Patent Publication Number: US-2023140363-A1

Title: Systems and methods for online auction of diverse electronic advertisements

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to managing online auctions of electronic advertisements. More specifically, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for managing auctions of diverse web and mobile advertisements over the Internet. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Internet advertisers often create online advertising campaigns that include numerous advertisements (e.g., “banner ads”) designed to be placed on websites during a specified period of time. For example, a company may design several types or sizes of advertisements for a product, and may wish to have the advertisements placed on websites during the sale of the product. Each time one of these advertisements is shown to a website visitor is known as an “impression.” When shown the advertisement, the user may select, or “click,” on the advertisement or may take another “action” such as completing an online form to request more information. If the user later purchases the product, the purchase is referred to as a “conversion” of the impression. 
     Advertisers may be interested in impressions (e.g., if they are trying to increase awareness of a brand), clicks (e.g., if they are trying to provide more information about a product), or conversions (e.g., if they are trying to make sales or get new users to sign up for services). Advertisers may pay based on, for example, impressions, clicks, or conversions over the course of an advertising campaign. An advertiser may have a spending plan that specifies how the advertiser wishes to spend its budget during a campaign. For example, the advertiser may wish to spend money only on certain days during the campaign, or may wish to spend evenly over every day of the campaign. Each advertiser may have a daily budget (e.g., $1,000 per day) and/or a daily goal of impression volume (e.g., 1000 impressions per day), known as “daily delivery” or “pacing.” Each advertiser may also desire an ad campaign to perform certain types of consumer targeting and/or achieve a particular distribution of advertisements across various websites (“spreading”). Moreover, an advertiser may desire to control which types and sizes of their ads are displayed. 
     As a result, various techniques are used to manage online ad delivery within and among advertising campaigns. In certain advertising networks, ad servers receive impression requests from publishers (e.g., websites or other entities with an inventory of online ad space). The ad servers may group ad requests from various advertising campaigns, e.g., according to impressions to be “targeted” based on a combination of attributes defined by the ad requests. In addition to targeting requirements, each ad request received from an advertiser generally includes a “bid price” and possibly a “bid allocation.” The bid price is the amount of money offered by the ad request for placement of the targeted impression. The bid allocation, if present, is the ratio (e.g., point value from 0 to 1) of targeted inventory the ad campaign is willing to purchase at the bid price. The list of ads that target a certain impression request may be sorted in descending order according to their bid price, and then placed in groups such that the sum of their bid allocations equals 1. If the ad request with the highest bid price has a bid allocation of 1, or if the bid allocation does not exist, it will always win the impression. Such ad delivery methods ensure that the advertiser with an ad with the greatest expected value is able to purchase as much inventory as desired. These methods also reveal both the marginal value of the impression inventory (e.g., the cost required per impression), and the amount of volume (e.g., the number of impressions) purchased at each price. 
     In this type of competitive bidding marketplace, publishers typically auction their advertising inventory units based on a preset arrangement or layout designed for their web pages. For example, one publisher might plan for a blog page or news page to always be substantially filled with publishing content except for a “leaderboard” ad (e.g., having 728×90 pixels) at the top of a page, and a “wide skyscraper” ad (e.g., having 160×600 pixels) at the right-hand side of a page. Thus, that publisher might consistently submit requests for bids on those two ad formats each time the publisher&#39;s page is displayed. In some cases, a publisher might know that they have available advertising space that could fit, for example, either two “medium rectangle” ads (e.g., having 300×250 pixels) or one “half page” ad (e.g., having 300×600 pixels), but not both. In other words, the publisher might have to decide whether to request the display of two small ads each time the publisher&#39;s web page is displayed, or to request the display of one larger ad each time the page is displayed. This also may be true of ad attributes other than shape or size. For example, a publisher might have an ad cell on its page that could accommodate either a standard, image-type display ad, or a rich, e.g., video or flash-type ad. Again, the publisher might have to decide whether to request the display of a standard image-type display ad each time the publisher&#39;s web page is displayed, or to request the display of a rich, e.g., video or flash-type, ad each time the page is displayed. 
