Advertising management system, advertising management device, advertising management program

Abstract

To grasp the advertising effect of an advertising site without making an affiliate server that does not conduct transactions with a user directly access a user's terminal. [Solution] The system includes a first server (service server 12) that acquires identification information (50) including information (52) that can identify the user and progress information (52) that indicates the access route from a terminal device (4) that has accessed a website (main page 42) via an advertisement display (banner advertisement 10-1, etc.), acquires new identification information (50) when set conditions are met on the website, and notifies a second server (affiliate server 14) of at least the identification information, the new identification information, and the progress information, and a second server that associates and stores the identification information and progress information acquired through the first server, and measures the results of the advertisement display included in the progress information based on the results of comparing the identification information with the new identification information.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the provision of affiliate services, and to a technology for confirming the effectiveness of advertising by identifying users guided via advertising displayed on media and grasping the results such as contracts. [Background technology]

[0002] In order to attract a wide range of customers, commercial websites that sell products and other items over the Internet, contract for the provision of other services, and process reservations for services provided at physical stores, use a method of posting advertisements on general portal sites, websites managed and operated by others, and promotional sites that specialize in posting advertisements for each product or service category. These promotional sites post advertisements provided by advertising agency services known as affiliate services.

[0003] Affiliate services, for example, direct users to commercial sites through advertisements posted on a promotional site, and pay advertising fees to the promotional site when set conditions, such as the conclusion of a product sales contract, are met. This affiliate service requires tracking which promotional site the user used to visit the commercial site, and then tracking the process up to the point where the user performs an action that meets the set conditions.

[0004] With regard to such affiliate services, there are some that, when a user terminal device accesses advertising material, connect the user's PC to an affiliate ASP server, attach a cookie containing affiliate information and advertiser information, and then redirect to the advertising material or product on the advertiser's site, making it appear as if the product or the like on the advertiser's site has been accessed directly from the affiliate site (for example, Patent Document 1). Also, there are some that, when an advertising banner on an advertising medium site on the Internet is clicked on a PC terminal or mobile terminal, the affiliate server redirects the mobile terminal to the advertiser's site and records a unique key that associates the terminal with the advertising medium site and the advertiser as a cookie in a database (for example, Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-193613 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-250752 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, in such affiliate services, in order to understand the results of advertising, it is necessary to access the user's terminal device and obtain behavioral information in order to track the user on the network. For this reason, conventional affiliate services use a method in which the terminal device of a user who selected an advertising banner is first connected to the affiliate's server, and after collecting the necessary information from the terminal device, the terminal device is redirected (guided) to the advertiser's side. Since this process from information acquisition to redirection takes only a few seconds, the user is not burdened by waiting, and in some cases the user may not even realize that the redirection process has occurred. However, in affiliate services, when users move from a promotional site to a commercial site, they unintentionally access the affiliate site and collect information. Although this information collection process is necessary for more detailed analysis of the effectiveness of advertising, there is a risk that excessive information collection may occur, which could pose a problem of user privacy.

[0007] Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a trend toward restricting the reading of cookies attached to terminal devices by anyone other than the sender, or the reading of cookies after redirection processing, from the perspective of protecting user privacy when collecting information on the Internet. Affiliate services face the issue of making it difficult to grasp the results of advertising when such restrictions on the collection of user information on networks are put in place. Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not disclose or suggest any solution to such problems, and the configurations disclosed in these documents cannot solve such problems.

[0008] The inventors of the present invention have found that it is possible to grasp the advertising information used by a user and whether or not a set condition has been met by utilizing information collected by a service site that conducts transactions with the user.

[0009] Based on this knowledge, the present invention aims to realize the understanding of the advertising effectiveness of an advertising site without allowing an affiliate server that does not conduct transactions with the user to directly access the user's terminal. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the advertising management system of the present invention is to acquire, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify the user and progress information that can identify the access path of the terminal device, and notify the second server of the identification information and progress information, and Notified Associated with said identification information Generated by The new identification information Obtained from the second server a first server that assigns the new identification information to the terminal device, acquires the new identification information from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website, and notifies the second server; and stores the identification information acquired through the first server in association with the progress information; The new identification information is generated in association with the identification information and notified to the first server, and when the setting condition is satisfied, and a second server that compares the identification information with the new identification information and measures the results of the advertisement display included in the progress information based on the comparison results, and the first server and the second server do not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before accessing the website.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the advertisement management device of the present invention is to receive, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify the user, which is acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information that can identify the access path of the terminal device, from the management server; notifying the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device; When a set condition is satisfied on the website, the management server acquires the The aforementioned a communication unit that receives new identification information from the management server; and a storage unit that stores the identification information acquired through the management server and the progress information in association with each other, and stores the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website. The new identification information is generated in association with the identification information received from the management server, and when the set condition is satisfied, The system is provided with a processing unit that measures the results of the advertisement display contained in the progress information based on the comparison result between the identification information and the new identification information, and does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before accessing the website.

