Abstract:
This document describes, among other things, systems and methods for placing advertisements. A method comprises an advertiser entering at least one offer to place a live-read radio advertisement into an advertisement placement system, wherein the advertiser indicates at least one amount it is willing to pay for the live-read radio advertisement; at least one media station accessing the placement system to view the at least one offer; the at least one media stations using the placement system to accept the least one offer; following acceptance of the at least one offer by at least one of media stations, precluding the at least one offer from being accepted by a different media station; and the media station that accepted the offer performing a live-read of the at least one advertisement associated with the accepted offer.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    This patent document pertains generally to buying and selling advertisements, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an advertisement placement system and method. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Media stations, such as radio stations and television stations, typically devote a portion of broadcast time to advertisements. This advertisement broadcast time is sold to advertisers, frequently, through advertising agencies, and the sold broadcast time generates revenue for the media station. 
         [0003]    Advertising demand is primarily driven by advertisers who selectively purchase broadcast time based on a particular demographic or a particular geographic region. In large markets, advertisers are burdened with evaluating many media stations in a quest to reduce advertising costs while meeting marketing demands. Similarly, media stations are burdened by having to negotiate with many advertisers in an effort to maximize revenue. 
         [0004]    Because of the large number of advertisers vying for advertising broadcast time and because of the limited premium time available, advertisers may be forced to purchase advertising time days or weeks in advance. Advertisements may be written, produced, and purchased weeks in advance of broadcast. Thus, broadcasted advertisement content may have a reduced return on investment value because it is no longer current. 
         [0005]    An advertiser that has an immediate need to broadcast an advertising message on multiple radio stations may not be able to do so when stations plan their advertising a week or more in advance. Event driven and other forms of advertising often result in the need to place and air advertising within a few minutes after deciding to advertise. However, media stations cannot accommodate such on-the-spot advertising on a large scale. 
         [0006]    In addition, media stations have a difficult time maximizing the value of their limited advertising space at the last minute, which often results in this space being given away at no charge. They also lack methods to increase revenue outside of the traditional media planning process 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an advertisement placement system in accordance with an example embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a chart illustrating a media station table according to an example embodiment. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a chart illustrating an advertising campaign table according to an example embodiment. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a chart illustrating a placement results table according to an example embodiment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a method of placing advertisements in accordance with an example embodiment. 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a method of placing advertisements in accordance with an example embodiment. 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine capable of performing the methods or implementing the systems/devices described herein. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    In the following detailed description of example embodiments of the invention, reference is made to specific example embodiments of the invention by way of drawings and illustrations. These examples are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and serve to illustrate how the invention may be applied to various purposes or embodiments. Other embodiments of the invention exist and are within the scope of the invention, and logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the subject or scope of the present invention. Features or limitations of various embodiments of the invention described herein, however essential to the example embodiments in which they are incorporated, do not limit other embodiments of the invention or the invention as a whole, and any reference to the invention, its elements, operation, and application do not limit the invention as a whole but serve only to define these example embodiments. The following detailed description does not, therefore, limit the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims. 
         [0015]    Described herein is a system and a method that provides an interface between advertisers and media stations (e.g., radio and television stations). In an embodiment, the interface facilitates a wide area network-based buying and selling model and further allows an advertiser to modify advertisement content at or near real-time. For the purposes of this description, radio and radio transmissions include terrestrial or satellite audio transmissions. 
         [0016]    Referring to the figures,  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an advertisement placement system  100  in accordance with an example embodiment. In an embodiment, advertising placement system  100  includes a placement computer  110 . Placement computer  110  may include, in embodiments, placement software  124 , an administrator interface  112 , and a database  126 . 
         [0017]    In some embodiments, placement software  124  includes markup language documents (e.g., HTML), script files (e.g., JavaScript, Active Server Pages, CGI, Perl), library files (e.g., DLL), or executable files (e.g., EXE). In a further embodiment, placement software  124  includes database and network interfaces, such as to connect to database  126  or network  118 . Placement software  124  may, in some embodiments, be served within a web server environment. In alternative embodiments, placement software  124  includes a proprietary server application and requires proprietary client applications to enable the placement system  100 . 
