Advertising systems, advertising methods, and advertising programs

Abstract

This service can provide features that improve advertising effectiveness in online advertising services. [Solution] The advertising system 10 comprises at least one processor, and is configured to perform the following actions by executing a plurality of instructions stored in memory, which at least one processor executes a plurality of instructions to obtain a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal, select a plurality of advertising candidates including an advertising candidate associated with an advertising unit price corresponding to the user identifier, and select an advertisement to be displayed to the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising unit price associated with each of the advertising candidates. Selecting a plurality of advertising candidates includes extracting a plurality of advertising candidates associated with an unadjusted advertising unit price, and for advertising candidates that require adjustment, adjusting the advertising unit price based on adjustment data corresponding to the user identifier.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an advertising system, an advertising method, and an advertising program. Background Art

[0002] As one type of online advertising service, search-linked advertising is known. Search-linked advertising places advertisements related to a keyword input by a user in an advertising slot included in a search result screen.

[0003] On the other hand, an advertiser who requests placement of search-linked advertising using an advertising service selects keywords related to the product that is the target of the advertisement. The advertiser then sets an advertising unit price, which is a bid amount, for the selected keyword and submits a bid for the advertisement. The advertisement to be placed in the advertising slot is immediately determined by an auction such as RTB (Real Time Bidding) (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Prior Art Documents Patent Documents

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 5749869 Summary of the Invention Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Incidentally, when an advertisement is placed in an advertising slot, there are cases where a result such as purchase or reservation is obtained, and cases where no such result is obtained. Factors that affect advertising effectiveness are wide-ranging, and there was room for improvement in advertisement bidding by taking into account at least one of these factors. Means for Solving the Problem

[0006] This disclosure provides an advertising system that solves the above problems. The advertising system comprises a memory for storing a plurality of instructions and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions to obtain a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal, select a plurality of advertising candidates including an advertising candidate associated with an advertising price corresponding to the user identifier, and select an advertisement to be displayed to the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising price associated with each of the advertising candidates.

[0007] This disclosure provides an advertising method that solves the above problems. The advertising method includes at least one processor that obtains a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal, selects a plurality of advertising candidates, including advertising candidates whose advertising unit price has been adjusted according to adjustment data corresponding to the user identifier, and selects an advertisement to be displayed to the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising unit price associated with each of the advertising candidates.

[0008] This disclosure provides an advertising program that solves the above problems. The advertising program causes at least one processor to perform the following actions: obtain a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal; select a plurality of advertising candidates, including advertising candidates whose advertising rates have been adjusted according to adjustment data corresponding to the user identifier; and select an advertisement to be displayed on the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising rate associated with each of the advertising candidates. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to this disclosure, it is possible to provide a function that improves the effectiveness of advertising in online advertising services. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This figure shows a schematic configuration of one embodiment of the advertising system disclosed herein. [Figure 2]This figure shows a schematic diagram of the hardware configuration of the information processing device according to the same embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure schematically shows the product table of the same embodiment. [Figure 4] This diagram schematically shows the user management table of the same embodiment. [Figure 5] This figure schematically shows the advertising table of the same embodiment. [Figure 6] This figure schematically shows the advertising performance table for the same embodiment. [Figure 7] This figure schematically shows the adjustment rate table of the same embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a flowchart showing the advertising price adjustment process in the same embodiment. [Figure 9] This is a schematic diagram showing an auction when the optimization function of the same embodiment is not applied. [Figure 10] This is a schematic diagram showing an auction when the optimization function of the same embodiment is applied. [Figure 11] This is a schematic diagram showing an auction when the optimization function of the same embodiment is applied. [Figure 12] This is a diagram of the search results screen for the same embodiment. [Figure 13] This is a diagram of the screen for registering an advertising campaign in the same embodiment. [Figure 14] This is a diagram showing the advertising performance of the same embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] This disclosure describes embodiments of the advertising system, advertising method, and advertising program. This disclosure is not limited to embodiments and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims, as shown in the claims.

[0012] [Overview of the e-commerce system] FIG. 1 shows an example of an advertising system 10. The advertising system 10 is applied as part of an electronic commerce system that provides services related to online shopping malls. The advertising system 10 includes an advertisement server 11, a user management server 12, an EC server 13, a distribution server 14, a user terminal 20, and an advertiser terminal 21. These are configured to be able to transmit and receive data to and from each other via a network (not shown). Note that a plurality of the servers 11 to 14 may be configured by the same information processing apparatus.

[0013] In the present embodiment, the business operator that provides services related to online shopping malls and the advertising service is the same business operator. Hereinafter, the business operator that provides these services is referred to as a service provider. In the present embodiment, the service provider manages at least the advertisement server 11, the user management server 12, and the EC server 13. In addition, users browse and purchase products at stores that open in the online shopping mall. Furthermore, an advertiser is an electronic commerce operator that operates a store in the online shopping mall, and uses an advertising service to provide advertisements so that they are visible to users. The advertisements are advertisements for products handled at stores in the online shopping mall.

[0014] The advertising system 10 provides search-linked advertisement service as one of advertising services. A search-linked advertisement is an advertisement selected according to a search word set, or a display method thereof. The search word set is a word set input by a user on a search screen. The search word set includes at least one word. Furthermore, a search word set is associated with each advertisement. The advertising system selects an advertisement according to the degree of matching with the search word set included in an advertisement request. The search-linked advertisement is displayed on the user terminal 20 used by the user, together with search results obtained by a natural search algorithm or the like.

[0015] When an advertisement is placed on a search result screen, a search word set and an advertisement index value indicating advertisement performance are recorded in a database. Advertisement performance refers to an effect obtained through an advertisement. The advertisement index value is a numerical representation of the advertisement effect.

[0016] (EC server) First, the EC server 13 will be described. The EC server 13 is composed of at least one information processing device. The EC server 13 functions as a store management unit 30 and a purchase processing unit 31 when at least one processor described later executes a program, and includes a store DB 32. One processor may function as the store management unit 30 by executing a program, or a plurality of processors may function as the store management unit 30. The same applies to the purchase processing unit 31. Further, one processor may function as both the store management unit 30 and the purchase processing unit 31. The store management unit 30 manages product data registered by a store operator. In addition, the store management unit 30 manages sales for each store, for example.

[0017] The purchase processing unit 31 performs product purchase processing by receiving a purchase request from a user terminal 20. The purchase processing unit 31 may execute payment processing, or may transmit a payment request to a payment server (not shown).

[0018] An identifier is registered for each product handled by the store. For example, a product is an article assigned with a manufacturer product number such as a JAN code. The product may be a service such as a transaction of a financial product or an insurance product, or a communication service such as a mobile phone service.