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the advertising management program of the present invention is an advertising management program to be implemented on a computer, which receives, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify the user, which is acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information that can identify the access path of the terminal device, from the management server; notifying the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device; When a set condition is met on the website, the The aforementioned a function of receiving new identification information from the management server, and a function of storing the identification information and the progress information acquired through the management server in a storage unit in association with each other, and storing the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website in the storage unit; The new identification information is generated in association with the identification information received from the management server, and when the set condition is satisfied, It includes a function for measuring the results of the advertisement display contained in the progress information based on the results of comparing the identification information with the new identification information, and does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on terminal devices before they access the website. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, one of the following effects can be obtained.

[0014] (1) The first server that manages the service site can use the identification information and progress information obtained from the user's terminal device, and the user identification information assigned to the user's terminal device, to confirm the promotional effectiveness of the advertising displayed on the media site.

[0015] (2) By not allowing the second server that provides the affiliate service to directly access the terminal device, information collection by devices that the user is not aware of is not performed, and the user's privacy can be guaranteed.

[0016] (3) By generating the discrimination information used to track users on the second server and having this discrimination information provided by the first server that transacts with the users, it is possible to reduce the setup burden when introducing an affiliate service and the burden on affiliates of monitoring users who visit the service site. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of functional parts of an advertisement management system. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of access and information flow of a terminal device in an advertisement management system. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a tracking DB. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a product affiliate DB. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an affiliate DB. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing state on the terminal device side. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an advertisement management system. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an advertisement management system. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an advertisement management process. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an advertisement management process. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] [First embodiment] Fig. 1 shows an example of the functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to the first embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 1 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. This advertisement management system 2 is an example of a functional configuration that advertises products and services offered on a service site operated and managed by a service server 12 through banner advertisements posted on a media site 6 accessed by a terminal device 4 used by a user, monitors the results of the advertisements, and calculates advertising fees. In the advertisement management system 2, as shown in Fig. 1, for example, the media site 6 and service site are located on a public network such as the Internet 8, and multiple users can communicate using terminal devices 4. The terminal devices 4 used by users are computers equipped with communication functions that can connect to the Internet 8, and include PCs (Personal Computers) and mobile communication terminals.

[0019] Media site 6 is an example of a first site of the present disclosure and is managed and operated by a computer such as a media server (not shown). Media site 6 may be, for example, a so-called portal site that searches numerous websites on the Internet, or may include a promotional site that posts advertisements for service sites offering products and services related to a specific field. This media site 6 posts banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc., which are advertisements for each product, service, or service site. Each banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc. has link information set to a specific product or service site, and a user's selection operation redirects the terminal device 4 to the set link destination. In this way, media site 6 has the function of introducing products and other information to users and guiding them to the products and other information.

[0020] Service server 12 is an example of the first server of the present disclosure, and is composed of a computer that performs management and operation processing for the service site, and transmits and receives information to and from terminal devices 4 that access it through media site 6. Service server 12 is also an advertiser that requests advertising for products and services sold on the service site, and tracks all of the information acquired from users' terminal devices 4 or actions taken by users within the service site, and transmits information necessary for identifying affiliates to affiliate server 14 that performs affiliate processing. This service server 12 includes, for example, an identification information collection unit 16, a user identification function unit 18, a progress information collection unit 20, and a user identification information assignment unit 22.

[0021] The identification information collection unit 16 is an example of a means for identifying the terminal device 4 of a user who has accessed a service site and collecting information to be used for tracking the behavior of the terminal device 4 within the service site. The collected identification information includes, for example, part of the information contained in a cookie (HTTP cookie) stored in the browser of the terminal device 4, information for identifying the terminal device 4, or account information for identifying the user who is using the terminal device 4. For example, the identification information collection unit 16 accesses the browser when the terminal device 4 accesses the service site and extracts the identification information required to identify the user.

[0022] The user identification function unit 18 is an example of a function unit that determines whether a user is a target of tracking by referring to the extracted identification information and user identification information described later. The user identification information is, for example, an example of unique information (UID) that is assigned to a terminal device 4 that has connected to a service site and become a target of tracking, and is stored in the identification information collected by the identification information collection unit 16, as well as in the browser in association with the identification information. The user identification information is, for example, composed of random numbers generated according to a predetermined rule.

[0023] The progress information collection unit 20 is an example of a functional unit that acquires progress information such as information on websites that the terminal device 4 passed through before accessing the service site, banner advertisements, etc. This progress information may be obtained by using, for example, referrer (HTTP referrer) information stored in the browser of the terminal device 4.

[0024] The user identification information assigning unit 22 is an example of a functional unit that transmits user identification information to the terminal device 4 that has accessed the service site and causes the browser to assign the information. The user identification information is generated by the affiliate server 14 and is obtained from the affiliate server 14 when the terminal device 4 accesses the service site.