         [0018]    Placement computer administrator interface  112  may be provided by placement software  124  using one or more of the technologies described above. In particular, in an embodiment, administrator interface  112  is provided to a user (e.g., administrator) in a web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer). The administrator interface  112  may include a combination of static and dynamic elements as described in more detail below. An administrator may use administrator interface  112  to determine or manage availability, security, and access of placement computer  110 . 
         [0019]    Database  126  includes advertisement campaign table  128 , media station table  130 , and placement results table  132 , in embodiments. Database  126  may be implemented as a relational database, a central database, a distributed database, an object database, or a flat file database, in various embodiments. 
         [0020]    Advertisement campaign table  128  includes one or more data fields describing aspects of an advertisement or an advertisement campaign. For example, advertisement campaign table  128  may include an advertiser name or identification, a product, an advertisement content, a target demographic, a market geography, a maximum bid, a total budget, a budget spent, and the like. 
         [0021]    Media station table  130  includes one or more data fields describing aspects of a media station. For example, media station table  130  may include a media station identifier, a media station name, one or more geographies, one or more demographic indications, and the like. 
         [0022]    Placement results table  132  includes placement results data, derived from placement software  124 . In an embodiment, placement results table  132  is periodically or regularly updated by placement software  124 . 
         [0023]    In addition, advertisement placement system  100  may include one or more media station computers  114  (e.g., clients). In an embodiment, each media station computer  114  includes a media station web browser  134 , which may connect to the placement computer  110  via network  118 . Media station web browser  134  can be used to provide media station interface  116 . Media station interface  116  may be used by users (e.g., a media station advertising administrator) to provide details about a media station, such as demographic profile and advertising costs. 
         [0024]    Network  118  may include, in various embodiments, wired or wireless network connections. In addition, network  118  may be implemented as a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or a combination. In an example embodiment, network  118  includes the Internet. 
         [0025]    In addition, advertisement placement system  100  may include one or more advertiser computers  120 . Similar to users of a media station computer  114 , users of an advertiser computer  120  may use a web browser (e.g., advertiser web browser  136 ) to access placement computer  110  via network  118 . Advertiser interface  122  is provided by placement software  124  and presented using advertiser web browser  136 . 
         [0026]    In operation in an example embodiment, a media station user can use media station computer  114  and connect to placement computer  110  via network  118 . If the media station user had not previously connected with placement computer  110 , then in one embodiment, the media station user may have to create an account. Using media station interface  116 , the media station user can provide media station characteristics (e.g., demographics or geography of the listening audience) and, in one example embodiment, a minimum amount the media station will accept to air an advertisement. 
         [0027]    An advertising user may connect to placement computer  110  using advertiser computer  120  via network  118 . In an embodiment, if the advertising user has not used the system  100  before to place advertising, then the advertising user may have to create an account on placement computer  110 . The advertising user can submit one or more advertising campaigns to placement computer  110  via placement software  124 . Advertising campaigns include details about a product&#39;s advertising, such as the product, advertisement content, and advertising budget. In an embodiment, the advertising user may update or revise one or more of the parameters provided after submitting the advertising campaign. For example, the advertising user may adjust the maximum bid. As another example, the advertising user may revise advertising content in or near real-time, such that the next time the advertisement is read or displayed, the revised content is used. 