[0019] The store DB 32 stores data related to products handled by the store and product sales. For example, the store DB 32 stores a product table 33 (see FIG. 3). (distribution server) The distribution server 14 consists of at least one information processing device. The distribution server 14 transmits web data for displaying various screens in response to requests from user terminals 20. For example, the web data is written in a markup language such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). Alternatively, the web data may use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or JavaScript (registered trademark). Web data that displays advertisements may have advertising tags embedded in it. The advertising tags are written in HTML, for example, and are tags for measuring advertising performance. The advertising slots in the web data display content of advertisements selected by the advertising server 11. The content may be an image or a video. The distribution server transmits data as web data for displaying, for example, the top screen of an online shopping mall, a search screen for searching for products, a search results screen, and a screen displaying information about the user.

[0020] Furthermore, the distribution server 14 analyzes the search query by executing a search program and generates a search word set containing at least one word. The distribution server 14 also searches for web pages containing keywords related to the search word set entered by the user, either using an index (not shown) or by communicating with an external server. The distribution server 14 ranks the detected web pages and narrows down the web pages that are closely related to the search word set. The search engine then sends web data, including snippets of the ranked web pages, to the user terminal 20.

[0021] The distribution server 14 may include the above-mentioned index and crawler. The crawler automatically explores the web pages of the online shopping mall. The crawler stores the newly discovered web pages in an index for the search engine. The index stores data about the web pages collected by the crawler in reverse index format. The index has a data structure that includes keywords for referring to documents in which a word appears, a list of identifiers for documents in which the word appears, and a posting list that stores the location of the word's appearance within the documents.

[0022] (User management server) The user management server 12 consists of at least one information processing device. The user management server 12 functions as a user management unit 40 by having at least one processor execute a program. The user management server 12 also includes a user DB 41, which is a user management storage unit.

[0023] The user management unit 40 collects activity history for each user and records it in the user database 41. Activity history includes consumer behavior such as purchasing or reserving products on the online shopping mall. The user management unit 40 also uses a point awarding program to award points to users according to their activity history. Furthermore, the user management unit 40 uses a rank determination program to determine the user's rank. Points can be acquired, held, and used by users. Points can be used in services such as the online shopping mall.

[0024] The user database 41 contains a user management table 42, a search history table (not shown), and an activity history table (not shown). The user management table 42 (see Figure 4) stores demographic data for each user, including at least one of the following: gender, age, date of birth, place of origin, place of residence, name, and occupation. The search history table may also store search history records for each user. Each search history record includes the set of search words used by the user and the date and time of the search. The activity history table may also store browsing history records and purchase history records for each user. Browsing history records may include the URLs of the web pages viewed by the user. Purchase history records may include identifiers of products purchased by the user from an online shopping mall.

[0025] (Ad server) The advertising server 11 consists of at least one information processing device. The advertising server 11 functions as a management unit 50 and an advertising decision unit 51, and also includes an advertising DB 52, through the execution of a program by at least one processor, which will be described later.

[0026] The management unit 50 obtains the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user terminal 20 and selects multiple advertising candidates, including advertising candidates associated with advertising prices corresponding to the user identifier. Each of these processes may be performed by one processor or by multiple processors. Furthermore, one processor may perform multiple processes.

[0027] The management unit 50 generates advertising campaigns in response to registration requests from advertiser terminals 21. The management unit 50 also acquires advertising requests from user terminals 20. Furthermore, the management unit 50 outputs auction requests, along with advertising unit prices and user identifiers, to the advertising decision unit 51.

[0028] The ad selection unit 51 adjusts the ad price as needed. The ad selection unit 51 also selects an ad to display on the user terminal 20 from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each ad candidate. These processes may be performed by one processor or by multiple processors.

[0029] The advertising database 52 stores an advertising table 53 (see Figure 5) for each advertiser. Each advertising campaign registered by an advertiser has an advertising price set by the advertiser. In this embodiment, the advertising price is CPC (Cost per Click), which represents the average cost per click of an advertisement. In this embodiment, registering an advertisement request by an advertiser is called advertising campaign registration, and the auction conducted using data of selected ad candidates from the advertising campaigns is called bidding. The auction process may be performed by the advertising decision unit 51 or by an external server. Furthermore, in this embodiment, in addition to the store operator, those involved in registering advertising campaigns at the request of the operator are also included.

[0030] (User terminal) User terminal 20 is a device used by users of the online shopping mall. User data is recorded in user DB 41. An example of user terminal 20 is a smartphone (multifunction telephone) or a personal computer. Other examples of user terminal 20 include a tablet device, a wearable computer, or any other user terminal. User terminal 20 may be a standalone device or a combination of multiple devices connected to each other in a manner that enables them to send and receive various types of data.

[0031] (Advertiser terminal) The advertiser terminal 21 is a device used by the advertiser. Data about the stores operated by the advertiser is recorded in the store DB 32, and data about the advertisements that the advertiser requests to be placed is recorded in the advertisement DB 52. An example of the advertiser terminal 21 is a smartphone or a personal computer. Other examples of the advertiser terminal 21 are a tablet device, a wearable computer, or any other device.

[0032] (Hardware configuration) Referring to Figure 2, the hardware configurations of the advertising server 11, user management server 12, EC server 13, delivery server 14, user terminal 20, and advertiser terminal 21 will be described. Since these are information processing devices and their hardware configurations are almost the same, the hardware configuration of the advertising server 11 will be described below.

[0033] The advertising server 11 includes a processor 60, memory 61, and a communication interface 62. The advertising server 11 may also include an input device 63 and an output device 64. The advertiser terminal 21 and user terminal 20 are equipped with the input device 63 and the output device 64, but the EC server 13, advertising server 11, and distribution server 14 may be configured without these.

[0034] The processor 60 is a processor that performs one or more of the control processes disclosed herein. The processor 60 is at least one processing circuit. For example, the processor 60 is a CPU, GPU, NPU, etc. The processor 60 is not limited to performing software processing for all of the processing it performs. For example, the processor 60 may have dedicated hardware circuits (e.g., application-specific integrated circuits: ASICs) that perform hardware processing for at least a portion of the processing it performs. That is, the processor 60 is a circuit that includes one or more processors that operate according to a computer program (software), one or more dedicated hardware circuits that perform at least a portion of the various processing, or a combination thereof.

[0035] Memory 61 stores various programs. Each program contains at least one instruction. Memory 61 consists of, for example, main memory and auxiliary memory. Examples of memory 61 include ROM, RAM, and hard disks. Memory 61 includes any available recording media that can be accessed by a general-purpose or dedicated computer. Memory 61 is connected to the processor 60 via bus 106.

[0036] The advertising program is stored in memory 61 of the advertising server 11. The memory 61 of the user terminal 20 and the memory 61 of the advertiser terminal 21 store programs for hybrid applications that enable a web browser or an in-app browser. For example, the processor 60 retrieves a web page written in a markup language and displays a screen based on the web page using a web browser.