     This existing system is less than optimal for several reasons. First of all, the requirement for publishers to statically set the desired sizes and attributes of requested ads results in sub-optimal revenue yield. For example, at some particular time of the day, advertisers&#39; bids may result in higher revenue for impressions of the two smaller ads, whereas at another time of day, advertisers&#39; bids might result in higher revenue for impressions of the one larger ad. More generally, the existing regime results in less variety and selection available for advertisers to consider and purchase. While this lack of variety and selection ultimately expresses itself in lower revenue, it also has the effect of contributing to reduced satisfaction among advertisers. For instance, an advertiser might be interested in purchasing a very large volume of some particular size or type of advertisement, only to find that an online ad auction contains mostly impression requests for another type of ad. 
     Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods for facilitating online auctions of diverse electronic advertisements. More specifically, a need exists for systems and methods for auctioning electronic advertisements having diverse sizes and attributes. The present disclosure is directed to improving the auction of web and mobile advertising by solving one or more of the above-mentioned challenges. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     According to certain embodiments, computer-implemented methods are disclosed for executing an online auction of diverse online advertisements. One method includes receiving, over a network, inventory information for serving ads on a publisher web page, the inventory information including at least a first ad configuration and a second ad configuration different from the first ad configuration, each of the first and second ad configurations defining an ad attribute; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad bids, the plurality of ad bids including bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad requests, the plurality of ad requests including requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the first ad configuration and requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the second ad configuration; and awarding impressions to one or both of the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and the bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration, in a proportion based at least in part on a revenue amount associated with the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration. 
     According to certain embodiments, systems are disclosed for executing an online auction of diverse online advertisements. One system includes a data storage device storing instructions for executing an online auction of diverse online advertisements; and a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method including: receiving, over a network, inventory information for serving ads on a publisher web page, the inventory information including at least a first ad configuration and a second ad configuration different from the first ad configuration, each of the first and second ad configurations defining an ad attribute; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad bids, the plurality of ad bids including bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad requests, the plurality of ad requests including requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the first ad configuration and requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the second ad configuration; and awarding impressions to one or both of the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and the bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration, in a proportion based at least in part on a revenue amount associated with the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration. 
     According to certain embodiments, a computer-readable medium is disclosed storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to execute an online auction of diverse online advertisements, including: receiving, over a network, inventory information for serving ads on a publisher web page, the inventory information including at least a first ad configuration and a second ad configuration different from the first ad configuration, each of the first and second ad configurations defining an ad attribute; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad bids, the plurality of ad bids including bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration; receiving, over the network, or generating, using a processor, a plurality of ad requests, the plurality of ad requests including requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the first ad configuration and requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the second ad configuration; and awarding impressions to one or both of the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and the bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration, in a proportion based at least in part on a revenue amount associated with the bids to serve ads in the first ad configuration and bids to serve ads in the second ad configuration. 
     Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments. 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of an environment in which electronic advertising may be performed and a system for managing auctions of electronic advertising, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  2    is a diagram of information flow between entities involved in online auctions of web and mobile advertisements, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  3    is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for managing auctions of diverse web and mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  4    is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for managing auctions of diverse web and mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  5 A- 5 C  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  6 A- 6 C  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIGS.  7 A and  7 B  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
     The present disclosure describes systems and methods for online auctioning of diverse online advertisements, including web and mobile advertisements of various types, sizes, and attributes. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an online auction may include a plurality of diverse configurations of ad cells requested by a publisher to be served with ads. As a result, even if a publisher has online area for only a subset of the plurality of possible ads, the publisher may receive bids on all of the possible ads, and award impressions to the subset of advertising bids that result in the highest revenue or other business goal. For example, if a publisher has online area for either one large ad or two small ads, the publisher may submit bid requests for both the one large ad, and bid requests for the two small ads, and award an impression to the arrangement that results in the highest revenue. Specifically, the publisher may ask or instruct a bidding controller or bidding exchange system to issue three bid requests (one for the larger ad, and two for the smaller ads), and then yield optimize to serve either the two small ads or one large ad based on the combined yield. In addition, if a publisher can provide ad cells that can be served with, for example, either rich media ad units or non-rich ad units, the publisher may instruct a bidding controller or bidding exchange system to issue two bid requests (one for the rich media ad, and one for the non-rich ad unit), and then yield optimize to serve either the rich media ad unit or non-rich ad unit based on the combined yield. Moreover, as will be described in more detail below, a bidding controller or bidding exchange system may create an auction and/or bid table comprising any combination of ads or ad configurations that could be served in a location of a publisher&#39;s web page. For example, the bidding controller or bidding exchange system may test demand and price sensitivity to an infinite number of possible ad configurations, to determine which ad configuration may generate the most revenue. For example, example, the bidding controller or bidding exchange system might create a bidding table causing large non-rich media to compete against small, rich media ads, or large interactive ads to compete against medium-sized video ads, and so on. 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an exemplary environment  100  for implementing online advertising auctions. System  100  may include a plurality of advertisers  102 , publishers  104 , ad servers  106 , and controllers  108 , in communication with the Internet  101 . Advertisers  102  may include any entities having online advertisements (e.g., banner ads, display ads, rich media ads, pop-ups, etc.) desired to be displayed to online users. Advertisers  102  may interact with publishers  104 , ad servers  106 , and/or controllers  108  through computers connected to the Internet  101 . Thus, advertisers  102  may be able to communicate advertising information, such as ad information, ad sizes, targeting information, consumer information, budget information, bidding information, etc., to other entities in environment  100 . 
     Publishers  104  may include any entities having inventories of available online advertising space. For example, publishers  104  may include online content providers, search engines, e-mail programs, or any entity or program having online user traffic. Publishers  104  may interact with advertisers  102 , ad servers  106 , and/or controllers  108  via computers connected to the Internet  101 . Thus, publishers  104  may be able to communicate inventory information, such as site information, content layout, ad layout, available ad sizes and spaces, visitor demographic information, cost information, etc., to other entities in environment  100 . 
     Ad servers  106  may include any type of servers configured to process advertising information from advertisers  102  and/or inventory information from publishers  104 , either directly or indirectly. In certain embodiments, ad servers  106  may be remote web servers that receive advertising information from advertisers  102  and serve ads to be placed by publishers  104 . Ad servers  106  may be configured to serve ads across various domains of publishers  104 , for example, based on advertising information provided by advertisers  102 . Ad servers  106  may also be configured to serve ads based on contextual targeting of web sites, search results, and/or user profile information. In some embodiments, ad servers  106  may be configured to serve ads based on information and instructions received from controllers  108 . 
     Controllers  108  may include one or more computing systems configured to receive information from entities in environment  100 , process the information, and generate instructions for executing an auction of diverse ads, according to methods described herein. Controllers  108  may include any type or combination of computing systems, such as clustered computing machines and/or servers. In one embodiment, each controller  108  may be an assembly of hardware, including a memory  112 , a central processing unit (“CPU”)  114 , and/or a user interface  116 . Memory  112  may include any type of RAM or ROM embodied in a physical storage medium, such as magnetic storage including floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; semiconductor storage such as solid state disk (SSD) or flash memory; optical disc storage; or magneto-optical disc storage. CPU  114  may include one or more processors for processing data according to instructions stored in the memory. The functions of the processor may be provided by a single dedicated processor or by a plurality of processors. Moreover, the processor may include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, or any other hardware capable of executing software. User interface  116  may include any type or combination of input/output devices, such as a display monitor, keyboard, and/or mouse. 