[0025] Affiliate server 14 is an example of the second server or advertisement management device of the present disclosure, and is composed of a computer that selects media site 6 and instructs the placement of banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc., upon request from service server 12, which is the advertiser, and monitors terminal devices 4 that access the service site to determine whether an affiliation has been established. Affiliate server 14 receives, for example, the identification information and progress information of terminal device 4 extracted by service server 12, as well as the determination result of the presence or absence of user identification information (UID) and the user identification information. Affiliate server 14 also sends newly generated or partially updated user identification information to service server 12, and may also include instruction information to be assigned to terminal device 4. Affiliate server 14 includes, for example, a processor and memory (not shown), as well as a communication unit 24, a processing unit 26, and a storage unit 28.

[0026] The communication unit 24 has the function of connecting to a general network such as the Internet 8, and also uses socket communication to identify the service server 12 that provides the affiliate service and send and receive data such as identification information and user identification information.

[0027] Processing unit 26 is an example of a functional unit for performing affiliate processing such as tracking processing and generating user identification information, and functions by executing, for example, an advertisement management program stored in storage unit 28. Processing unit 26 includes, for example, an identification information processing functional unit 30, a user identification information generating unit 32, and a counting unit 34. The identification information processing function unit 30 is an example of a function unit that identifies the terminal device 4 and the user of the terminal device 4 accessing the service site based on the identification information received from the service server 12. The user identification information generating unit 32 generates a new UID based on the result of the service server 12 determining whether or not a UID exists, or updates the access date and the like of an already assigned UID. The aggregation unit 34 is an example of a functional unit that performs a process of generating a tracking DB 60 (FIG. 4) for the terminal device 4 to be tracked, using identification information, user identification information, progress information, and the like.

[0028] The storage unit 28 stores an OS (Operating System) that controls the basic operations of the affiliate server 14, an advertisement management program that executes the affiliate function, a communication processing program, etc., and also functions as a work area for the processor to process the advertisement management program. The storage unit 28 also has a database (DB) 36 used for the advertisement management process, which stores information about the terminal device 4, information about the service site that has requested the affiliation, information about the media site 6 that performs the advertisement, etc.

[0029] <About Advertising Management System 2> 2 and 3 show an example of the configuration of the advertisement management system, the behavior of the terminal device, and the flow of information. The terminal device 4 operated by the user is equipped with a browser 40 for browsing websites, for example. The browser 40 stores information provided by browsing websites, such as identification information contained in cookies, user identification information provided by the service server 12, and progress information identifying websites accessed by the terminal device 4.

[0030] The service site operated by the service server 12 is composed of, for example, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46. The main page 42 is the top page of the site, a page listing products, or a page listing each product, and is a page that is guided to and displayed by banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, ... 10-6 on the media site 6. The separate page 44 is made up of, for example, one or more pages, and each page is linked to be movable with the other pages and with the main page 42. The separate pages 44 and the separate page 44 and the main page 42 are located, for example, within the same domain. The conversion page 46 is an example of a page that is displayed when or immediately before a condition set by an affiliate is achieved, and is, for example, a page that indicates the completion of payment or reservation for a product or service.

[0031] The advertisement management system 2 is configured to perform information collection and tracking processing when the terminal device 4 accesses the main page 42. As a result, in the advertisement management system 2, for example, as shown in A of FIG. 3, the user's terminal device 4 accesses the media site 6 and is directed to the main page 42 of the service site by selecting a specific banner advertisement 10 posted therein. At this time, the service site collects specific identification information 50 (FIG. 2), progress information 52 (FIG. 2), service site ID, etc. from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 and transmits them to the affiliate server 14. The affiliate server 14 stores the acquired information in the DB 36. Furthermore, when the service server 12 acquires the user identification information 54 generated by the affiliate server 14, the service server 12 adds the user identification information 54 to the information that the service server 12 issues to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4.

[0032] When affiliate server 14 reads identification information 50, progress information 52, and other information into processing unit 26, it generates user identification information 54 based on this information, sets terminal device 4 as a tracking target, and stores information about terminal device 4 in DB 36. DB 36 includes a tracking DB 60 that stores information such as identification of the tracking target, progress information, and results, a product affiliate DB 62 that specifies the target of advertising and the placement of the advertisement, and an affiliate DB 64 that specifies the placement of banner advertisement 10. The processing unit 26 also causes the communication unit 24 to transmit the user identification information 54 to the service server 12, instruction information for instructing the terminal device 4 to assign the user identification information 54, and the like.

[0033] For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a user achieves a set goal, such as deciding to purchase a product or completing a reservation, the service server 12 displays a conversion page 46 on the browser 40 of the terminal device 4. At this time, the service server 12 accesses the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 to acquire the identification information and UID, and transmits specific information and progress information stored in the cookie, a service site ID 56 for identifying the advertiser, product information 58, and other information to the affiliate server 14. The affiliate server 14 compares the information and UID acquired from the browser 40 with the information stored in the DB 36 to confirm that the user of the terminal device 4 that achieved the goal is a tracking target and to determine whether the media site 6 that directed the terminal device 4 to the service site is an affiliate target. The affiliate server 14 then generates advertising performance information 66 based on the determination result. The advertising performance information 66 serves as the basis for calculating and paying compensation to the media site.