[0037] The communication interface 62 is an interface that establishes a communication path with other devices via a network and performs data transmission and reception. The communication interface 62 consists of hardware, software, or a combination thereof.

[0038] The network may include the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network). The network may also include a core network and multiple base stations. The network may be a third-generation communication system such as W-CDMA or CDMA2000, or a fourth-generation or fifth-generation communication system such as LTE.

[0039] The input device 63 includes a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, and operation buttons provided on the casing. The output device 64 consists of at least one device. An example of the output device 64 is a display device 65. The display device 65 is a device capable of displaying a screen, such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The processor 60 is connected to the display device 65 via a display controller. In addition to the display device 65, the output device 64 may also include a microphone and a speaker. Each server 11 to 14 is provided with an input device 63 and an output device 64 as needed.

[0040] [Data structure] Next, we will describe the structure of the data stored by the advertising server 11 and the structure of the data stored by the user management server 12. Note that the tables in Figures 3 to 7 are examples, and the numerical values ​​listed in each table are merely illustrative and do not limit this disclosure.

[0041] (Product Table) Figure 3 shows the product table 33 stored in the store database 32. The product table 33 stores product records 33A for each store and product. Each product record 33A includes the store identifier, product identifier, unit price, number of units sold, product name, and sales amount. The unit price is the price at which the store sold the product. The number of units sold is the number of units the store sold within a specified period. The product name is the name the store used to sell the product. The sales amount is the amount the store sold the product for within a specified period, and is expressed as "unit price × number of units".

[0042] (User management table) Figure 4 shows a portion of the user management table 42 stored in the user DB 41. In addition to the demographic data described above, the user management table 42 includes user management records 42A for managing points. User management records 42A include a user identifier, points held, cumulative points, number of acquisitions, and rank. Points held are points awarded through the use of the online shopping mall and represent the number of points held by the user. Cumulative points are the total number of points acquired within a predetermined period. Cumulative points also include the number of points consumed within the predetermined period. Number of acquisitions is the number of times points have been acquired within the predetermined period. Rank is the rank to which the user belongs. In this embodiment, ranks 1 to 5 are set for users. Users can acquire benefits according to their rank. Benefits include, for example, an increased point accrual rate and information on limited sales. Rank is determined according to cumulative points and the number of times points have been acquired. Rank 1 is the highest, and users belonging to Rank 1 can acquire the most valuable benefits. Rank 5 is the lowest rank.

[0043] The user management unit 40 updates the user's rank at predetermined intervals. For example, the user management unit 40 may update the rank at regular intervals. Alternatively, the user management unit 40 may update the rank when points are awarded to the user. Alternatively, the user management unit 40 may update the rank when the advertising server 11 receives an advertising request from the user terminal 20.

[0044] Figure 5 shows an example of an ad table 53. The ad table 53 contains multiple ad records 53A. Each time an advertiser creates an ad campaign, an ad record 53A is created.

[0045] Advertisements are continuously bid on over the advertising period set by the advertiser or the advertising service provider. Ad record 53A contains data about the advertisement, including the ad identifier, advertiser identifier, product identifier, bid word set, cost per click (CPC), adjusted CPC, optimization requirement, and advertising period.

[0046] The ad identifier is an identifier generated for each ad bid. The advertiser identifier is the identifier of the advertiser who bid on the ad. The product identifier is the identifier of the product in the ad being bid on. For example, if you bid on the same product at different stores, the same identifier will be recorded for the product identifier. Products are identified by a "product management number," which is a combination of the "advertiser identifier" and the "product identifier."

[0047] The bidding word set is set by the advertiser when they request their ads to be displayed using a search advertising service. The ad price is CPC, as mentioned above, and is set by the advertiser. In the following, the CPC set by the advertiser may also be referred to as the "base CPC".

[0048] The "optimization required" indicator shows whether or not to apply the optimization function that adjusts the ad price. The advertiser decides whether or not to use the optimization function. In this embodiment, if the optimization function is applied, optimization is performed on the base CPC of all ad records 53A requested by the advertiser.

[0049] The adjusted ad bid is the CPC that has been optimized relative to the base CPC. In the following, the adjusted CPC may also be referred to as "adjusted CPC." As will be explained later, the adjusted CPC may be higher or lower than the base CPC.

[0050] The advertising period is the time during which bidding for the advertisement takes place. The advertising period is set by the advertiser. Ad record 53A may also include other data such as advertising budget and product sales figures.

[0051] Figure 6 shows an example of an advertising performance table 54 stored in the advertising DB 52. The advertising performance table 54 contains an advertising performance record 54A for each advertisement. The advertising performance record 54A includes advertiser identifier, advertisement identifier, product identifier, advertising period, advertising cost, actual ad cost (actual CPC), optimization requirement, sales amount, CVR, CTR, and ROAS. Advertising cost is the cost incurred to place the advertisement, and includes, for example, the cumulative actual CPC of advertisements that were won through auction. Actual CPC is the CPC set for advertisements that were won through auction. Sales amount is the amount obtained by multiplying the number of units sold of the advertised product by the selling price. CVR (Conversion Rate) is the percentage of users who reached the final result desired by the advertiser. In other words, CVR is the percentage of users who achieved the advertising effect. For example, CVR is the percentage obtained by dividing the number of conversions by the number of accesses to the website where the advertisement was placed. For example, the final result could be a product purchase, reservation, application, or request for information. Sales revenue is the sales revenue of the product targeted by the advertisement. CTR (Click-Through Rate) is the ratio of clicks to impressions (clicks ÷ impressions × 100). ROAS (Return On Advertising Spend) is the cost-effectiveness of advertising, and is the ratio of sales revenue obtained to advertising costs (sales revenue ÷ advertising costs × 100).

[0052] In addition to the metrics mentioned above, advertising metrics may include at least one of the following: clicks, conversions, CPA (Cost Per Action / Acquisition), and impressions (the number of times an ad was displayed). CPA is also called the cost per customer acquisition. CPA may be calculated, for example, by dividing the advertising cost by the number of conversions that resulted in the final outcome. Furthermore, advertising performance record 54A may include CPV in addition to or instead of CPC. CPV is the advertising cost when the video content is viewed.

[0053] Figure 7 shows an example of an adjustment rate table 55, which is adjustment data stored in the ad database 52. The adjustment rate table 55 stores adjustment rates for each rank as an example of adjustment items. The adjustment rate increases as the rank increases. The adjustment rate associated with the first rank is the largest, and the adjustment rate associated with the fifth rank is the smallest. As illustrated in Figure 7, lower ranks such as the fourth and fifth ranks may be associated with negative values ​​as adjustment rates. The adjustment rates in the adjustment rate table 55 are adjusted by the ad service provider.

