store or website, sending a text message). Because the demand for particular advertising inventory may exceed available inventory, decisions can be made regarding how to allocate the available inventory to the campaigns. When inventory is allocated to a campaign, campaigns advertisements can be, e.g., broadcast or displayed according to the allocation. For example, a 30-second slot in a radio station's morning drive program can be allocated to a campaign advertising an upcoming television show. When the broadcast time arrives for the 30-second slot, a campaign advertisement giving the TV show's premise and program information can be broadcast.
• Inventory can be allocated to ongoing campaigns with historical data detailing the campaign's past performance or new campaigns without historical data. Campaign performance can be measured, e.g., as a response rate. A response rate can be the number of people out of a total number of audience members receiving a campaign message that are influenced to respond by the message. The response can include making a purchase, visiting a business or using a service. These responsive acts can be performed, e.g., in person, online (e.g., via the Internet or other packet-switched data network) or over the phone. The acts can be tracked so that providers of advertising inventory (e.g., broadcasters) or advertisers (e.g., companies with advertising campaigns) are able to monitor campaign response rates.
• Allocating advertising inventory to campaigns without performance histories can include using what is known about a campaign to predict how well the campaign will perform. For example, a product being advertised through a campaign may be known to be very popular. Knowing what product will be advertised and that the product is popular can enable a prediction to made that the campaign will perform well relative to other campaigns advertising less popular products.
• Advertising inventory can be also be allocated to campaigns having historical performance data. Based on the historical data and other campaign information a prediction can be made regarding how well the campaign will perform given a potential inventory allocation. A quality assessment can be established based on the prediction and other factors. A campaign having a high quality assessment can be preferred in allocating inventory over a campaign having a low quality assessment.
• Furthermore, a campaign having a high quality assessment and a relatively low offer amount per response can receive a similar allocation preference to a campaign having a low quality assessment and a relatively high offer amount per response. Both campaigns can generate the same amount of revenue for the broadcaster. For example, a campaign predicted to receive 1,000 responses at $1 per response can generate the same amount as a campaign predicted to receive 250 response at $4 per response. Many other factors can be used to determine the allocation besides the offer amount and response rates such as the effective cost per thousand impressions (CPM), calculated based on an estimate of the size of the audience and total revenue expected, market saturation, product type and other factors.
• Advantageously, the described subject matter may provide for one or more of the following potential benefits. A low risk advertising solution can be created for advertisers in which no charge is made for advertising that generates no responses. Smaller advertisers with small advertising budgets who find it difficult and risky to buy offline advertising can try offline advertising with little or no risk. Broadcasters can also maximize the value of advertising inventory when the inventory is allocated either to campaigns that are likely to generate many responses or campaigns offering a relatively high amount per response. Advertisers can be required to continually improve their advertising campaigns to be more effective or raise the amount of the response offer. The approach in offline media selling can create new incentives for advertisers to make their campaigns perform better than other campaigns. Better performing campaigns can pay less per response.
• The described subject matter may also provide for one or more of the following potential benefits. An advertiser can know a campaign's relative performance in an advertising marketplace by the cost per response. The increased competition can improve the overall value of the inventory available. Advertisers lacking the ability to track the performance of their campaigns can gain awareness of which portion of their budget is producing the best results. A method including charging for responses can provide an advertiser performance tracking of the campaign. Performance tracking can provide information that enables advertisers to improve the return on their budgets and effectively allocate the budgets.
• FIG. 1 is a diagram100 showing an exemplary overview of offline advertising. To achieve an advertising objective (e.g., selling a product) an advertiser, or the advertiser's agent, can create advertisements as part of an advertising campaign. The advertisement can be broadcast by a radio station to a large audience. Some portion of the audience can respond to the advertisement by, e.g., making a phone call. The responses can be tracked and the advertiser can be charged based on the responses.
• The advertiser104 is an entity having an advertising objective. The advertising objective can be to influence people to respond, such as to buy a product, use a service or finding out more about a product or service. The advertiser104 can be an individual, group or company that, e.g., wants to sell a product. The advertiser104 can also be an advertising agency that represents and creates advertising campaigns for others.
• The advertiser104 can have an advertising campaign including anadvertisement108. Theadvertisement108 can include a message designed to further the advertiser's104 objectives. For example, theadvertisement108 can be an audio recording of actors describing the beneficial aspects of a product. Theadvertisement108 can also be print media or other offline advertisement. The advertiser104 can communicate with anadvertising system102.
• Theadvertising system102 allocates advertising inventory to an advertising campaign. Theadvertising system102 can be a computer system including, e.g., one or more computing platforms, storage devices, user interfaces and network connections. Theadvertising system102 can include a system or a connection to a system for charging advertisers. Theadvertising system102 can store a receivedadvertisement108 and the communicate theadvertisement110 to abroadcast entity112. Theadvertising system102 can include a database where advertising media is stored.
• Thebroadcast entity112 communicates with an audience. Thebroadcast entity112 can be a radio station with terrestrial broadcast equipment. Thebroadcast entity112 can also include satellite broadcast equipment. Thebroadcast entity112 can also be, e.g., a newspaper publisher or television broadcast station. Thebroadcast entity112 can transmit a broadcast114.