[0034] The service server 12 requests the terminal device 4 that has accessed the main page 42 to send or collect information, and reads out the identification information 50 and the progress information 52 from the browser 40. The service server 12 determines, for example, whether or not there is user identification information 54 in the identification information 50 or associated with the identification information 50, and transmits the result together with the identification information 50 and the progress information 52 to the affiliate server 14. The service server 12 also assigns the user identification information 54 received from the affiliate server 14 to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4.

[0035] <About Tracking DB60> An example of the tracking DB is shown in Fig. 4. The information stored in the DB shown in Fig. 4, as well as the display items, display names, and order of the information, are examples. This tracking DB 60 stores information obtained from users who have accessed the service site and become the target of tracking, or from the users' terminal devices 4, as well as information about operations at the service site, and includes, for example, an index section 601, a user identification information section 602, a media ID section 603, a service site ID section 604, an advertisement No. section 605, an issue date section 606, a conversion date section 607, and a used date and time section 608.

[0036] The index section 601 stores information for identifying data generated in the tracking DB 60 .

[0037] The user identification information unit 602 stores the UID (user identification information 54) generated by the processing unit 26. This UID may be set for each terminal device 4, for example, or multiple UIDs may be set for the same terminal device 4. The UID is information for determining whether a terminal device 4 guided by a banner advertisement 10, or a user of that terminal device 4, is a tracking target. Therefore, if different banner advertisements 10 are set for different products sold on the same service site, different UIDs may be set for each product because the tracking targets are different.

[0038] The media ID section 603 stores, for example, address information as information for identifying the media site 6 that has guided the terminal device 4 .

[0039] The service site ID section 604 stores information for identifying the service site that is the advertiser, such as address information as well as the name and type of the service site.

[0040] The advertisement No. section 605 stores information for identifying the banner advertisement 10 to which the terminal device 4 has been directed in response to a selection operation, for example.

[0041] The issue date section 606 stores the date on which new information was created or updated in the tracking DB 60 .

[0042] The conversion date section 607 stores the date when the terminal device 4 completed the conversion at the service site.

[0043] The used date and time section 608 stores the date and time information that the processing section 26 used to generate the result information 66 after the conversion was established.

[0044] <Product Affiliate DB62> FIG. 5 shows an example of a product affiliate DB. The product affiliate DB62 is an example of a database used to manage product information that is the subject of advertising and the destination of that advertising, and includes an index section 621, a service site ID section 622, a media ID section 623, a product number section 624, a product name section 625, an operation flag section 626, a remuneration amount section 627, etc.

[0045] The index section 621 stores information for identifying data generated in the affiliate DB 62.

[0046] The service site ID section 622 stores information for identifying a service site, such as address information, as well as the name and type of the service site.

[0047] The media ID section 623 stores, for example, address information as information for identifying the media site 6 that leads to the product page of the product or service site that is the target of advertising.

[0048] The product number section 624 stores information such as a number set to distinguish the type of product.

[0049] The product name section 625 stores information such as the name and model number of the product that is the subject of the advertisement.

[0050] The operation flag section 626 stores information indicating whether or not the product information registered in the product affiliate DB 62 is being advertised using a banner advertisement 10 on any media site 6, or whether or not the product information is set as a tracking target on a service site.

[0051] The remuneration amount section 627 stores the advertising remuneration amount to be paid to the management side of the media site 6 when a conversion is established.

[0052] <Affiliate DB64> FIG. 6 shows an example of the affiliate DB. Affiliate DB 64 is an example of a database that manages media sites 6 that are affiliates that advertise by posting banner advertisements 10 for products and services of advertiser service sites. This affiliate DB 64 includes, for example, an affiliate ID section 641, a media registrant name section 642, an account information section 643, an email address section 644, and an affiliate information section 645.

[0053] The affiliate ID section 641 stores, for example, the registration order of media sites 6 that have concluded a contract with the affiliate server 14 to post advertisements and pay a fee for the posting.

[0054] The media registrant name section 642 stores information such as the administrator name of the media site 6 . The account information section 643 stores information such as payment method and payee for advertising fees paid according to the results of advertising. The email address section 644 is an example of contact information for the administrator of the media site 6. This contact information may include information such as a telephone number in addition to an email address. The affiliate information section 645 stores information about the media site 6, or information about the placement of the banner advertisement 10, and other information about the affiliate contract.

[0055] <Regarding the access status of terminal device 4> FIG. 7 shows an example of the processing state on the terminal device side. The media site 6 is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4 using a browser 40, as shown in A of Fig. 7. The user selects a banner advertisement 10-1 on the terminal device 4 by operating an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse, or a touch panel formed on the display unit.