[0054] [Procedure for providing advertisements] Referring to Figure 1, the procedure for providing advertisements to the user terminal 20 will be explained.

[0055] First, let's explain the registration of an advertising campaign (steps S1 and S2). The advertiser terminal 21 receives an operation from the advertiser and sends a request to register the advertising campaign (step S1). At this time, the advertiser can choose whether or not to apply the optimization function on the registration screen. The optimization function is a function that adjusts the advertising cost. Along with the registration request, the advertiser terminal 21 sends the campaign name, advertising budget, CPC, whether or not the optimization function should be applied, etc.

[0056] In other words, the inventors found that among users who view advertisements, there are users who are more likely to convert and users who are less likely to convert. Furthermore, the inventors found that users who are more likely to convert tend to have a higher rank, while users who are less likely to convert tend to have a lower rank. To improve the cost-effectiveness of advertising, it is preferable to increase the frequency of ad display to users who are more likely to convert, while decreasing the frequency of ad display to users who are less likely to convert. To adjust the frequency of ad display in this way, one could consider setting a higher ad bid price for search ads when a high-rank user performs a search, and a lower ad bid price when a low-rank user performs a search. However, since the final outcome used as the criterion for conversion differs depending on the type of product, and the average rank of users who purchase that product also differs, adjusting the ad bid price as described above does not necessarily produce a significant effect. Therefore, in this embodiment, the function to adjust the ad bid price is made selectable by the user.

[0057] Advertisers can also enable optimization features in bulk for advertising campaigns they have already registered. In this case, the advertiser terminal 21 sends a registration request for the optimization feature. When the ad server 11 receives a registration request, it generates an ad record 53A based on the received data and registers it in the ad database 52 (step S2). If activation of the registered campaign is instructed, it becomes eligible for auction immediately after registration.

[0058] Next, the procedure for displaying search-linked advertisements will be explained (steps S10-S19). The user terminal 20 displays the search screen based on the user's actions. Specifically, the user enters keywords for the search into the search box and performs the search.

[0059] The user terminal 20 sends a search request to the distribution server 14 (step S10). At this time, the user terminal 20 sends keywords and a user identifier to the distribution server 14 along with the search request.

[0060] The distribution server 14 analyzes the keywords and generates a search word set. The distribution server 14 also sends an ad request containing the user identifier and the search word set to the ad server 11 (step S11). Alternatively, the user terminal 20 may send the ad request directly to the ad server 11. The ad server 11 receives the ad request containing the user identifier and the search word set.

[0061] The management unit 50 of the advertising server 11 searches the advertising DB 52 for advertising records 53A in which the time of receipt of the advertising request falls within the advertising period and which partially or completely matches the search word set (step S12). The management unit 50 extracts multiple matching advertising records 53A as advertising candidate data (step S13). At this time, the advertising server 11 determines whether the CPC included in each of the extracted advertising records 53A exceeds the floor price (base price) set for the advertising medium. Furthermore, the advertising server 11 selects advertising records 53A from among the advertising records 53A that exceed the floor price.

[0062] The management unit 50 outputs the user identifier of the user who performed the search and the ad record 53A of the ad candidate as bidding data to the ad decision unit 51 (step S14). Here, it is assumed that these ad records include records in which the optimization function is set to "on" and records in which it is set to "off".

[0063] If the advertising decision unit 51 finds a record among the acquired advertising records 53A in which the optimization function is set to "enabled", it sends a request to the user management server 12 to acquire the rank associated with the acquired user identifier (step S15).

[0064] The user management server 12 searches the user database 41 for user management records 42A that contain the acquired user identifier. The user management server 12 then extracts a rank from the extracted user management records 42A and sends it to the advertising server 11 (step S16). The rank obtained at this time is the rank recorded in the user database 41 at the time the advertising request was received.

[0065] The ad decision unit 51 adjusts the ad bid price for ad record 53A, where the optimization function is set to "on," based on the acquired rank. The ad bid price adjustment is performed according to the rank of the user who performed the search. If the rank of the user who performed the search is high, the base CPC included in ad record 53A is adjusted to be higher. Conversely, if the rank of the user who performed the search is low, the base CPC included in ad record 53A is adjusted to be lower. Details of this optimization function will be described later.

[0066] The ad selection unit 51 selects an ad to display on the user terminal 20 from among the ad candidates using the ad price for each of the bidders. For example, the auction used for ad selection is RTB (Real Time Bidding), and bidding and winning bids are executed automatically and immediately.

[0067] In an auction, the ad decision unit 51 may calculate the ad rank using not only ad revenue elements, including the CPC (cost per click), but also sales elements, including the CTR (click-through rate) and sales amount, which are included in the ad performance record. For example, the ad rank is the sum of "(bid CPC) × (click-through rate) × α" and "(sales amount) × β". The ad decision unit 51 then decides to place the higher-ranked ads in the ad slots. In other words, selecting ads with higher ad ranks means that advertisers are receiving ads that are appropriately selected in line with their bids. For advertising service providers, it means that they receive revenue from advertising fees and revenue from e-commerce sales, and that the ads selected maximize their profits.

[0068] The ad selection unit 51 outputs the auction results, which include multiple ad identifiers, to the management unit 50 (step S17). The management unit 50 sends the ad list, which includes ad identifiers, ad titles, ad text, snippets, product URLs, images, etc., to the distribution server 14 (step S18).

[0069] Meanwhile, the distribution server 14 uses the search word set to perform a search according to the organic search algorithm. This search process may be performed in parallel with the ad auction. The distribution server 14 sends the search results and the ad list received from the ad server 11 to the user terminal 20 (step S19). The user terminal 20 displays a search results screen based on the ad list and the search results. The ad server 11 includes the ads obtained based on the URL in the search results screen.

[0070] Next, we will explain the procedure when the advertisement placement reaches the final result (steps S20-S24). Assume that the user has selected one of the displayed advertisements by clicking on it on the search results screen.

[0071] The user terminal 20 requests a landing page (LP) from the EC server 13 based on the URL included in the advertising list (step S20). In this embodiment, the landing page is a store page in an online shopping mall. The EC server 13 sends the store page to the user terminal 20 (step S21).

[0072] The user terminal 20 displays the store page. Let's assume the user then purchases a product on the displayed store page or on a webpage accessed from that page. The user terminal 20 sends order data to the EC server 13 (step S22). The EC server 13 performs payment processing for this order. Furthermore, the EC server 13 sends a point grant request to the user management server 12 (step S23). At this time, the EC server 13 may send the user identifier and the price of the product, as well as a point multiplier specified by the service provider or store operator managing the EC server 13. Alternatively, the EC server 13 may calculate the points generated by the purchase of the product based on the point multiplier, and include the calculated number of points in the point grant request before sending it to the user management server 12.