• The broadcast114 is a message that can be received. The broadcast114 can be signals transmitted through the air or over wires, or a palpable product. The signals can be radio signals communicating audio and other content. The signals can also be television signals sent through the air or over cable communicating audiovisual content. The palpable product can be a newspaper or other printed material.
• Aradio116 deciphers and makes transmitted content perceptible. Theradio116 can be an FM (frequency modulation) radio. Theradio116 can also be a satellite radio. Theradio116 can decipher analog or digital radio signals. Theradio116 can include an amplifier and speaker to make content audible.
• The audible content can include a message conveyed118. The message conveyed118 is an attempt to communicate and can include, e.g., speech, music and sound effects that convey the message118. The message conveyed118 can attempt to influence an audience120.
• The audience120 is a group of people. The audience120 can be located within a particular geographic region (e.g., a city or part of a city) or widely distributed (e.g., across a state, country or planet). The audience120 can be include many subgroups and individuals. The audience120 can correspond to one or more metropolitan areas, designated market areas, cities or zip codes. A designated market area (DMA) can be an area used by a media research group to identify broadcast stations whose broadcast signals reach specific geographic areas and attract the most viewers. A DMA may not overlap other DMAs.
• Alistener response122 is a response performed by a member of the audience120. Theresponse122 can include making a purchase, using a service, or otherwise responding. For example, theresponse122 can be dialing a phone number, sending a SMS (short message service) message from a mobile device, sending an email, visiting a website, visiting a store, etc.
• The mobile phone124 is an electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication. The communication can be via a network of base stations (e.g., cell sites). The mobile phone124 can support many services such as SMS for text messaging, email, and packet switching for access to the Internet.
• Thelistener response information126 is information about a response performed. Theinformation126 can include, e.g., a date and time a telephone call was made to a tracked telephone number, an SMS message was sent, or a tracked URL (uniform resource locator) was requested.
• In operation, the advertiser104 provides theadvertisement108 to theadvertising system102. The receivedadvertisement108 can be associated with an advertising campaign. Theadvertising system102 can allocate advertising inventory for campaign. At the time or place indicated by the allocation, theadvertisement110 can be transmitted to abroadcast entity112 for broadcast. Thebroadcast entity112 can transmit the broadcast114 to aradio116. Theradio116 can play the broadcast114 so it is audible to the audience120. Through theradio116, the advertiser's104 message118 is conveyed to the audience120. Some listeners in the audience120 on receiving the conveyed message118 can be influenced to respond122. Thelistener response122 can involve the use a device such as a mobile phone124 to send an SMS message, email or make a phone call. When theresponse122 is performed on the device124,listener response information126 is transmitted to theadvertising system102 for tracking. Based on thelistener response information126, such as the number of phone calls received, theadvertising system102 charges the advertiser104 for the advertising.
• FIG. 2 is a diagram200 showing allocation of offline advertising inventory. Media providers, such as radio and television stations, and newspapers, can include advertisements with the media they provide. The spots or places available for advertising within the media, or advertising inventory, from several providers can be allocated using an advertising system to advertising campaigns.
• A newspaper publisher202 has advertising space within the pages of a newspaper. The newspaper publisher202 can also include, e.g., news, sports and financial information in its publication. The advertising space can be very small, such as a classified ad having few words, or cover an entire page. Print advertisements in a newspaper can include text or graphics in color or black and white. A newspaper can include different sizes of advertising spaces and many advertising spaces.
• Aradio broadcaster204 transmits a radio program to an audience of listeners. The radio program can include music and speech. Advertisements can play between songs, for example, or at periodic intervals during a talk-show program.
• Atelevision broadcaster206 transmits audio and video to an audience. The television programs can include shows, movies, and many information and entertainment options. Advertisements can be aired at intervals in a program instead of the program or while a program is playing (e.g., product placement or small graphics overlaid on the program content at the bottom of the video content).
• An advertising system208 has access to advertising inventory210 and advertising campaigns212. The advertising system208 can be a computer system including, e.g., one or more computing platforms, storage devices, user interfaces and network connections. The advertising system208 can provide interfaces formedia providers202,204 and206 as well as advertisers222 and224.
• The advertising inventory210 is an inventory of advertising options available frommedia providers202,204 and206. The advertising inventory210 can include inventories from one or more media providers. The advertising inventory210 can include all the advertising available from a given media provider or portion of the total advertising. The advertising inventory210 can include, for example, a list of time slots, spots, orspaces media providers202,204 and206 have set aside for allocation by the advertising system208.
• Advertising campaigns212 are represented within the advertising system208. Information about the advertising campaigns212 can be stored such as the advertisements, time period and budget associated with the campaigns212.
• The advertisers222 and224 an entities having an advertising objective. The advertising objective can be to influence people to respond, such as to buy a product, use a service or finding out more about a product or service. The advertisers222 and224 can be individuals, groups or companies that, e.g., want to sell a product. The advertisers222 and224 can also be an advertising agency that represents and creates advertising campaigns for third parties.
• In operation, the advertising system208 can include an inventory-management module that allocates available advertising inventory to advertising campaigns. Themedia providers202,204 and206 can make a portion or all of their advertising space or slots available to the advertising system208. The advertising system208 can maintain an inventory210 of the advertising options. By analyzing anoffline advertising campaign218, the advertising system208 can determine which portion of the inventory210 to allocate to thecampaign218. The advertising system208 can also compare acampaign218 toother campaigns220 within the system208 to determine what inventory210 to allocate to the various campaigns212.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram300 of a system for allocating offline advertising inventory. Various types of responses to advertisements can be tracked. The response information, ratings information (e.g., estimates of the number of listeners to a given station at a given time of day), and information provided by advertisers can be used by an advertising system to allocate advertising inventory. The allocate of inventory can ultimately affect which campaigns are broadcast and billed as a result.