[0056] When banner advertisement 10-1 is selected, terminal device 4 accesses the service site in accordance with the set link information, and main page 42 is displayed on the display unit, as shown in Fig. 7B, for example. At this time, terminal device 4 stores, for example, in browser 40, progress information 52 indicating that media site 6 has been accessed, identification information 70 issued by the service site, and user identification information 54.

[0057] This service site may be, for example, a restaurant reservation site, and reservation application processing is set as an affiliate setting condition. As shown in, for example, C of FIG. 7, as the reservation application proceeds within the service site, a final confirmation screen 46-I, which is one of the conversion pages, is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4. This final confirmation screen 46-I displays a transmission operation section for finalizing the reservation application, and by selecting and operating this transmission operation section, the user confirms agreement with the reservation details and finalizes the application to the service site. Then, as shown in, for example, D of FIG. 7, a completion page 46-II is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4 from the service site, which displays a message indicating that the reservation has been completed and includes an inquiry number. This completion page 46-II is one of the conversion pages 46. At this time, the service server 12 reads out the identification information 70 and the user discrimination information 54 from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4, for example, before or when the final confirmation screen 46-I or the completion page 46-II is displayed, and uses this information to determine which banner advertisement 10 resulted in the result.

[0058] <Regarding the processing of Advertising Management System 2> Figures 8 and 9 show an example of sequence processing in the advertisement management system. The processing contents and processing procedures shown in Figures 8 and 9 are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to such contents. These sequence processes are an example of the advertisement management program of the present disclosure. When a user's terminal device 4 accesses a specific media site 6 (S101) and selects one of the banner advertisements 10 displayed there (S102), the user is directed to a set service site (S103).

[0059] Service server 12, which manages the service site, acquires progress information and the like from the accessing terminal device 4 (S104) and understands that it has been directed from the service site. Service server 12 then accesses terminal device 4 (S105) and acquires identification information from browser 40 (S106). At this time, service server 12 determines whether user identification information indicating that terminal device 4 has previously accessed the service site is stored, for example, and notifies affiliate server 14 of the determination result (S107).

[0060] When affiliate server 14 acquires from service server 12 the identification information for identifying terminal device 4 and its user, user identification information 54, user identification information, and other information (S108), it stores this information in tracking DB 60 (S109). If it does not have user identification information, new data regarding terminal device 4 is registered in tracking DB 60. If it does have user identification information, processing unit 26 of affiliate server 14 extracts the file of terminal device 4 from tracking DB 60 and updates the date of access to the service site, etc. Then, depending on the result of the determination of whether or not user identification information is present, the processing unit 26 generates new user identification information or performs update processing such as date information recorded in the acquired user identification information (S110), and then transmits this user identification information and instruction information to the service server 12 (S111).

[0061] When the service server 12 acquires new or updated user identification information (S112), it assigns the user identification information to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 based on the instruction information (S113).

[0062] The terminal device 4 performs an operation on the service site to satisfy the set conditions (S201). The operation to satisfy the set conditions may be performed, for example, after the user visits the service site and continues to access the site, or may be performed when the user accesses another site or when the user accesses the service site again on another day. In other words, the advertisement management system 2 does not need to perform continuous sessions of accessing the service site after assigning user identification information to the terminal device 4.

[0063] When an operation that satisfies the set conditions occurs, the service server 12 performs a conversion confirmation process (S202). The service server 12 accesses the terminal device 4 (S203), acquires identification information and user identification information (S204), and transmits this information to the affiliate server 14 (S205). When the processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 acquires the identification information and the like (S206), it reads the data of the terminal device 4 stored in the tracking DB 60 (S207) and performs a process of comparing the user identification information to determine whether or not they match (S208). If the processing unit 26 determines that the user identification information matches, it generates performance information 66 resulting from the banner advertisement 10 or the promotion of the media site 6 registered in the tracking DB 60 (S209) and performs an affiliate aggregation process (S210). The processing unit 26 also organizes the information stored in the tracking DB 60 (S211).

[0064] <About advertising management processing> Fig. 10 shows an example of advertisement management processing. The processing contents and processing procedures shown in Fig. 10 are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. This advertisement management process is an example of an advertisement management program of the present disclosure, and is executed by affiliate server 14, which is an advertisement management device.

[0065] This advertisement management process includes, for example, a process A that is performed when the terminal device 4 accesses a service site, and a process B that is performed when an operation that satisfies a condition set in the tracking process is performed. In process A of the advertisement management process, for example, notification of access information of terminal device 4 is received from service server 12 (S311), and identification information, progress information, user identification information, etc. of terminal device 4 are acquired through service server 12 (S312). Processing unit 26 accesses tracking DB 60 and determines whether matching identification information and user identification information are stored (S313). If matching information is found (YES in S313), processing unit 26 reads the data of the matching terminal device 4, updates information such as the access date in the user identification information to the latest information, and updates tracking DB 60 (S314, S315).