[0073] The user management server 12 calculates points based on the point multiplier received from the EC server 13 and adds the calculated points to the points held and accumulated points of the user management record 42A, which includes the received user identifier. Alternatively, the user management server 12 adds the points received from the EC server 13 to the points held and accumulated points of the user management record 42A, which includes the received user identifier.

[0074] The EC server 13 also sends an advertising record to the advertising server 11 indicating that a user who viewed the advertisement made a purchase (step S24). The advertising server 11 stores the received advertising record as an advertising record record 54A in the advertising record table 54.

[0075] (Details of the optimization feature) Refer to Figure 8 for a detailed explanation of the CPC optimization function. The ad decision unit 51 acquires an ad record 53A with the optimization function enabled (step S30).

[0076] When the ad decision unit 51 obtains an ad record 53A with optimization functionality, it obtains the user's rank (step S31). Specifically, it sends a user identifier to the user management server 12 to obtain the user's rank.

[0077] The advertising decision unit 51 uses the adjustment rate table 55 to obtain an adjustment rate corresponding to the rank (step S32). For example, if the rank is "Rank 1", the advertising decision unit 51 obtains an adjustment rate of "20%".

[0078] The ad decision unit 51 multiplies the CPC included in the ad record 53A with the optimization function enabled by an adjustment rate (step S33). For example, if the CPC is "40 yen", the adjusted CPC will be "48 yen".

[0079] Figures 9 to 11 schematically show the bidding results when different advertisers 101A to 101D bid on advertisements. Here, it is assumed that the search results screen 110 has the first ad slot 110A, the second ad slot 110B, and the third ad slot 110C set up in order from top to bottom along the scrolling direction. For example, among these ad slots, the first ad slot 110A is the one where the advertising effect such as the increase in click-through rate is expected to be the greatest, and the advertisement selected as number one in the auction will be displayed.

[0080] Figure 9 shows the case where none of the advertisers 101A to 101D have applied the optimization function. Figures 10 and 11 show the case where only advertiser 101A has applied the optimization function, and advertisers 101B to 101D have not. Figure 10 also shows the case where user 100 who performed the search has a rank of "Rank 1", and Figure 11 shows the case where user 102 who performed the search has a rank of "Rank 5".

[0081] In the example in Figure 9, a base CPC (cost per click) is set for all ads AD1 to AD4. The CPCs are highest for advertisers 101D, 101C, and 101B, in that order. If the ad ranks calculated using the ad prices are also in the same order, advertiser 101D's ad AD4 will be displayed in the top ad slot 110A, advertiser 101C's ad AD3 in the second ad slot 210B, and advertiser 101B's ad AD2 in the bottom ad slot 310C.

[0082] In this example, because user 100 who performed the search has a high user rank, there is a relatively high probability that it will lead to the final result desired by the advertiser. However, in Figure 9, advertiser 101A's ad is not displayed. Therefore, an opportunity for exposure of an ad that is likely to lead to the final result is lost.

[0083] Figure 10 shows that advertiser 101A has applied the optimization function, so an adjusted CPC is set for advertiser 101A's ad AD1. The CPCs for ads AD2 to AD4 are the same as in Figure 9. As mentioned above, when the optimization function is applied, the adjusted CPC increases in order to increase the frequency of ad display to users 100 with a higher rank. As a result, the CPC increases in the order of advertiser 101A, advertiser 101D, and advertiser 101C. If the ad ranks are also in the same order, advertiser 101A's ad AD1 will be displayed in the first ad slot 110A, advertiser 101D's ad AD4 in the second ad slot 110B, and advertiser 101C's ad AD3 in the third ad slot 110C.

[0084] While the order in which ads are displayed does not necessarily directly correlate to an increase in conversion rate (CVR), in the example shown in Figure 10, at least the optimized ad AD1 is displayed, increasing the frequency with which ad AD1 is shown to users 100 with a high user rank. This allows advertiser 101A to improve the click-through rate (CTR) of ad AD1, especially for users 100 who are more likely to convert. And if the click-through rate of ad AD1 is high among users 100 who are more likely to convert, an improvement in CVR and the cost-effectiveness of the ad can be expected.

[0085] Figure 11 shows that advertiser 101A has applied the optimization function, so an adjusted CPC is set for ad AD1. The CPCs for advertisers 101B to 101D are the same as in Figure 9. On the other hand, user 102, who performed the search, has the lowest user rank, rank 5. Therefore, in this case, the adjusted CPC is set to be low in order to reduce the frequency of ad display. As a result, the CPCs for ad AD4, ad AD3, and ad AD2 increase in that order. If the ad ranks were in the same order, advertiser 101D's ad AD4 would be displayed in the first ad slot 110A, advertiser 101C's ad AD3 in the second ad slot 110B, and advertiser 101B's ad AD2 in the third ad slot 110C. In other words, ads with the optimization function applied are displayed less frequently to users with low user ranks. This reduces advertising costs when it is unlikely to lead to final results. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of advertising can be improved.

[0086] [User terminal screen] Figure 12 shows an example of a search results screen 110 displayed on the user terminal 20. The search results screen 110 is the screen displayed after entering keywords into the search box 123 and performing a search. The search results screen 110 includes a first ad slot 110A to a third ad slot 110C that displays search-linked advertisements 121, and a display slot 120 that displays organic search results 122.

[0087] The first ad slot 110A to the third ad slot 110C display search-linked advertisements 121 selected by auction. Display slot 120 displays thumbnail images and snippets (summaries of search results) included in web pages found using organic search algorithms other than advertising algorithms.

[0088] The ad server 11 also displays the measurement results, which represent the performance of the ad after optimization, on the advertiser terminal 21 used by the advertiser associated with the ad. Figure 13 shows the registration screen 125 displayed on the advertiser terminal 21. The registration screen 125 is used to register an advertising campaign. The registration screen 125 includes a registration area 126 and a registration button 127. The registration area 126 includes fields for advertising identifier, name, product identifier, advertising period, cost per click (CPC), budget, and optimization requirement. The advertiser enters each item in the registration area 126. If they wish to apply CPC optimization, they enable the optimization requirement field. The advertiser then selects the registration button 127. The advertiser terminal 21 sends each item entered in the registration area 126 and the registration request to the advertising server 11.

[0089] Figure 14 shows the performance screen 130 displayed on the advertiser terminal 21. The advertiser terminal 21 sends a request to the advertising server 11 to display the performance screen 130, and the advertising server 11 sends data to the advertiser terminal 21 for displaying the screen based on the advertising performance table 54, etc.