• The mobile phone330 is a mobile device for making a phone call. The phone330 can allow a person to dial a telephone number, connect to the phone number and communicate orally. The phone330 can also be a wired or wireless phone connected to a standard telephone system (non-cellular). The phone330 can be a dedicated phone or one of many devices having phone-like capabilities.
• Thepersonal computer332 is used by a person to access the Internet. Thecomputer332 can be a desktop or laptop computer connected to a network. Thecomputer332 can include a browser for accessing and displaying web sites on the World Wide Web. The browser can provide a place where a user can enter a URL for web site and then be taken to the website. Through the website a user can make purchases, request information or simply access information.
• Theemail device334 is used to send email to an addressee. Theemail device334 can be a computer, such as thepersonal computer332, or a mobile device, such as the mobile phone330. Theemail device334 can communicate using the appropriate protocols so that an email message, or email, is transmitted and received at the intended destination.
• Themobile device336 is a device capable of sending short text messages using SMS to various recipients. Recipients can be individuals or entities, such as companies or responsive robots.
• Theresponse system302 is a system capable of receiving information tracking advertising responses. Thesystem302 can be a single system or many separate systems. Thesystem302 can be in one location or various locations. Thesystem302 can be administered by multiple entities with information about the response activities being passed between the entities. Thesystem302 is also capable of communicating the response information. Thesystem302 can organize the response information in a database and provide the information through a specification such as XML (extensible markup language).
• The phonecall tracking module304 tracks calls made to particular numbers. A phone number can be setup in themodule304 so that whenever the number is called, themodule304 stores information about the call (e.g., time, date, phone number of caller, number called). In addition, onemodule304 can be configured to receive information on many different phone numbers. Themodule304 can track calls made to numbers even when the ultimate destination for the call is not themodule304.
• The webactivity tracking module306 tracks requests made for particular URLs. A URL can be setup in themodule306 so that whenever the URL is requested, themodule306 stores information about the request (e.g., time, date, IP (Internet protocol) address of requester, URL requested). In addition, onemodule306 can be configured to receive information on many different URLs. Themodule306 can track requests made to URLs even when the ultimate destination for the request is not themodule306. This can be accomplished, for example, using JavaScript code on an website to communicate tracking information to themodule306.
• Theemail tracking module308 tracks emails sent to particular email addresses. An email address can be setup in themodule308 so that whenever a message is sent to the address, themodule308 stores information about the received message (e.g., time, date, email address of sender, address sent to). In addition, onemodule308 can be configured to receive information on many different email addresses. Themodule308 can track messages sent to addresses even when the ultimate destination for the message is not themodule308.
• TheSMS tracking module310 tracks text messages sent to particular recipients. Themodule310 can be setup so that whenever a message is sent to a recipient, themodule310 stores information about the received message (e.g., time, date, sender, recipient). In addition, onemodule310 can be configured to receive information on many different text message recipients. Themodule310 can track messages sent to recipients even when the ultimate destination for the text message is not themodule310.
• Theratings entity338 provides information about media provider audiences. The information can include an estimate of the people in an audience at a given time of time, the ages of the people and geographic regions represented by the audience. For example, Arbitron is a radio audience research company in the United States which collects listener data on radio audiences. Arbitron collects data by selecting a random sample of a population. People in the sample are asked to maintain a written diary describing each radio program listened to. Ratings entities also exist to provide estimates of television audience sizes and newspaper readership.
• An advertiser328 is an entity having an advertising objective. The advertising objective can be to influence people to respond, such as to buy a product, use a service or find out more about a product or service. The advertiser328 can be an individual, group, company, or advertising agency. The advertiser328 has information about an advertising campaign such as the type of product or service offered, past performance of the campaign, and target audience.
• Anadvertising system312 receives information and allocates advertising inventory based on the information. Thesystem312 can perform analysis of the information and use stored information about broadcasters, the market, and many other factors as part of determining the appropriate allocation. Theadvertising system312 can communicate with other systems and entities and include interfaces to receive network, user and other types of inputs. Theadvertising system312 can include theresponse system302. Theadvertising system312 can also be aseparate system312 with connectivity to theresponse system302.
• The tracked-response module314 receives information from theresponse system302 or is theresponse system302. Themodule314 can provide the information to theadvertising system312. Themodule314 can provide consolidated information for thevarious module304,306,308 and310 of theresponse system302.
• Thebilling module316 bills advertisers. Thebilling module316 can accomplish this by communicating with another system. Thebilling module316 can also be abilling system324. Thebilling module316 can receive the amount of a charge, the entity to be charged, and other administrative information (e.g., statements of activity and due dates).
• Thebroadcast module318 communicates with a broadcast entity322 or is a broadcast entity322. Thebroadcast module318 can be connected to a broadcast entity322 through a network connection such as a WAN (wide area network) or the Internet. Thebroadcast module318 can also be directly connected to a broadcast entity322 such through a LAN (local area network) or other specialized interface. Thebroadcast module318 can provide broadcast content in real-time for broadcast. Thebroadcast module318 can also provide broadcast content in advance of the broadcast time. Thebroadcast module318 can provide all of the content broadcast by a broadcast entity322 or only a portion (e.g., only some advertisements).