       FIG.  2    shows a block diagram of a process flow for providing an electronic marketplace for auctioning diverse advertising inventory consistent with an embodiment of the present invention. Marketplace  110  may include advertiser  102 , campaign optimizer  152 , exchange  154 , and publisher  104 . In one embodiment, campaign optimizer  152  and/or exchange  154  may be executed on one or more servers operated, for example, by an advertising network  150 , or any other type of programmatic buyer. Advertiser  102  may have an advertising campaign and wish to purchase one or more cells on a web page to display the campaign advertisements. A “cell” may correspond to a slot for placing a particular advertisement at a particular place and time. For example, a slot for presenting a clickable Internet advertisement for a product or service (the particular ad) on a client&#39;s Internet browser (a particular network segment) may correspond to a cell. An impression may occur when the advertisement is placed in a cell and presented at the particular place and time. Each cell may be part of a campaign of cells, or an advertising campaign. 
     Further, as part of its advertising campaign, advertiser  102  may develop one or more campaign goals  120 . A campaign goal may describe one or more metrics, such as profitability and cost that are to be maximized or minimized during the campaign. A campaign goal may include a list of delivery terms for the campaign to indicate preferences and/or tolerances of advertiser  102 . For example, advertiser  102  may include a delivery term to instruct that no more than $1,000 per month should be expended during the advertising campaign. Advertiser  102  also may desire to set a proportion of delivery or impressions between one more ad sizes or layouts, as well as a proportion of delivery or impressions between rich media ads vs. non-rich media ads. 
     Advertiser  102  may send campaign goals  120  to campaign optimizer  152 . Campaign optimizer  152  may use campaign goals  120  to formulate a bidding strategy for the advertising campaign. For example, campaign optimizer  152  may use campaign goals  120  to determine the web pages or types of web pages to target for placing advertisements. The group of targeted web pages for an advertising campaign by advertiser  102  may be referred to as a target inventory. Bids  126  may identify the target inventory by listing specific web pages and/or ad cells, and/or by describing the page characteristics of the types of web pages on which advertiser  102  would like to place advertisements. Bids  126  may also be grouped by ad configuration, such as ad size or attribute. The page characteristics may include, for example, statistics regarding the viewers of the web page and the number of times the web page is loaded. As part of the bidding process, campaign optimizer  152  may repeatedly or continually submit bids  126  to exchange  154 . A bid  126  may describe the target inventory of web pages for the advertising campaign as well as specify the maximum price per advertising request and the maximum request volume that advertiser  102  desires for the advertising campaign. 
     Publisher  104  may control inventory on one or more web pages that are available for displaying advertisements. Publisher  104  may send requests  122  to exchange  154  to inform exchange  154  of the available inventory. Publisher  104  may list inventory sizes and layouts, including the diverse ad configurations that the publisher&#39;s web page, or inventory may accommodate. Further, publisher  104  may maintain statistics and demographic data regarding the web pages containing the available inventory. For example, publisher  104  may maintain statistics regarding the average number of impressions per hour, for each hour of the day, that were created in the past week on a web page containing the available inventory. 
     Further, publisher  104  may include usage information within request  122 , such as a base price for the inventory on a web page, below which publisher  104  is unwilling to vend the inventory. The usage information may also indicate an advertising period [0, T], which represents the period of time advertisements are to be placed in the inventory. Further, in some embodiments, publisher  104  may indicate that an advertisement may be removed from a web page before the end of the advertising period. Publisher  104  may provide the ad configuration, statistical, demographic, and usage data to exchange  154  as part of request  122 . Additionally, the data from publisher  104  may be used by campaign optimizer  152  to formulate future bids. 