[0066] Furthermore, if there is no matching information in the tracking DB 60 (NO in S313), the processing unit 26 generates user identification information (S316) and stores this user identification information, identification information, progress information, etc. in the tracking DB 60 (S317).

[0067] Then, the processing unit 26 transmits either the updated user identification information or the newly created user identification information, together with instruction information to the service server 12 (S318).

[0068] In process B of the advertisement management process, the processing unit 26 receives a notification of conversion from the service server 12 and acquires information such as user identification information (S319). The processing unit 26 reads the tracking DB 60 (S320) and determines whether there is matching user identification information (S321). If there is matching user identification information (YES in S321), the processing unit 26 determines whether there is media information that is the target of the affiliate service (S322). In determining the media information, the processing unit 26 also determines whether there is a contract with the affiliate server 14 regarding advertising using the banner advertisement 10 and receiving compensation for that advertising.

[0069] If the processing unit 26 has media information (YES in S322), it uses this media information to generate affiliate performance information 66 (S323), and then performs an update process by deleting part of the information in the tracking DB 60, including the product or service for which the conversion was achieved, or the user's identification information and user discrimination information (S324). In deleting this information, for example, information that matches the same user discrimination information or the product to be tracked in the tracking DB 60 and has matching user discrimination information is extracted and deleted.

[0070] [Effects of the first embodiment] According to this configuration, one of the following effects can be obtained.

[0071] (1) The user's privacy can be ensured by not conducting transactions or contracts with the user's terminal device 4 and by not allowing the affiliate server 14, which the user is not aware of, to directly access the terminal device 4 and collect identification information 50, user identification information 54, etc.

[0072] (2) The service server 12 can use the identification information 50 and progress information 52 acquired from the user's terminal device 4, and the user identification information 54 assigned to the user's terminal device 4, to confirm the promotional effectiveness of the advertisement display on the media site 6.

[0073] Second Embodiment Fig. 11 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the second embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 11 is one example. In Fig. 11, the same parts as in Fig. 2 are given the same reference numerals. 11, for example, in this advertisement management system 2, when a terminal device 4 accesses through a banner advertisement 10 on a media site 6, a service server 12 accesses a browser 40 of the terminal device 4 to collect identification information 50, progress information 52 recorded in the referrer, etc. Then, the service server 12 selects all of the collected information or only information that has been conditioned in advance as information necessary for affiliate processing and transmits it to an affiliate server 14 without determining whether the information collected from the terminal device 4 contains user identification information for determining whether the user has accessed the site before.

[0074] The processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 includes, for example, a user discrimination function unit 80, which performs a process of determining whether or not the information received from the service server 12 includes the user discrimination information 54.

[0075] Furthermore, the advertisement management system 2 may perform the same advertisement management process as that shown in the first embodiment, except for the process of determining whether or not the user identification information 54 exists.

[0076] <About advertising management processing> Fig. 12 shows the advertisement management process. The process contents and procedure shown in Fig. 12 are an example. In process A of the advertisement management process, as shown in FIG. 12, when notification of access information of the terminal device 4 is received from the service server 12 (S411), the processing unit 26 acquires the identification information, progress information, etc. of the terminal device 4 through the service server 12 (S412). The processing unit 26 performs a process of determining whether or not user identification information exists in the acquired identification information and other information using the user identification function unit 80 (S413). If the processing unit 26 has identified and read out the user identification information (YES in S413), it accesses the tracking DB 60 and determines whether matching identification information or user identification information is stored (S414). If matching information is found (YES in S414), the processing unit 26 updates the tracking DB 60 by updating information such as the access date in the user identification information to the latest information (S415, S416).

[0077] Furthermore, if the processing unit 26 determines that the acquired identification information or other information does not contain user identification information (NO in S413), or if there is no matching information in the tracking DB 60 (NO in S414), it generates new user identification information (S417) and stores this user identification information, identification information, progress information, etc. in the tracking DB 60 (S418).

[0078] Then, the processing unit 26 transmits either the updated user identification information or the newly created user identification information, together with instruction information to the service server 12 (S419).

[0079] Note that the process B of the advertisement management process may be the same as the processes S319 to S324 of FIG.

[0080] [Effects of the second embodiment] According to this configuration, the following effects can be obtained.

[0081] (1) The same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0082] (2) The presence or absence of user identification information 50 and progress information 52 collected from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 is not determined within the service server 12, but rather the determination process is performed by the processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 that performs tracking processing, thereby reducing the load on the service server 12 that processes product sales, etc.

[0083] (3) Furthermore, by not allowing the service server 12 to perform tracking processing on the terminal device 4, even if an inconvenience such as maintenance of the affiliate server 14, an unintentional server downtime, or other processing stagnation occurs, the impact on the product sales processing by the service server 12 can be minimized.