• Theadvertiser interface320 is an interface through which the advertiser328 provides and receives information. Theadvertiser interface320 can be an advertiser-facing module. Theinterface320 can be a GUI (graphical user interface) or other type of user interface. Theinterface320 can be provided through a thin client such as a client-server or Web-based interface. Theinterface320 can also be provided through a thick client such as an application running on the advertiser's328 computer which communicates with theinterface320. Theinterface320 can provide substantially real-time information about the allocation of the advertising inventory by theadvertising system312. Providing the information in substantially real-time can enable an advertiser328 to adjust advertising settings quickly in response to changing advertising environments.
• Thecomparison module321 compares the advertising campaigns within theadvertising system312 to determine the appropriate inventory allocation.
• The broadcast entity322 communicates an advertisement to an audience. The broadcast entity322 can be a radio station, television station, newspaper or other offline media provider.
• Thebilling system324 charges the advertiser328 for advertising. Thebilling system324 can maintain contact information for advertisers and send bills to advertisers (e.g., through the mail or emails).
• In operation, theresponse system302 receives audience response information. The information is provided to theadvertising system312. Theratings entity338 provides rating information to theadvertising system312. The advertiser328 provides campaign information to theadvertising system312. The advertising system uses the received information to determine how advertising inventory should be allocated. For example, theadvertising system312 can use the ratings information estimate of audience size to predict the number of responses to a campaign using a calculated response rate. Theadvertising system312 provides campaign advertisements to the broadcast entity322. The broadcast entity322 broadcasts the advertisement which generates the responses tracked by theresponse system302. Based on the responses and the price an advertiser328 has offered to pay for each response, theadvertising system312 can provide information on advertising charges to thebilling system324. Thebilling system324 charges the advertiser328 for the responses (e.g., sending a bill326 to the advertiser328 through the mail service).
• FIG. 4 is a diagram400 showing the data that can be included in campaign information. When an advertiser requests advertising inventory, information about the advertiser's campaign can be used to predict the number of responses the campaign might expect. The information can be provided by the advertiser, calculated based on other data or provided by third parties.
• Thecampaign416 is an advertising campaign. Thecampaign416 can represent an advertiser's effort to accomplish a particular business objective. For example, thecampaign416 can provide the public with information about a new business that will soon be opening. An advertiser can have multiple campaigns and acampaign416 can be shared by multiple advertisers.
• Thecampaign information412 is information describing an advertising campaign. Thecampaign information412 can come from different sources, such as the advertiser or third parties (e.g., a broadcast ratings entity). Thecampaign information412 can allow a system to predict how the campaign will be received by an audience. Thecampaign information412 can include details of one or more of price, target audience and category details of an advertising offering, such as theproduct418, of thecampaign416. Thecampaign information412 can also include target demographics, product markets (e.g., metropolitan area, DMA, city, zip), time sensitivity of advertising messages, special promotions (e.g., expressed as an advantage over the currently available base product by percentage), historical performance, historical and current performance of similar campaigns (e.g., comparing thecampaign information412 with campaign information of other campaigns such as the potential target audience similarity), trend data and general consumer behavior (e.g., with respect to other media forms such as online, print, TV, radio), market size and market-related information, cyclical nature of offering (e.g., school supplies during fall), hours of operation (e.g., for a call center for phone based responses, or retail store hours), production quality (e.g., audio or video quality) of an advertisement, such as anadvertisement414, differing appeal based on time of day of a broadcast, and content components (e.g., gender of a voice, number of voices, celebrity voice, music, background music) of an advertisement, such asadvertisement414.
• Theadvertisement414 is a message addressed to an advertiser's objective. Theadvertisement414 can be in many different types of media. For example, theadvertisement414 can be a print advertisement, radio advertisement or television advertisement. Theadvertisement414 can influence an audience to respond, provide information or both.
• Theproduct416 is something being offered by an advertiser. Theproduct416 can be a product for sale such as a car or television. Theproduct416 can also be a service such as dental or travel services.
• The predicted responses420 are the number of responses expected to acampaign416. For example, the predicted responses420 can be a number (e.g., 2,000 sales in response to the campaign416). The predicted responses420 can also be a rate (e.g., 1% of the listening audience will respond to the campaign416). The number of predicted responses420 can be determined when expressed as a rate using information on the audience size thecampaign416 may reach.
• In operation, an advertising system can receivedcampaign information412, such as a product price402, a target audience404, product category406, past response rate408 and estimated audience members410. Thecampaign information412 can be used to predicted the number of responses420 to the campaign. For example, if a campaign has a product with a very high relative product price402, the system can expect a lower number of responses to thecampaign416.
• FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing aprocess500 for allocating offline advertising inventory. An advertising system implementing theprocess500 can receive information from various advertising campaigns and then determine how to allocate the advertising inventory available to the system to the campaigns.
• Theprocess500, at502, receives an offer price for responses and campaign information. The offer price can be a price per response. For example, an advertiser can offer $1.00 per product sold in response to a campaign. Theprocess500, at502, also receives campaign information discussed in more detail above.