     Exchange  154  may facilitate the placement of advertisements from advertiser  102  onto cells provided by publisher  104  by matching bids  126  with requests  122 . When a request  122  for advertising space arrives from publisher  104 , exchange  154  may identify all bids  126  that have listed the web page of the publisher&#39;s request  122  within a target inventory. Exchange  154  may then choose the winning bids that will receive at least some of the advertising space offered by request  122 . Exchange  154  may continuously receive requests  122  from publisher  104  and match requests  122  to bids  126 . Finally, exchange  154  may notify advertiser  102  and publisher  104  of the winning bids  124 . Further, exchange  154  may provide data  128  to campaign optimizer  152  and advertiser  102 . For example, exchange  154  may include the demographic and statistical data received from publisher  104  as part of data  128 . As will be described in more detail below, exchange  154  may award impressions based on various business rules, control parameters, or metrics, so as to select and match requests and ads that maximize yield. 
       FIG.  3    is a flowchart of an advertising exchange system consistent with embodiments of the present invention. At step  302 , advertiser  102  may communicate a campaign goal for at least one advertising campaign to campaign optimizer  152 . A campaign goal may define its associated advertising campaign by setting one or more advertiser-specified target variables for the associated advertising campaign. An advertising campaign, then, may be thought of as a set of user-specified campaign goals related to a particular advertisement or set of advertisements. Target variables may be any combination of, e.g., advertising publication, publication type, ad configurations, cell sizes, connection speed, browser type, geographic region of the connection&#39;s IP address, industry, seasonal or other calendar or time restraints, proprietary data, or any other distinguishing feature. For example, advertisements may be limited such that a user will only observe an advertisement twice or three times a day. Target variables may also be based on type of content of an advertising space, or demographic information, such as gender, age, and income. Such variables may belong to advertising spaces, advertisements, advertisers, publishers, ends users, and/or other parties. 
     At step  304 , campaign optimizer  152  may formulate a bidding strategy for each advertising campaign of advertiser  102  by creating bids to be submitted to an exchange  154 . A bid may combine advertiser-specified target variables with optimization target variables designed to maximize efficiency and profitability of the advertising exchange service. For example, a bid may consist of a description of target variables desired, a maximum price advertiser  102  may be willing to pay for each advertisement displayed in an advertising space, and the maximum request volume advertiser  102  may be willing to buy for the bid. In some embodiments, the maximum request volume may be a percentage of all available advertising spaces matching the bid variables. In other embodiments, the maximum request volume may be represented differently, e.g., as a total number of advertising requests in a specified period of time. 
     At step  306 , campaign optimizer  152  may submit bids to exchange  154 . In certain embodiments, the bids may be submitted continuously. At step  308 , exchange  154  may continually receive advertising requests from a publisher  104 . An advertising request may specify a particular advertising space or a group of advertising spaces available to be matched with an advertisement or advertisements. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a publisher&#39;s advertising requests may include a plurality of requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in a first ad configuration and a plurality of requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in a second ad configuration. For example, the publisher may request bids to serve ads in any desired configuration possible on the publisher&#39;s web page, such as different sizes, layouts, media type, capabilities, features (e.g., animation, pop-ups, roll-overs, etc.) In one embodiment, a publisher may issue a plurality of ad requests including requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the first ad configuration and requests to serve ads on the publisher web page in the second ad configuration, where the first ad configuration includes one ad unit of a first size and the second ad configuration includes two ad units, each of a second size. 
     At step  310 , exchange  154  may match bids from campaign optimizer  152  with advertising requests from publisher  104  based on target variables found in the bids and the actual variables associated with advertising requests. At step  312 , exchange  154  may send winning bids to publisher  104 . In some embodiments, step  312  may include the publisher communicating information about the advertisement associated with a winning bid. Publisher  104  may then retrieve the selected advertisement from its own server or another location. In other embodiments, step  312  may include sending the winning advertisements themselves to publisher  104 . In some embodiments, advertiser  102  may manage some or all of its own bids and communicate directly with exchange  154  and/or publisher  104  with respect to bids for one or more of its advertising campaigns. In other embodiments, exchange  154  may use any algorithm suitable for selecting one or more winning advertisements from a plurality of advertisement bids for a plurality of requests to fill advertising spaces. 