[0084] (4) By limiting the service server 12 to sending and receiving information with the terminal device 4 and sending information to the affiliate server 14, there is no need to set up advanced and extensive processing programs on the service server 12, thereby reducing the implementation load of the advertising management system 2.

[0085] Third Embodiment FIG. 13 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the third embodiment. In this advertisement management system 2, as shown in FIG. 13, for example, a service site managed and operated by a service server 12 is made up of an affiliate page 90, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46. The affiliate page 90 is a page for performing tracking processes, including collecting information from the terminal device 4, transmitting identification information and the like to the affiliate server 14, receiving user identification information 54, and assigning the user identification information 54 to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4. The affiliate page 90 is configured to be displayed first to a terminal device 4 accessing a service site, for example. Therefore, it is not necessary to set link information for banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 presented on the media site 6 to direct the user to the affiliate page 90. Even if a bookmark is set for the main page 42 or another page 44 of the service site, the terminal device 4 can simply force the affiliate page 90 to be displayed when accessing the service server 12. The affiliate page 90 is formed, for example, in the same domain as the main page 42, the another page 44, and the conversion page 46.

[0086] Then, when the service server 12 has completed information collection and assignment of user identification information 54 on the affiliate page 90 for the terminal device 4 that has accessed the service site, it redirects the terminal device 4 to the main page 42. This affiliate page 90 is, for example, a page without text or color, and is displayed for one to several seconds. Therefore, due to the load of the tracking process, the user of the terminal device 4 may only be able to see the affiliate page 90 for a moment, or may not be able to see it at all.

[0087] [Effects of the third embodiment] According to this configuration, the following effects can be obtained.

[0088] (1) The same effects as those of the first or second embodiment can be obtained.

[0089] (2) The service server 12 executes a system program (not shown) when displaying the main page 42 on the terminal device 4. However, by inserting an affiliate page 90 that only performs tracking processing before displaying the main page 42, the execution timing of the system program and the tracking processing do not overlap, and the processing load can be distributed.

[0090] (3) By distributing the processing load through the affiliate page 90, it is possible to prevent stagnation of page generation processing when displaying the main page 42 or moving to other pages 44 when access to the service site is concentrated.

[0091] [Fourth embodiment] Fig. 14 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the fourth embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 14 is one example. 14, the advertisement management system 2 is configured such that the service site managed and operated by the service server 12 is composed of an affiliate page 90, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46. In addition, in the advertisement management system 2, banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6 posted on the media site 6 are, for example, main page 42 to which users are directed by advertisements, and link information is set to individual product pages 92A, 92B, ... 92N.

[0092] In this type of advertising management system 2, even if any of banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 is selected, affiliate page 90 is forcibly displayed when service server 12 is accessed, and information is collected from the accessing terminal device 4 as a tracking process, transmitted to affiliate server 14, and user identification information 54 is assigned. Then, when the tracking process on affiliate page 90 is completed, service server 12 refers to the link information set in the selected banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6, and redirects the selected banner advertisement to the corresponding product page 92A, 92B, ..., 92N.

[0093] [Effects of the fourth embodiment] According to this configuration, the same effects as those of the third embodiment can be obtained.

[0094] The following are some characteristics and modifications of the above-described embodiment.

[0095] (1) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the terminal device 4 accessed the service site through the media site 6, but this is not limited to this. That is, the advertising management system 2 can perform tracking processing even when, for example, the terminal device 4 first accesses the service site through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, . . . 10-6, but does not complete a conversion by purchasing a product or reserving a service, exits the service server 12, and then accesses the service site directly without passing through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, . . . 10-6. For example, the terminal device 4 may set a bookmark (not shown) for the main page 42 or a separate page 44 for each product, and then directly access the specified page from the second time onwards. For example, when the terminal device 4 accesses the service server 12, the advertising management system 2 may forcibly move to the main page 42 or the affiliate page 90 and perform tracking processing.

[0096] Furthermore, the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 stores the user identification information and previous identification information assigned previously, but may store progress information from the previous access, or the progress information may have been deleted due to the passage of time. In this case, the affiliate server 14 reads out the user information stored in the tracking DB 60 based on the user identification information. This user information stores the previous progress information, such as a media ID. Therefore, when this user converts, the affiliate server 14 may generate advertising performance information using the previous or earlier progress information stored in the tracking DB 60 for the progress information of the media site that was not obtained in the current tracking process.

[0097] According to this process, even if a customer leaves the website and the session is terminated between the first viewing and the purchase, the customer will be guided by the banner advertisement 10 for products or services in a field that is expensive or requires a long time to consider, and the advertising effect can be understood.

[0098] (2) In the above embodiment, a preset main page 42 is displayed as a landing point for the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 set on the media site 6, leading the user's terminal device 4 to the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 displayed on the media site 6 and displaying them on the browser 40. However, this is not limited to this. For example, when different banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-X placed on the same or different media sites 6 are linked to the same main page 42, the service server 12 may change the display content of the main page 42 for each user depending on the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-X that the user's terminal device 4 has visited.

