Advertisement selecting apparatus, advertisement selecting method, and storage medium

Abstract

An advertisement selecting system is disclosed providing, when selecting advertisements to be exposed to subscribers over the Internet, exposure control reflecting the inventory of advertisements by taking into account results of past exposure of each of the advertisements. When subscribers with a particular profile biased to specific tastes or preferences gain access to contents carrying advertisements, the first-ranked advertisement, i.e., the one best targeted for the subscribers in question, is exposed repeatedly but in a manner also making way for the advertisements in second and subsequent places which would be less likely to be exposed if handled conventionally, so that the stocked advertisements are exposed in fairly averaged fashion. Advertisement exposure is thus controlled in a manner averting lopsided exposure of certain (or partial) advertisement information by giving consideration to the advertisement inventory.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to an advertisement selecting apparatus, an advertisement selecting method, and a storage medium for properly selecting advertisements to be inserted into contents. More particularly, the invention relates to an advertisement selecting apparatus, an advertisement selecting method, and a storage medium for suitably selecting advertisements to be inserted into contents that are distributed over a wide-area network such as the Internet.[0002]Even more particularly, this invention relates to an advertisement selecting apparatus, an advertisement selecting method, and a storage medium for selecting, in a manner personalized for each subscriber, advertisement information used in contents that are offered to the subscribers under a so-called pull-type distribution scheme over the Internet or similar networks. Still more particularly, the invention relates to an advertisement selecting apparatus, an advertisement selecting method, and a sto...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides an advertisement selecting system and method for selecting advertisement information to be inserted into contents requested by a subscriber for audiovisual use in an information-providing space involving parties made up of a content provider providing content, a commercial sponsor offering advertisement information to be attached to the content, and the subscriber. The system or method involves comparing attribute information held individually by the content, advertisement information, and the subscriber with requirements held individually by the content, advertisement information, and the subscriber regarding the selection of advertisements. The overall degree of satisfaction for the content provider, commercial sponsor, and the subscriber is maximized as the selected advertisement. This system or method allows commercial sponsors to schedule their advertisement exposure and enhances the value of content / advertisement providing systems as viable advertising media.

Problems solved by technology

In other words, attaching ineffective advertisement information to contents yields few benefits for the subscribers, commercial sponsors, or content providers.

However, pursuing the subscribers' requirements alone conflicts with commercial sponsors' desires to insert their advertisement information into those contents related to the products or services marketed or offered by the sponsors.

However, there has been few advertisement information offering services that would selectively offer advertisement information by taking into account the overall benefits of the three parties, i.e., subscribers, sponsors, and content providers.

However, if the calculated values of cost effectiveness are used as the sole criteria for selecting advertisement information to be exposed, only the first-ranked advertisement information, i.e., information deemed to be the most applicable to the subscriber, is repeatedly exposed; and the information ranked in second and subsequent places tends to be slow in getting exposed.

In such cases, the prepared inventory of advertisements is not effectively utilized.

Indeed, most of the stored advertisement information is just hoarded up and remains idle.

When the income picture is one-sided in favor of particular sponsors, other sponsors cannot get their advertisement information exposed in desired volumes.

Subscribers, for their part, watch certain advertisements so frequently that they become tired of them.

The effectiveness of advertisements as a whole thus dwindle down.

As a result, the content distribution services may let their viability and their functionality as advertising media be seriously compromised in the eyes of those they do business with.

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