• Theprocess500, at504, compares the campaign information from a given advertising campaign to other advertising campaigns. For example, part of the campaign information can be a past response rate for the campaign. Theprocess500 can determine which campaigns are likely to receive the best response rates in the future by comparing the past response rates.
• Theprocess500, at506, determines what portion of inventory to allocation to a campaign. The determination can be based on the comparing, at504, by theprocess500. Determining what portion to allocate can include considering how profitable each of several potential allocations will be. The determining can also take into account other factors such as saturation of markets and the potential of campaigns to improve over time.
• Theprocess500, at508, allocates the portion of inventory to the campaign. Allocating the portion can include assigning the portion to the campaign. In this manner, theprocess500 can avoid allocating inventory to more than one campaign. In general, inventory can be allocated to one campaign (e.g., one radio advertisement can play at a particular time).
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing aprocess600 for allocating offline advertising inventory. Advertising inventory can be in demand. To be allocated desired inventory, advertisers can, e.g., offer to pay more or create ads that generate more responses relative to other advertisers. Having such a favorable allocation can facilitate an advertiser's reaching campaign objectives. On the other hand, an allocation not being favorable to an advertiser can involve a campaign not receiving any allocation or a small allocation of inventory. For example, an advertiser can offer to pay less for given inventory than the inventory is worth or than other advertisers are willing to pay. In such a situation, the advertiser's campaign may receive no allocation of inventory.
• Advertising campaigns can produce many responses. In a scenario in which an advertiser is charged per response, the value a media provider receives for broadcasting the campaign's advertisements will depend on the number of responses to the campaign. To achieve comparable value for a given portion of inventory from an advertiser expected to receive relatively few responses, the media provider can receive a higher amount per response.
• Theprocess600, at602, compares an advertising campaign's response rate to the response rate of other campaigns. Theprocess600 can use the response rate as an indication of what response rate to expect for subsequent allocations of advertising inventory. Based on the comparison, at602, theprocess600 can estimate which campaigns will receive the most responses. At602, theprocess600 can also compare other factors besides response rates such as market saturation (e.g., to avoid playing too many advertisements for car dealerships) and the target audience (e.g., giving preference to advertisers targeting the media provider's particular audience).
• Theprocess600, at604, determines whether the response rate is relatively high or not based on the comparison, at602. If the response rate is relatively high, theprocess600 can continue by allocating inventory to the campaign. For example, theprocess600, at610, can schedule the campaign ads to play or appear in a particular time slot of a media provider. Theprocess600, at612, can broadcast the ads or provide the ads to a media provider for broadcast (e.g., to be played on a radio station).
• Theprocess600, at604, can determine that the campaign does not have a relatively high response rate compared to other advertising campaigns. In this case, theprocess600 continues, at606, by comparing the campaign's offer price per response to the offer prices of other advertisers. Theprocess600, at608, can determine whether the offer price is relatively high and continue, at610, by scheduling the campaigns ads. If the offer price is not relatively high, theprocess600 can end without allocating advertising inventory to the campaign.
• Theprocess600 is an example to demonstrate using both response rates and offer prices in allocating offline advertising inventory. Theprocess600 can also be implemented so that response rates and response offer prices are considered simultaneously in determining an allocation rather than sequentially, as shown.
• FIG. 7 is a block diagram ofcomputing devices700,750 that may be used to implement the systems and methods described in this document, as either a client or as a server or plurality of servers.Computing device700 is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers.Computing device750 is intended to represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smartphones, and other similar computing devices. The components shown here, their connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations described and/or claimed in this document.
• Computing device700 includes aprocessor702, memory704, astorage device706, a high-speed interface708 connecting to memory704 and high-speed expansion ports710, and alow speed interface712 connecting tolow speed bus714 andstorage device706. Each of thecomponents702,704,706,708,710, and712, are interconnected using various busses, and may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate. Theprocessor702 can process instructions for execution within thecomputing device700, including instructions stored in the memory704 or on thestorage device706 to display graphical information for a GUI on an external input/output device, such asdisplay716 coupled tohigh speed interface708. In other implementations, multiple processors and/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along with multiple memories and types of memory. Also,multiple computing devices700 may be connected, with each device providing portions of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of blade servers, or a multi-processor system).
• The memory704 stores information within thecomputing device700. In one implementation, the memory704 is a volatile memory unit or units. In another implementation, the memory704 is a non-volatile memory unit or units. The memory704 may also be another form of computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.
• Thestorage device706 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device700. In one implementation, thestorage device706 may be or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array of devices, including devices in a storage area network or other configurations. A computer program product can be tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer program product may also contain instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above. The information carrier is a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory704, thestorage device706, memory onprocessor702, or a propagated signal.
• Thehigh speed controller708 manages bandwidth-intensive operations for thecomputing device700, while thelow speed controller712 manages lower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation of functions is exemplary only. In one implementation, the high-speed controller708 is coupled to memory704, display716 (e.g., through a graphics processor or accelerator), and to high-speed expansion ports710, which may accept various expansion cards (not shown). In the implementation, low-speed controller712 is coupled tostorage device706 and low-speed expansion port714. The low-speed expansion port, which may include various communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet) may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.