         [0028]    As an advertising placement request runs, placement software  124  periodically, regularly or from time to time analyzes media station table  130  and advertising campaign table  128  to determine if one or more advertisements contained in advertising campaign table  128  correspond to or match available markets, as described in media station table  130 . In one example embodiment, every characteristic of a media station (e.g., demographic coverage, geographic coverage, minimum bid amount) must match a corresponding advertising campaign characteristic, as stored in the advertising campaign table  128 , to be included in the placement results table  132 . In an alternative embodiment, one or more media station characteristics may not match, but may be close enough to include in placement results table  132 . Thresholds to control close matches may be provided by media stations or advertisers. Additionally, placement software  124  may receive and manage bids from other advertisers or receive and manage media station advertisement opportunities from other media stations. Placement results derived from at least placement results table  132  are provided to media station computer  114  and advertiser computer  120  via media station interface  116  and advertiser interface  122  respectively. In an embodiment, a user (e.g., a media station user such as a DJ), can interact with media station interface  116  to update the placement results displayed on media station interface  116 . In an embodiment, placement results are provided using a “push” system, such that a media station computer  114  is automatically or regularly refreshed with updated content from the placement computer  110 . Placement results may be refreshed when an event is detected. Events may include an update to an advertising campaign, such as when an advertisement campaign is added or removed from the advertising campaign table  128 , or when an advertising campaign is updated, such as when a media station broadcasts an advertisement and an advertising campaign&#39;s budget is updated, which may affect its availability to other media stations. Another event may be an update of an advertising campaign by the advertising user. Updates may include changing the maximum bid, changing the target demographic or geography, or modifying the advertising content. 
         [0029]      FIG. 2  is a chart illustrating a media station table  130  according to an example embodiment. Media station table  130  includes a media station ID field  200 , geography field  202 , demographic field  204 , and minimum bid requirement field  206 . Geography field  202  may be include segmentation by city, state, region (e.g., metro area, Southern Minnesota), or other definable geographic regions. Demographic field  204  may include listener or viewer age range, income levels, number of listeners or viewers, or other demographic indicators. Minimum bid requirement field  206  represents the minimum amount a media station would accept to run an advertisement. In an embodiment, the minimum bid requirement field  206  indicates the minimum cost per thousand (CPM) impressions or uses. The minimum bid requirement field  206  may be adjusted by a user of media station computer  114  in response to market conditions, a media station&#39;s preferences, or other factors. In an embodiment, minimum bid requirement field  206  may be adjusted programmatically. For example, a user may define one or more minimum bids as a function of time, such as time of day, day of week, season, or the like, and the placement software  124  can automatically adjust the minimum bid requirement field  206  accordingly. In another embodiment, media stations that serve multiple geographic regions or demographic audiences may have distinct records, e.g., two or more rows in media station table  130 ) which correspond to the distinct regions or audiences. In such an embodiment, the corresponding minimum bid requirement may differ as a function of the region or audience served. 
         [0030]      FIG. 3  is a chart illustrating advertising campaign table  128  according to an example embodiment. Advertising campaign table  128  includes an advertiser field  300 , product field  302 , ad content field  304 , target demographic field  306 , target geography field  308 , maximum bid field  310 , budget field  312 , budget spent field  314 , budget available field  316 , and offer? field  318 . Ad content field  304  may contain the actual advertising content, such as a textual script or description of the product, or may contain a link to the advertising content. Target demographic field  306  may include one or more indications of a target demographic group, such as by income, age, or the like. Target geography field  308  may include segmentation by city, state, region (e.g., metro area, Southern Minnesota), or other definable geographic regions. The maximum bid field  310  indicates the maximum an advertiser is willing to spend for an advertisement to run (e.g., be played or read). The budget field  312  is an indication of the budget allotted for the particular advertising campaign. The offer? field  318  indicates whether the advertising campaign bid is active. 