       FIG.  4    is a flowchart of a method for auctioning diverse electronic advertisements consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. At step  402 , an advertising system may collect an inventory of advertising spaces (i.e., cells) and associated variables. In order to facilitate allocating advertisements among advertising spaces or cells, it may be desirable to collect information about publishers&#39; inventory based on observable variables. For example, variables may be any combination of advertising publication, publication type, connection speed, browser type, geographic region of the connection&#39;s IP address, industry, seasonal or other calendar or time restraints, or any other distinguishing feature. Such variables may be attributes of advertising spaces, advertisements, advertisers, publishers, end users, and/or other parties. In one embodiment, the advertising system may collect information about publishers&#39; available content layouts, ad layouts, ad sizes, and various combinations thereof. 
     Referring again to  FIG.  4   , at step  404 , the advertising system may collect advertisements from advertisers. These advertisements may have associated target variables and sizes, as described above. For example, in one embodiment, advertisers may submit various types and sizes of ads, such as any ad formats endorsed and promoted by the Internet Advertising Bureau (“IAB”). As discussed above, an advertiser may target a variable only if the variable is public or if the advertiser has permission to access that variable. In some embodiments, advertisers may submit different combinations of variables with the same advertisement, and the system may treat each advertisement variable combination as a discrete advertisement. 
     At step  406 , in one embodiment, a bid price and a target inventory percentage may be determined for each submitted advertisement based on the advertisement&#39;s associated target variables. The bid price may be the maximum price the advertiser of a particular advertisement is willing to pay for each advertising request. The target inventory percentage may be the maximum percentage of inventory that matches the variables that the advertiser is willing to purchase. In some embodiments, for an advertisement in inventory to be considered to match a set of variables, the advertisement must match all target variables. In other embodiments, an advertisement may be considered a match if it matches a single target variable or a defined percentage of target variables. In some embodiments, the bid price and/or target inventory percentage may be determined by the campaign optimizer  152  and/or controllers  108 , as described above. In some embodiments, the bid price and/or target inventory percentage may be calculated using algorithms that utilize data collected by the system about the success and value of previous advertising campaigns and advertisements. In other embodiments, the advertiser may submit the bid price and/or target inventory percentage for a particular advertisement, thus reducing or eliminating the necessity for the system to calculate those numbers at step  406 . 
     At step  408 , the system may receive a request from a publisher for an advertisement to fill a specified advertising space. For example, as described above, the publisher may request to fill advertising space in a plurality of different configurations. For example, the publisher may request to have its web page served with advertisements in both a first size and a second size, or in both a first image type and a second type, or in both a first media type and a second media type, or in both a first layout and a second layout, and so on. Moreover, the publisher may request to have its web page served with ads having different combinations of sizes and features. For instance, the publisher may request to be served with the highest yielding ads among a competition of small rich ads vs. large static ads, or small interactive ads vs. medium-size video ads, and so on. In order to fill the request, the system identifies all qualified advertisements, e.g., those advertisements whose target variables match the variables of the specified advertising space. The system may then generate a bid table listing all qualified advertisements, ranked in descending order according to bid price (step  410 ). In one embodiment, the bid table may include two or more of the ad configurations requested to be served by the publisher. 
     Examples of such bid tables according to embodiments of the present invention are shown in  FIGS.  5 - 7   . The bid table may include an advertisement and a bid price for each advertisement. The advertisement may include an identifier used to uniquely identify each advertisement available in the system. In other embodiments, the bid table may incorporate other variables and/or qualified advertisements may be ranked according to variables other than bid price. 