• Thecomputing device700 may be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as astandard server720, or multiple times in a group of such servers. It may also be implemented as part of a rack server system724. In addition, it may be implemented in a personal computer such as alaptop computer722. Alternatively, components fromcomputing device700 may be combined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such asdevice750. Each of such devices may contain one or more ofcomputing device700,750, and an entire system may be made up ofmultiple computing devices700,750 communicating with each other.
• Computing device750 includes aprocessor752,memory764, an input/output device such as adisplay754, acommunication interface766, and atransceiver768, among other components. Thedevice750 may also be provided with a storage device, such as a microdrive or other device, to provide additional storage. Each of thecomponents750,752,764,754,766, and768, are interconnected using various buses, and several of the components may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate.
• Theprocessor752 can execute instructions within thecomputing device750, including instructions stored in thememory764. The processor may be implemented as a chipset of chips that include separate and multiple analog and digital processors. The processor may provide, for example, for coordination of the other components of thedevice750, such as control of user interfaces, applications run bydevice750, and wireless communication bydevice750.
• Processor752 may communicate with a user throughcontrol interface758 anddisplay interface756 coupled to adisplay754. Thedisplay754 may be, for example, a TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) display or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, or other appropriate display technology. Thedisplay interface756 may comprise appropriate circuitry for driving thedisplay754 to present graphical and other information to a user. Thecontrol interface758 may receive commands from a user and convert them for submission to theprocessor752. In addition, anexternal interface762 may be provide in communication withprocessor752, so as to enable near area communication ofdevice750 with other devices.External interface762 may provide, for example, for wired communication in some implementations, or for wireless communication in other implementations, and multiple interfaces may also be used.
• Thememory764 stores information within thecomputing device750. Thememory764 can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readable medium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatile memory unit or units. Expansion memory774 may also be provided and connected todevice750 throughexpansion interface772, which may include, for example, a SIMM (Single In-Line Memory Module) card interface. Such expansion memory774 may provide extra storage space fordevice750, or may also store applications or other information fordevice750. Specifically, expansion memory774 may include instructions to carry out or supplement the processes described above, and may include secure information also. Thus, for example, expansion memory774 may be provide as a security module fordevice750, and may be programmed with instructions that permit secure use ofdevice750. In addition, secure applications may be provided via the SIMM cards, along with additional information, such as placing identifying information on the SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.
• The memory may include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory, as discussed below. In one implementation, a computer program product is tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer program product contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above. The information carrier is a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as thememory764, expansion memory774, memory onprocessor752, or a propagated signal that may be received, for example, overtransceiver768 orexternal interface762.
• Device750 may communicate wirelessly throughcommunication interface766, which may include digital signal processing circuitry where necessary.Communication interface766 may provide for communications under various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls, SMS, EMS, or MMS messaging, CDMA, TDMA, PDC, WCDMA, CDMA2000, or GPRS, among others. Such communication may occur, for example, through radio-frequency transceiver768. In addition, short-range communication may occur, such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). In addition, GPS (Global Positioning System)receiver module770 may provide additional navigation- and location-related wireless data todevice750, which may be used as appropriate by applications running ondevice750.
• Device750 may also communicate audibly usingaudio codec760, which may receive spoken information from a user and convert it to usable digital information.Audio codec760 may likewise generate audible sound for a user, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset ofdevice750. Such sound may include sound from voice telephone calls, may include recorded sound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and may also include sound generated by applications operating ondevice750.
• Thecomputing device750 may be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as acellular telephone780. It may also be implemented as part of asmartphone782, personal digital assistant, or other similar mobile device.
• Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. These various implementations can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.
• These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the terms “machine-readable medium” “computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.
• To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described here can be implemented on a computer having a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.
• The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in a computing system that includes a back-end component (e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or that includes a front-end component (e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the systems and techniques described here), or any combination of such back-end, middleware, or front-end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), and the Internet.
• The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other.
• Although a few implementations have been described in detail above, other modifications are possible. Moreover, other mechanisms for allocating offline advertising may be used. In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other steps may be provided, or steps may be eliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be added to, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (21)