         [0031]      FIG. 4  is a chart illustrating a placement results table  132  according to an example embodiment. In the embodiment depicted, every characteristic of a media station must match corresponding characteristics of an advertising campaign for the bid to be accepted by the placement software  124  and stored in the placement results table  132 . For example, referring to  FIG. 2 , the media station “KRCK” has a geography of “N.Y.,” a demographic audience of “18-49,” and a minimum bid requirement of “$25.” After analyzing the advertising campaign table  128 , as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the placement software  124  can determine that the only advertising campaign with an exact match is ACME&#39;s vitamin product, which has a target demographic of “18-49,” a target geography of “N.Y.,” a maximum bid of “$50,” that exceeds the media station&#39;s minimum bid of “$25.” Thus, for media station KRCK, ACME&#39;s vitamin product would be available, such as displayed on media station interface  116  in media station web browser  134 . When two or more advertisers match a particular media station&#39;s characteristics, then the advertiser with the higher maximum bid is stored in the placement results table  132  with the price of the higher maximum bid. 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a method  500  of placing advertisements in accordance with an example embodiment. At  502 , one or more advertisements or advertisement campaigns are received. In an embodiment, the advertisements are provided by advertisers using advertiser computer  120  and advertiser interface  122  as described in  FIG. 1 . In a further embodiment, advertisements are stored in advertising campaign table  128 . Some or all of the information stored in advertising campaign table  128  may be marked as read-only after the advertiser submits the information. In another embodiment, all of the information in the advertisement campaign table  128  may be edited or removed by the advertiser. Advertising budgets may be related to a particular product such that a budget is shared across several demographic or geographic spaces, or the budget may be particular to a specific demographic or geographic space. For example, a budget may be associated with “Product A” as marketed in “New York” and “Los Angeles” markets. In an alternative example, one budget may be associated with “Product A” as marketed in “New York” while a separate budget may be associated with “Product A” as marketed in “Los Angeles.” Adjusting any remaining budget available may then depend on which market was served the advertisement. 
         [0033]    At  504 , one or more media station parameters are received. In an embodiment, the media station parameters are provided by media stations and include data that identifies the media station, describes the media station&#39;s audience (e.g., demographic information or geographic information), or placement-related information, such as a minimum bid amount. Additional information may include such things as product preferences, estimated audience size, or other metrics useful in matching an advertiser to a target market. In an embodiment, a media station may include one or more parameters that cause advertising to be automatically selected. For example, in some placement models, a “buy out” price is indicated such that if a purchaser wants to immediately finalize a purchase, the purchaser may indicate that they are willing to pay the “buy out” price and then will be automatically awarded the offered item. In this context, a media station may provide a threshold price, such that if any advertiser has a maximum bid amount greater than or equal to the threshold price, the advertisement is automatically selected and stored in the placement results table  132 . 
         [0034]    At  506 , advertisement parameters and media station parameters are analyzed. In an embodiment, the analysis attempts to match an advertisement campaign with at least one media station using at least one of a demographic indication or a geographic indication. In an embodiment, a match is found only when all demographic or geographic constraints provided by an advertiser in advertising campaign table  128  match the demographic or geographic profile of a media station. In another embodiment, at least one demographic or geographic constraint contained in the advertising campaign table  128  has to match a demographic or geographic indicia of a media station. In an embodiment, matches that fail to correspond at each demographic or geographic factor may be rated, such as by a score (e.g., 7/10 or 4 stars) and the score may be provided to the media station computer  114  or the advertiser computer  120 . At  508 , any matches are stored, such as in the placement results table  132 . 
         [0035]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a method  600  of placing advertisements in accordance with an example embodiment. At  602 , placement results are presented. In an embodiment, placement results are only available to the media station user via the media station interface  116 . Results may be filtered by the viewing media station and the media station user may use the results to determine which advertisement to use during an advertising broadcast. In an alternative embodiment, some or all of the advertising results are made available to the advertiser user at the advertiser computer  120 . Advertiser users may be interested in knowing advertising costs or trends in the placement-based format. In such an embodiment, the identity of winning advertisers may be suppressed to maintain privacy. 
         [0036]    At  604 , an indication is received selecting an advertisement campaign (e.g., an advertisement) that will be broadcasted. For example, a media station user using media station interface  116  may activate an icon, link, or other graphical user interface control to select an advertisement from placement results presented on media station interface  116 . In the context of a radio station, a radio announcer may select a matching advertisement from the placement results display and read the corresponding advertisement text during a broadcast (e.g., ad content field  304  in advertisement campaign table  128  in  FIG. 3 ). 