[0090] The performance screen 130 includes a search area 131 and a performance display area 134. The search area 131 includes an aggregation unit selection unit 132 and an aggregation period selection unit 133. The aggregation unit selection unit 132 allows the user to select between displaying the performance of all advertisements bid on by the store together, or displaying the performance for each advertisement. In the example in Figure 14, the display of performance for each advertisement is selected.

[0091] The performance display area 134 includes, for each ad, the product, name (ad title), ad period, ad cost, CPC, sales amount, CVR, ROAS, and whether or not optimization features were applied. Other ad performance metrics such as clicks may also be displayed in the performance display area 134. Users can check the effectiveness of optimization features by reviewing ad performance metrics such as CVR and ROAS.

[0092] [Effects of this disclosure] According to this disclosure, the following effects can be achieved. (1) Users with higher ranks assigned by online shopping mall services tend to have higher conversion rates (CVR). In the above embodiment, based on this trend, the advertising price was adjusted according to the rank of the user to whom the advertisement was presented. This makes it possible to increase the frequency of advertisements being displayed when there is a high probability of the user reaching the final result. As a result, it is expected that the ROAS, which is the return on advertising, will be increased.

[0093] (2) The advertisements are for products in the online shopping mall, and the user rank is a rank that corresponds to the user's usage of the online shopping mall. In other words, the user's behavioral history, including the purchase or reservation of products in the online shopping mall, can be used to adjust the advertising price for product advertisements.

[0094] (3) User rank is determined according to the points awarded to the user based on their usage of the online shopping mall. This reduces the computational load on the advertising server 11.

[0095] (4) The advertisements are search-linked ads that are displayed according to the set of search words. Therefore, by adjusting the ad price when a high level of interest in the product can be expected, the cost-effectiveness can be further improved.

[0096] (5) The ad server 11 displays the measurement results, which are the results of the ad after optimization has been performed, on the advertiser terminal 21. This allows the advertiser to confirm the effectiveness of the optimization function.

[0097] (6) The ad decision unit 51 calculates the adjusted CPC by multiplying the standard CPC before adjustment by an adjustment rate corresponding to the rank. This makes it possible to set the ad price in multiple stages according to the user who performed the search.

[0098] [Example of changes] This embodiment can be implemented with the following modifications. This embodiment and the following modifications can be combined with each other to the extent that they do not contradict each other technically.

[0099] <Adjustment Rate Table> [Example of change 1] In the above embodiment, the ad server 11 obtains the user's rank when it receives an ad request and adjusts the ad price based on the rank. Alternatively, or in addition to this, when the ad server 11 receives a request from the advertiser terminal 21 to apply the optimization function (for example, step S1), it may set an adjusted CPC for each rank for the ad prices included in the ad campaigns registered by the advertiser. For example, suppose an ad record 53A with an ad price of "40 yen" is registered in the ad DB 52. When the ad server 11 receives a request from the advertiser terminal 21 to apply the optimization function, it sets an adjusted CPC for each of the 1st to 5th ranks. Using the adjustment rate table 55 shown in Figure 7, the adjusted CPCs are set in advance as "48 yen" for the 1st rank, "46 yen" for the 2nd rank, "44 yen" for the 3rd rank, "36 yen" for the 4th rank, and "32 yen" for the 5th rank, and recorded in the ad record 53A. When the ad server 11 receives an ad request containing the user identifier of a first-rank user, it uses the pre-configured adjusted CPC of "48 yen". When the ad server 11 receives an ad request containing the user identifier of a fifth-rank user, it uses the pre-configured adjusted CPC of "32 yen". The adjusted CPC is set for all ad records 53A associated with the advertiser.

[0100] In this embodiment, the ad server 11 may display the adjusted CPC for each rank to the advertiser terminal 21 before applying the optimization function. The advertiser can determine whether or not to apply the optimization function by checking the adjusted CPC for each rank. Alternatively, the advertiser may manually adjust the adjusted CPC. The advertiser terminal 21 sends the adjusted CPC, which has been further adjusted by the advertiser, to the ad server 11. The ad server 11 records the received adjusted CPC in the ad DB 52.

[0101] [Example of change 2] The advertising system 10 may change the adjustment terms depending on the time of year. For example, user ranks may change depending on the season or year. The time of year can be any period, such as every few weeks or every few months. Specifically, the management unit 50 may calculate the CVR and ROAS for each user rank at predetermined intervals based on the behavior history table, user management table 42, and advertising performance table 54 stored in the user DB 41. The management unit 50 changes the adjustment rate, which is an example of an adjustment term, based on at least one of the CVR and ROAS for each rank. For example, the management unit 50 detects whether there has been a change in the CVR value for each user rank. Then, it automatically changes the adjustment rate for the first rank so that it increases when the CVR of a first-rank user increases. Alternatively, for example, when the difference between the CVR of a second-rank user and a third-rank user becomes small, the adjustment rates for the second rank and the third rank may be automatically made the same.

[0102] Alternatively, the ad server 11 may determine whether the ROAS of the ad to which the optimization function has been applied is equal to or greater than a threshold value, or whether the rate of increase in ROAS since the time the optimization function was applied is equal to or greater than a threshold value. If the ROAS or the rate of increase in ROAS is less than a threshold value, the ad server 11 adjusts the adjustment rate. The adjustment of the adjustment rate may be at least one of the following: further increasing the adjustment rate for higher ranks, or further decreasing the adjustment rate for lower ranks.

[0103] [Example of change 3] The advertising system 10 may change the adjustment items depending on the store. For example, the advertising adjustment rate for stores with low sales may be set lower than the advertising adjustment rate for stores with high sales.

[0104] [Example of change 4] The advertising system 10 may change the adjustment terms depending on the product or product type. This is because the relationship between user rank and CVR changes depending on the product type. For example, for product types that are relatively expensive and have high rarity value, it is expected that the CVR will be higher as the user rank increases, and the difference in CVR between ranks will be large. On the other hand, for product types that are relatively inexpensive and have a large circulation volume, it is expected that the difference in CVR between ranks will be smaller compared to expensive products. In this embodiment, the advertising server 11 obtains sales performance (sales amount, etc.) for the product or product type, or advertising indicator values ​​such as CVR for each product or product type. For example, when the advertising server 11 obtains CVR, the advertising server 11 obtains the difference in CVR between ranks for each product or product type. If the difference in CVR between ranks is large, the initial value of the adjustment rate table 55 is adjusted. Specifically, at least one of the following is done: further increasing the adjustment rate for high ranks and further decreasing the adjustment rate for low ranks. Alternatively, the advertising server 11 may adjust the adjustment rate on a product-by-product basis. According to this, each store can efficiently submit advertisements in accordance with their advertising plan, including their advertising budget.