     Referring again to  FIG.  4   , in some embodiments, advertisements may be selected from the top of the bid table at step  412  one-by-one until the sum of the target inventory percentages of the selected advertisement is equal to or greater than 100%. In some embodiments, if two or more advertisements have the same bid price and the addition of any one of such advertisements would cause the sum target inventory percentage of selected advertisements to be greater than or equal to 100%, all such advertisements become selected advertisements. 
     In some embodiments, impressions for the specified advertising space may then be allocated at step  414 . In certain embodiments, advertisements may be allocated randomly among selected advertisements without regard to the target inventory percentage for each advertisement. In other embodiments, impressions for the specified advertising space are allocated in proportion to the target inventory percentage for each selected advertisement, with the last-selected advertisement receiving only the percentage required for the total sum of inventory percentages of selected advertisements to equal 100%. 
     In one embodiment, for each impression, the advertiser may be charged at the maximum bid price for the selected advertisement, meaning that the cost of placing an advertisement in the same advertising space may differ by each impression according to the advertisement being displayed. In some embodiments, the ordering of advertisements according to bid price or any other variable may be carried out continuously or at any time during the process of  FIG.  4   , for example, before a request is received from a publisher in step  408 . 
     In some embodiments, further controls may be implemented that may affect the allocation of impressions among selected advertisements. Variables of advertisers or advertising spaces may limit advertisements based on a nearly infinite variety of categories. For example, a publisher may limit the percentage of impressions that may be filled by a single advertiser or a single advertisement. Such a limit may be implemented, for example, by publisher, by advertising space, by web page, and/or by a time period, among other variables. 
       FIGS.  5 A- 5 C  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically,  FIG.  5 A  depicts a publisher&#39;s web page  502 , including a content area  506 , where the publisher may display text, images, videos, or any other web content consistent with the publisher&#39;s publishing interests. Because of the shape or layout of content area  506 , the publisher&#39;s web page  502  might have a space for two relatively small ads  510 ,  512 . For example, the publisher&#39;s web page  502  might have room for two 300×250 pixel ad units. 
     Alternatively, as shown in  FIG.  5 B , the publisher might design and publish an alternative layout web page  504 . As shown in  FIG.  5 B , the publisher&#39;s web page  504  might still have a content area  508  that is similar in size and content to content area  506 . However, web page  504  may be configured for one relatively larger ad  514 . For example, the publisher&#39;s web page  504  might be configured to be served with one 300×600 pixel ad unit. As discussed above, traditionally, a publisher might have been forced to pick between the layout of web page  502  and the layout of web page  504 , and request bids only on the ad(s) associated with the selected layout. However, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the publisher may submit requests for bids on both (i) the combination of two small ads  510 ,  512 , and (ii) the one larger ad  514 . Thus, as shown in  FIG.  5 C , either the publisher  104  or exchange  154  (executed by ad servers  106  and/or controllers  108 ) may generate a bid table  516 , including requests for bids on each of ads  510 ,  512 ,  514 . In one embodiment, the exchange  154  (executed by ad servers  106  and/or controllers  108 ) may implement certain control parameters or business rules. For example, exchange  154  may ensure that bids are received or generated for either the larger ad  514 , or both of the smaller ads  510 ,  512 , to ensure that web page layout  502  is not displayed with only one of the smaller ads  510 ,  512 . It should be appreciated that the smaller ads  510 ,  512  need not be positioned in the same place as where the one larger ad  514  would have been placed. For example, the smaller ad  512  may alternatively be positioned in the location reflected in dashed lines. In other words, while the configurations of  FIGS.  5 A and  5 B  may be alternatives that compete against each other in bidding, they may in some embodiments have ads covering differing locations and/or amounts of area. 
     Similarly,  FIGS.  6 A- 6 C  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically,  FIG.  6 A  depicts a publisher&#39;s web page  602 , including a content area  606 , where the publisher may display text, images, videos, or any other web content consistent with the publisher&#39;s publishing interests. Based on the shape or layout of content area  606 , the publisher&#39;s web page  602  might have space for an image ad  610 . For example, the publisher&#39;s web page  602  might have space for one 300×600 pixel ad comprising a static image that a user could click through to a landing page, by clicking anywhere on the static image. 