1-27. (canceled)

28. A method performed by a computer system, the method comprising:

distributing, by a given system and with a media stream that is delivered to multiple audience members, audio content or video content that includes trackable response information, wherein the content elicits a trackable response;

receiving, by a response system configured to receive audience responses to the content from a plurality of mobile devices, a quantity of audience responses generated by the audience members' use of respective ones of the plurality of mobile devices including at least a portion of responses including the trackable response information;

providing, by the response system and to the given system, the audience responses;

determining, by the given system, a response rate for the content based on the received audience responses; and

charging, by the given system, a provider of the content an amount of money that is based at least in part on the response rate.

29. The method ofclaim 28, further comprising:

receiving, at an advertiser interface of the given system and from an advertiser, a first offer price for audience-member responses for an advertising campaign, and a first collection of campaign information describing the advertising campaign, the campaign information including a predicted response value for the advertising campaign;

comparing, by the given system, the received first collection of campaign information and the first offer price to one or more other collections of campaign information each including offer prices and predicted response values for other advertising campaigns to determine a portion of advertising inventory to allocate to the advertising campaign; and

allocating, by the given system, the determined portion of advertising inventory to the advertising campaign, wherein the advertising inventory comprises audio content or video content and wherein the allocating is based at least in part on a combination of the received first offer price and the first collection of campaign information including the predicted response value for the advertising campaign.

30. The method ofclaim 29, wherein the received campaign information includes at least one of an estimated number of audience members, an estimated age of the audience members, or estimated geographic regions represented by the audience members for the broadcast advertising campaign.

31. The method ofclaim 30, wherein the estimated number of audience members is further defined by a specific time of day.

32. The method ofclaim 29, wherein the received campaign information includes at least one of target demographics, product markets, product offer information, or consumer market information.

33. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising:

comparing the first offer price to offer prices of the other advertising campaigns;

determining that the first offer price is higher than the offer prices of the other advertising campaigns; and

selecting the first collection as the determined portion.

34. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising:

comparing a first response rate of the first collection to other audience member responses of the other advertising campaigns;

determining that the first response rate is higher than the response rates of the other advertising campaigns; and

selecting the first collection as the determined portion.

35. The method ofclaim 28, further comprising:

providing updates, relating to the determining, through a user interface in substantially real time.

36. The method ofclaim 28, wherein the distributing is conducted using one or more of broadcast radio, television, or a print media.

37. The method ofclaim 28, wherein the trackable response information is selected from the group comprising a predetermined telephone number, a predetermined uniform resource locator (URL), a predetermined e-mail address, and a predetermined short messaging system (SMS) message recipient, and the trackable response is selected from the group comprising calling the predetermined telephone number, requesting the predetermined uniform resource locator (URL), sending an email to the predetermined e-mail address, or sending a short messaging system (SMS) message to the predetermined recipient.

38. A computing device comprising a computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the stored computer program product including executable instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

distributing, by a given system and with a media stream that is delivered to multiple audience members, audio content or video content that includes trackable response information, wherein the content elicits a trackable response;

receiving, by a response system configured to receive audience responses to the content from a plurality of mobile devices, a quantity of audience responses generated by the audience members' use of respective ones of the plurality of mobile devices including at least a portion of responses including the trackable response information;

providing, by the response system and to the given system, the audience responses;

determining, by the given system, a response rate for the content based on the received audience responses; and

charging, by the given system, a provider of the content an amount of money that is based at least in part on the response rate.

39. The stored computer program product ofclaim 38, further comprising:

receiving, at an advertiser interface of the given system and from an advertiser, a first offer price for audience-member responses for an advertising campaign, and a first collection of campaign information describing the advertising campaign, the campaign information including a predicted response value for the advertising campaign;

comparing, by the given system, the received first collection of campaign information and the first offer price to one or more other collections of campaign information each including offer prices and predicted response values for other advertising campaigns to determine a portion of advertising inventory to allocate to the advertising campaign; and

allocating, by the given system, the determined portion of advertising inventory to the advertising campaign, wherein the advertising inventory comprises audio content or video content and wherein the allocating is based at least in part on a combination of the received first offer price and the first collection of campaign information including the predicted response value for the advertising campaign.

40. The stored computer program product ofclaim 39, further comprising:

comparing the first offer price to offer prices of the other advertising campaigns;

determining that the first offer price is higher than the offer prices of the other advertising campaigns; and

selecting the first collection as the determined portion.

41. The stored computer program product ofclaim 39, further comprising:

comparing a first response rate of the first collection to other audience member responses of the other advertising campaigns;

determining that the first response rate is higher than the response rates of the other advertising campaigns; and

selecting the first collection as the determined portion.

42. The stored computer program product ofclaim 39, wherein the received campaign information includes at least one of an estimated number of audience members, an estimated age of the audience members, or estimated geographic regions represented by the audience members for the broadcast advertising campaign.

43. The stored computer program product ofclaim 42, wherein the estimated number of audience members is further defined by a specific time of day.

44. The stored computer program product ofclaim 38, further comprising:

providing updates, relating to the determining, through a user interface in substantially real time.

45. The stored computer program product ofclaim 38, wherein the distributing is conducted using one or more of broadcast radio, television, or a print media.

46. The stored computer program product ofclaim 38, wherein the trackable response information is selected from the group comprising a predetermined telephone number, a predetermined uniform resource locator (URL), a predetermined e-mail address, and a predetermined short messaging system (SMS) message recipient, and the trackable response is selected from the group comprising calling the predetermined telephone number, requesting the predetermined uniform resource locator (URL), sending an email to the predetermined e-mail address, and sending a short messaging system (SMS) message to the predetermined recipient.

47. A system comprising:

a first computing device comprising an interface and a first computer program product stored on a first non-transitory computer readable medium, the first stored computer program product including executable instructions that when executed cause the first computing device to perform functions of:

distributing, by a given system and with a media stream that is delivered to multiple audience members, audio content or video content that includes trackable response information, wherein the content elicits a trackable response;

receiving, by a response system configured to receive audience responses to the content from a plurality of mobile devices, a quantity of audience responses generated by the audience members' use of respective ones of the plurality of mobile devices including at least a portion of responses including the trackable response information;

providing, by the response system and to the given system, the audience responses;

determining, by the given system, a response rate for the content based on the received audience responses; and

charging, by the given system, a provider of the content an amount of money that is based at least in part on the response rate.

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