[0099] The service server 12 stores, for example, linked banner advertisement information as configuration information for the main page 42, in addition to background color, multiple products, and format information for fitting these products. The service server 12 also stores combination information that associates different format information and background color information for each piece of banner advertisement information linked to the main page 42. As a result, the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 displays main page 42 with different configurations depending on whether banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, and 10-3 in medium 1 are selected or banner advertisements 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 in medium 2 are selected.

[0100] With this configuration, the user's impression of the main page 42 on which the banner advertisements 10 are displayed can be changed depending on conditions such as the background color of the media site 6 and the number and state of the banner advertisements 10. For example, if the media site 6 has a light background color, the background color of the main page 42 can be adjusted to a light color scheme of the same type, or conversely, to a dark color scheme, thereby giving the user viewing the service site an impression of increased purchasing motivation and a calm atmosphere for browsing products. In addition, if the media site 6 gives the impression of being cluttered with banner advertisements and other explanations, reducing the number of products displayed on the service site can give the user a calm impression due to factors such as the gap in the display configuration, leading to increased interest in the products and increased purchasing motivation. Furthermore, the service server 12 or the affiliate server 14 may count the number of user visits and the success of conversions for each banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, ..., and may offer product discounts or special offers, change the content displayed on the page, etc. to users who visit through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 that exceed a predetermined standard. By offering special offers to banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 that have a high advertising effect in this way, it is possible to invigorate the advertising activities of the media site 6 and to expect an increase in the number of user visits and conversions.

[0101] As explained above, the most preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above description. Various modifications and changes are possible for those skilled in the art based on the gist of the invention as set forth in the claims or disclosed in the description for carrying out the invention. It goes without saying that such modifications and changes are included within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0102] 2. Advertising Management System 4 Terminal Devices 6. Media Sites 8. Internet 10, 10-1, 10-2, 10-6 Banner Ads 12 Service Server 14 Affiliate Server 16 Identification Information Collection Department 18 User discrimination function unit 20 Progress Information Collection Department 22 User identification information assignment unit 24 Communications Department 26 Processing section 28 Memory section 30 Identification information processing function unit 32 User identification information generation unit 34 Counting Unit 36 DB 40 Browsers 42 Main Page 44 Separate Page 46 Conversion Pages 46-I, 46-II Completed Pages 50, 70 Identification information 52 Progress information 54 User identification information 56 Advertiser ID 58 Product information 60 Tracking DB 601, 621 Index section 602 User Identification Information Section 603 Media ID Department 604 Service Site ID Section 605 Advertisement No. 606 Issue Date 607 Conversion Days 608 Used Date and Time Affiliate DB of 62 products 622 Service Site ID Department 623 Media ID Department 624 Product No. 625 Product name section 626 Operation Flag Section 627 Remuneration Division 64 Affiliate DB 641 Affiliate ID Department 642 Media Registered Persons 643 Account Information Department 644 Email address section 645 Affiliate Information Department 66 Results Information 80 User discrimination function unit 90 Affiliate Pages 92A, 92B, 92N product page

Claims

1. a first server that acquires, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify a user and progress information that can identify an access route of the terminal device, notifies a second server of the identification information and progress information, acquires new identification information generated in association with the notified identification information from the second server and assigns it to the terminal device, and acquires the new identification information from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website and notifies the second server of the new identification information; a second server that associates and stores the identification information and the progress information acquired through the first server, generates new identification information by associating it with the identification information, notifies the first server of the new identification information, compares the identification information with the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied, and measures the results of the advertisement display included in the progress information based on the comparison result; wherein the first server and the second server do not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before the terminal device accesses the website.

2. a communication unit that receives, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information capable of identifying a user and that has been acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information capable of identifying an access route of the terminal device, and that notifies the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device, and that receives from the management server the new identification information that the management server has acquired from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website; a storage unit that stores the identification information and the progress information acquired through the management server in association with each other, and stores the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website; a processing unit that generates new identification information in association with the identification information received from the management server, and measures the results of advertisement display included in the progress information based on a comparison result between the identification information and the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied; and wherein the advertising management device does not perform a tracking process used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before the terminal device accesses the website.

3. An advertisement management program to be realized by a computer, the program having a function of receiving, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information capable of identifying a user, which is acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information capable of identifying the access route of the terminal device, notifying the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device, and receiving from the management server the new identification information acquired from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website; a function of storing the identification information and the progress information acquired through the management server in a storage unit in association with each other, and storing the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website in the storage unit; a function of generating new identification information in association with the identification information received from the management server, and measuring the results of advertisement display included in the progress information based on a comparison result between the identification information and the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied; and wherein the advertising management program does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on a terminal device before the terminal device accesses a website.

Images