     Alternatively, as shown in  FIG.  6 B , the publisher might desire to publish a web page  604  having a content area  608  that is similar in size and content to content area  606 , but instead offer the advertising space for bids on a rich media ad, such as video ad  612 . For example, the publisher may desire to solicit bids on advanced ads that have various Flash-enabled features, roll-over features, pop-up features, diverse click responses, etc. As discussed above, traditionally, a publisher might have been forced to pick between soliciting bids only on either image ads  610  or rich media, e.g., video ads  612 . However, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the publisher may submit requests for bids on both image ads  610  and rich media, e.g., video ads  612 . Thus, as shown in  FIG.  6 C , either the publisher  104  or exchange  154  (executed by ad servers  106  and/or controllers  108 ) may generate a bid table  614 , including requests for bids on each of image ads  610  and rich media, e.g., video ads  612 . In one embodiment, the exchange  154  (executed by ad servers  106  and/or controllers  108 ) may implement certain control parameters or business rules. For example, exchange  154  may adjust bid prices B 1 , B 2 , or related bid allocation values to ensure that image ads  610 , and/or video ads  612  are displayed in a proportion that maximizes revenue and/or satisfies one or more of the publisher&#39;s and advertisers&#39; goals. 
       FIGS.  7 A and  7 B  are schematic diagrams reflecting an auction of diverse web and/or mobile advertisements over the Internet, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically,  FIG.  7 A  depicts a publisher web videos, or any other web content consistent with the publisher&#39;s publishing interests. Web page  700  may also include an area for displaying one or more different advertisement configurations  704   1  through  704   n . That is, web page  700  may be configured to receive and display any desired type or combination of ad configurations  704   1 - 704   n . In one embodiment, each ad configuration  704  may include a different sized ad or combination of sizes of ads. For example, one ad configuration  704  may include space for one ad unit, whereas another ad configuration  704  may include space for two or more ad units. It should be appreciated that the ad configuration  704  need not be limited to the position shown with respect to content  702 . For example, any ad configuration  704  may actually interspersed with content  702 , such as including one or more smaller ads positioned anywhere on web page  700 , optionally in and among content  702 . In one embodiment, each ad configuration  704  may be a different type of standardized ad unit, the specifications of which may be managed by the Internet Advertising Bureau. For example, each ad configuration  704  may facilitate advertising using a different type of ad format, such as a standardized image, a video, a Flash display, a pop-up, a roll-over animation, a game, an interactive user interface, HTML5, or any other rich ad execution. 
     As described above, the exchange  154  and/or controllers  108  may use the various ad configurations  704   1 - 704   n  made available by the publisher of web page  700 , and place them into a bid table, such as the bid table of  FIG.  7 B . Even though the ad configurations  704   1 - 704   n  may be coextensive over the same area of the web page  700 , they may each be placed into a bid table to cause advertiser bidding on each of the possible ad configurations. Thus, publisher  700  may determine which ad configuration provides the highest yield, subject to various delivery parameters or business rules, and instruct exchange  154  and/or controllers  108  to allocate delivery of impressions among ad configurations  704   1 - 704   n  so as to maximize yield. Moreover, in one embodiment, business rules may be layered, to allow advertisers and/or publishers to frequency cap the number of impressions served for one particular ad configuration over another. 
     As described above, the increased diversity and selection of available ad configurations may improve advertiser satisfaction and improve revenue, by maximizing yield obtained across multiple possible ad configurations. For example, the diversity of ad configurations may help to increase overall bid density and therefore yield for publishers. Moreover, both bid density and premium bid prices for larger, more featured ad units may drive yield up, as well as availability of more premium ad units for advertisers to bid on. 
     The many features and advantages of the disclosure are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the disclosure which fall within the true spirit and scope of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. 
     Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.