         [0037]    In some embodiments, a media station user may select one or more advertisements to reserve them for later broadcast. This mechanism may be preferable in a live broadcast where the announcer (e.g., disc jockey) may prepare advertisements a few moments before the advertisement is read. For example, while music is playing, a DJ may use that time to select one or more advertisements for live broadcast and to plan a segue into the next advertising program break. In such an embodiment, the advertisement campaign budget may be debited by the amount of the advertising cost or have some other indication that the advertisement campaign has a reserved selected advertisement queued for broadcast. If the media station user fails to actually use the advertisement, then a fee may be charged to the media station for reserving the advertisement inappropriately. The fee may be a function of the price of the advertisement, such as a percentage. Alternatively, the media station may be restricted from reserving further advertising if a threshold number of unmet commitments are detected. For example, a media station user may be restricted from reserving advertising if the number of advertisements read is less than 85% of the number of advertisements reserved or selected. This type of mechanism may dissuade a media station user from blocking other media stations from access to the advertisement for prolong periods without actually using the advertising. 
         [0038]    In an embodiment, where multiple advertisers meet the media station&#39;s characteristics and minimum bid requirement, two or more qualifying advertisements are displayed to the media station user. In such a case, the media station user may choose to advertise a particular advertisement based on some other preference other than the maximum bid amount offered. 
         [0039]    In an embodiment, advertisers can update their advertisement content in or near real-time by using the advertiser interface  122  to access the advertisement campaign table  128 , such that the media station will broadcast the most current version. To ensure currency, in an embodiment, each time the advertising campaign is selected by a media station user to be advertised, the advertisement campaign table  128  is accessed by placement software  124  and the most current version of the ad is retrieved from the ad content field  304 . Advertising content may be generated from various sources. For example, an advertiser may want to update advertising content to reflect one or more frequently used search terms found on the Internet. 
         [0040]    Using such a system may be advantageous to provide an advertiser with a way to maintain updated and current advertising content and for a media station to be provided with advertisements that match one or more of the media station&#39;s characteristics. Such a system also allows for media stations who read an advertisement content over a live broadcast to be assured of relaying the most current information for their audience. 
         [0041]    At  606 , the database is updated to reflect the transaction. For example, after the advertisement is broadcasted, the advertiser is charged for the broadcast. The charge may be reflected in the advertising campaign table  128 , such as in budget spent field  314 . Additionally, placement results table  132  may be updated to reflect that the advertising campaign was broadcast and may further include details such as time and date of the broadcast. In an embodiment, the database update initiates re-analysis of the advertisement parameters and media station parameters (step  506  in  FIG. 5 ) to revise or update the placement results table  132 , for example, to recalculate matches based on updated budgets. 
         [0042]      FIG. 7  illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine  700  capable of performing the methods or implementing the systems/devices described herein. In alternative embodiments, the machine may comprise a computer, a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a set-top box (STB) or any machine capable of executing a sequence of instructions that specify actions to be taken by that machine. 
         [0043]    The machine  700  includes a processor  702 , a main memory  706 , and a static memory  708 , which communicate with each other via a bus  724 . The machine  700  may further include a video display unit  712  (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The machine  700  also includes an alphanumeric input device  714  (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device  716  (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit  718 , a signal generation device  722  (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device  710  to interface the computer system to a network  726 . 
         [0044]    The disk drive unit  718  includes a machine-readable medium  720  on which is stored a set of instructions or software  704  embodying any one, or all, of the methodologies described herein. The software  704  is also shown to reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory  706  and/or within the processor  702 . The software  704  may further be transmitted or received via the network interface device  710 . 
         [0045]    For the purposes of this specification, the term “machine-readable medium” shall be taken to include any medium which is capable of storing or encoding a sequence of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one of the methodologies of the inventive subject matter. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic disks, and carrier wave signals. Further, while the software is shown in  FIG. 7  to reside within a single device, it will be appreciated that the software could be distributed across multiple machines or storage media, which may include the machine-readable medium. 
         [0046]    Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement that achieves the same purpose, structure, or function may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the example embodiments of the invention described herein. It is intended that this invention be limited only by the claims, and the full scope of equivalents thereof. 
         [0047]    The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), which requires that it allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.