[0105] [Example of change 5] The advertising server 11 may obtain the measurement results of advertising metric values ​​after the adjustment of the advertising unit price using the adjustment term for (i) the advertiser store, (ii) the type of product that is the target of the advertisement, and (iii) at least one of the predetermined periods, and may automatically change the adjustment term based on the obtained measurement results. In other words, the advertising system 10 stores an adjustment rate table 55 for (i) the store and (ii) the product or type of product. The advertising server 11 then updates the adjustment rate table 55 at predetermined intervals.

[0106] (User rank) [Example of change 6] In the above embodiment, the ad server 11 obtains the latest user rank at the time it receives an ad request. Alternatively, or in addition to this, the user management server 12 may further update the user rank when an ad request is received by the ad server 11. The user management server 12 sends the updated user rank to the ad server 11. The ad server 11 uses the updated user rank to optimize the CPC.

[0107] For example, the user management server 12 has a database that stores point acquisition records for each user, including the date and time when points were acquired or the date and time when an action that led to point acquisition occurred, and the number of points acquired. For example, point acquisition records are managed for each event, such as point acquisition and point usage. When the user management server 12 receives a user rank update request from the advertising server 11, it uses a query that includes the user identifier to retrieve at least one point acquisition record from the database. The user management server 12 then retrieves at least one point acquisition record to identify the number of points held or the cumulative number of points accumulated from the acquired points. Furthermore, the user management server 12 updates the user rank based on the identified number of points held or cumulative points and a correspondence table between the user rank and the number of points (number of points held or cumulative points). Alternatively, the user management server 12 may obtain the number of points held or cumulative points via an API with the DB server that stores the above database.

[0108] [Example of change 7] In the above embodiment, the user rank was determined according to the user 100's accumulated points or points held, and the advertising unit price was further adjusted using an adjustment rate corresponding to the user rank. Alternatively, or in addition to this, the advertising unit price may be directly adjusted according to the accumulated points or points held by the user 100 who performed the search. In this embodiment, the advertising server 11 may calculate the adjusted advertising unit price using a formula for calculating the adjusted advertising unit price from points such as accumulated points or points held. Alternatively, the advertising server 11 may calculate the adjusted advertising unit price using adjustment data that allows conversion between points such as accumulated points or points held and the adjustment term.

[0109] (Advertising metrics) [Example of change 8] In the above embodiment, the advertising cost was described as CPC. Alternatively, or in addition to this, other metrics such as CPA (Cost Per Action, or Cost Per Acquisition), metrics related to the volume of ad delivery, such as CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is the cost per 1,000 ad impressions, may be used for the advertising cost.

[0110] <Information Processing System> [Example of change 9] In the above embodiment, the advertising system 10 is made part of the advertising system 10 that provides the services of an online shopping mall. Alternatively, the information processing system including the advertising system 10 may provide services other than an online shopping mall. For example, the information processing system may be a system that provides search services, and does not necessarily have to be a system that sells products.

[0111] [Example of change 10] In the above embodiment, the service provider for the online shopping mall service and the advertising service provider are the same company, but they may be different companies. Also, in the above embodiment, the advertising system 10 includes an advertising server 11, a user management server 12, an EC server 13, and a distribution server 14, but these servers 11 to 14 may be further distributed or integrated. In other words, the store management unit 30, the purchase processing unit 31, the user management unit 40, the management unit 50, and the advertising decision unit 51 may be provided on a single server, or they may be provided on multiple servers other than the four. Furthermore, the term "server" in this embodiment may refer to a physical device or a server as software that provides a specific function.

[0112] The store database 32 may also be located on the advertising server 11. The user database 41 may be located on the advertising server 11 or the e-commerce server 13. The advertising database 52 may be located on the user management server 12 or the e-commerce server 13.

[0113] The embodiments and modifications described above are listed below. [1] Memory for storing multiple instructions, Equipped with at least one processor, The at least one processor executes the plurality of instructions, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with ad rates corresponding to the aforementioned user identifier, An advertising system configured to select an advertisement to be displayed on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates.

[0114] [2] Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, The advertising system according to [1], which includes adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on adjustment data corresponding to the user identifier.

[0115] [3] The at least one processor, The system receives requests for ad bid adjustments and advertiser identifiers from advertiser terminals. The ad unit price associated with the advertiser identifier is adjusted using adjustment data to record multiple adjusted ad unit prices, and further, The advertising system according to [1] or [2], wherein selecting multiple ad candidates includes selecting the ad price corresponding to the user identifier from a plurality of adjusted ad prices associated with one of the ad candidates.

[0116] [4] The advertising system described in [2] or [3], wherein the adjustment data is an adjustment item corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the user identifier. [5] The advertisements of the aforementioned ad candidates are advertisements for products, The aforementioned rank is a rank corresponding to the user's usage status in the service where the aforementioned products can be traded, as described in any one of items [1] to [4] of the advertising system.

[0117] [6] The rank is determined according to the points awarded to the user based on the usage status, as described in [5]. [7] The advertising system according to any one of paragraphs [1] to [6], wherein selecting multiple ad candidates includes extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, and adjusting the ad unit price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

[0118] [8] The advertising request includes the user identifier and the search word set, The aforementioned advertisement is associated with a set of search words and a URL. Selecting an ad from the ad candidates means selecting the ad according to the degree of match between the set of search words included in the ad request and the set of search words associated with the ad, An advertising system according to any one of items [1] to [7], further performing the action of displaying the advertisement obtained based on the URL on the user terminal together with the search results.

[0119] [9] The advertising system according to any one of items [4] to [6], wherein the adjustment of the advertising unit price is performed using the latest rank stored in the user management memory when the advertising request is received.

[0120]

[10] The at least one processor further updates the rank when the advertisement request is received, The advertising system described in any one of items [4] to [6], wherein the adjustment of the advertising unit price is performed using the updated rank.

[0121]

[11] An advertising system according to any one of items [1] to

[10] , which displays the measurement results of performance metrics after the adjustment of the advertising unit price has been performed on an advertiser terminal used by the advertiser associated with the advertisement.

[0122]

[12] The at least one processor is Obtain the measurement results of performance metrics after the adjustment of the ad unit price using the adjustment data has been performed, An advertising system according to any one of items [1] to

[11] , further performing the following: automatically modifying the adjustment data based on the measurement results.

[0123]

[13] The at least one processor is The measurement results of performance indicators after the adjustment of the advertising unit price using the adjustment data are obtained for each advertiser, the type of product targeted by the advertisement, and at least one of the predetermined periods. An advertising system according to any one of items [1] to

[12] , further performing the following: automatically modifying the adjustment data based on the acquired measurement results.

[0124]

[14] Selecting multiple of the aforementioned ad candidates is In addition to the aforementioned advertising cost, the advertising rank is calculated based on sales factors, including the sales amount of the product that is the target of the advertising candidate, and the advertising candidate with the highest advertising rank is selected. The aforementioned at least one processor further comprises, An advertising system according to any one of items [1] to

[13] , which displays the selected ad candidates on the user terminal in descending order of ad rank. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0125] 10… Advertising System 11…Ad server 12…User management server 13…EC Server 14…Distribution Server 20…User terminal 21… Advertiser terminals

Claims

1. The system comprises at least one processor, the at least one processor executing a plurality of instructions stored in memory, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the points of the user associated with the aforementioned user identifier, The system is configured to select an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, An advertising system in which the user's points are awarded according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

2. The system comprises at least one processor, the at least one processor executing a plurality of instructions stored in memory, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with ad rates corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the aforementioned user identifier, The system is configured to select an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, An advertising system in which the user's rank is determined according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

3. comprising at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor executes a plurality of instructions stored in memory, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with ad rates corresponding to the aforementioned user identifier, The system is configured to select an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, An advertising system that includes adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

4. Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, The advertising system according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on adjustment data corresponding to the user's points.

5. Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, The advertising system according to claim 2, further comprising adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on adjustment data corresponding to the user's rank.

6. The at least one processor, The system receives requests for ad bid adjustments and advertiser identifiers from advertiser terminals. The ad unit price associated with the advertiser identifier is adjusted using adjustment data to record multiple adjusted ad unit prices, and further, The advertising system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein selecting multiple ad candidates includes selecting an ad price corresponding to the user identifier from a plurality of adjusted ad prices associated with one of the ad candidates.

7. The aforementioned ad candidate is an advertisement for a product, The advertising system according to claim 2, wherein the rank is a rank corresponding to the user's usage status in a service where the product can be traded.

8. The advertising system according to claim 2 or 5, wherein the rank is determined according to the points awarded to the user based on the usage status.

9. The aforementioned advertising request includes the user identifier and the search word set, The aforementioned advertisement is associated with a set of search words and a URL. Selecting an ad from the ad candidates means selecting the ad according to the degree of match between the set of search words included in the ad request and the set of search words associated with the ad, The advertising system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising displaying the advertisement obtained based on the URL on the user terminal together with the search results.

10. The advertising system according to claim 5, wherein the adjustment of the advertising unit price is performed using the latest rank stored in the user management memory when the advertising request is received.

11. The at least one processor further updates the rank when the advertisement request is received. The advertising system according to claim 5, wherein the adjustment of the advertising unit price is performed using the updated rank.

12. The advertising system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the measurement results of performance indicators for the selected advertisement are displayed on an advertiser terminal used by the advertiser associated with the advertisement.

13. The at least one processor is Obtain the measurement results of performance metrics after the adjustment of the advertising unit price using the aforementioned adjustment data has been performed, The advertising system according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising automatically changing the adjustment data based on the measurement results.

14. The at least one processor is The measurement results of performance indicators after the adjustment of the advertising unit price using the adjustment data are obtained for each advertiser, the type of product targeted by the advertisement, and at least one predetermined period. The advertising system according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising the steps of automatically modifying the adjustment data based on the acquired measurement results.

15. Selecting multiple ad candidates means In addition to the aforementioned advertising cost, the advertising rank is calculated based on sales factors, including the sales amount of the product that is the target of the advertising candidate, and the advertising candidate with the highest advertising rank is selected. The aforementioned at least one processor further, The advertising system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which displays the selected advertising candidates on the user terminal in order of highest advertising rank.

16. At least one processor, Obtain the user identifier included in the ad request sent by the user's device. Select multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the user's points associated with the aforementioned user identifier, Using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, an ad is selected from the ad candidates to be displayed on the user terminal. An advertising method in which the user's points are points awarded according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

17. At least one processor, Obtain the user identifier included in the ad request sent by the user's device. Select multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the aforementioned user identifier, Using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, an ad is selected from the ad candidates to be displayed on the user terminal. An advertising method in which the user's rank is determined according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

18. At least one processor, Obtain the user identifier included in the ad request sent by the user's device. Select multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the user identifier, Using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates, an ad is selected from the ad candidates to be displayed on the user terminal. Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, An advertising method comprising adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

19. At least one processor, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the points of the user associated with the aforementioned user identifier, The system will perform the following actions: select an advertisement from the ad candidates to display on the user terminal using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates; An advertising program in which the user's points are awarded according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

20. At least one processor, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with ad rates corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the aforementioned user identifier, The system will perform the following actions: select an advertisement from the ad candidates to display on the user terminal using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates; An advertising program in which the user's rank is determined according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

21. At least one processor, Obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user's device, Selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with ad rates corresponding to the aforementioned user identifier, The system will perform the following actions: select an advertisement from the ad candidates to display on the user terminal using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates; Selecting multiple ad candidates means Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, An advertising program that includes adjusting the ad price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

22. It includes at least one server connected to the user terminal, The aforementioned at least one server, The process of obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user terminal, A process of selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad unit price corresponding to the points of the user associated with the user identifier, The process of selecting an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates is performed. An advertising system in which the user's points are awarded according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

23. It includes at least one server connected to the user terminal, The aforementioned at least one server, The process of obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user terminal, A process of selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the user identifier, The process of selecting an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates is performed. An advertising system in which the user's rank is determined according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

24. It includes at least one server connected to the user terminal, The aforementioned at least one server, The process of obtaining the user identifier included in the advertising request sent by the user terminal, A process of selecting multiple ad candidates, including ad candidates associated with an ad price corresponding to the user identifier, The process of selecting an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the ad candidates using the ad price associated with each of the ad candidates is performed. The process of selecting multiple ad candidates is: Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, An advertising system that includes adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

25. A management unit that obtains a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal and selects multiple advertising candidates, including advertising candidates associated with an advertising unit price corresponding to the points of the user associated with the user identifier, The system includes an advertising decision unit that selects an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising price associated with each of the advertising candidates, An advertising system in which the user's points are awarded according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

26. A management unit that obtains a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal and selects multiple advertising candidates, including advertising candidates associated with an advertising cost corresponding to the rank of the user associated with the user identifier, The system includes an advertising decision unit that selects an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising price associated with each of the advertising candidates, An advertising system in which the user's rank is determined according to the user's usage of a predetermined service.

27. A management unit that obtains a user identifier included in an advertising request sent by a user terminal and selects multiple advertising candidates, including advertising candidates associated with advertising costs corresponding to the user identifier, The system includes an advertising decision unit that selects an advertisement to display on the user terminal from among the advertising candidates using the advertising price associated with each of the advertising candidates, The management department selects multiple advertising candidates, Extracting multiple ad candidates associated with the ad unit price before adjustment, An advertising system that includes adjusting the advertising price for ad candidates that require adjustment based on points awarded according to the usage status of a predetermined service by a user associated with the user identifier.

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