Patent Publication Number: US-2007124248-A1

Title: Media property monetization apparatus and method

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to advertising and marketing methods and systems, and in particular a monetization method and system for time-shifted media properties such as “podcasts” and the like.  
      The objective behind all advertising and marketing models is to influence or alter consumption or purchase behavior. Advertising may be generally defined as the presentation of marketing messages for a product or service through any media form or combination of media forms. A basic premise of advertising is that these messages can alter consumption or purchase behavior. These messages focus on describing either the attributes of the product or service, or the attributes that the consumer will acquire or with which the consumer will be associated by the purchase of the product or service.  
      In order for advertising to be effective, the advertiser must (1) determine how to position the message within the attention of the consumer; (2) identify the optimum combination of product attributes or associations that will alter purchase behavior; and (3) craft a message using the attributes or associations that will effectively alter the purchase or consumption behavior. The difficulties of the advertiser are particularly acute where the attributes between any two products or services are not highly differentiated. In such cases, the message—what may broadly be referred to in this context as the “brand”—is constructed almost entirely of associations that a consumer acquires by purchasing the product.  
      Brands pose a number of challenges for advertisers. First, consumers have today become less brand-susceptible. This has occurred for two reasons. First, as consumers have become more sophisticated regarding the origin and manufacturer of products and services, they are cognizant of the value-added attributes and their corresponding costs over the base product. Second, consumers are now more consciously aware of marketing messages, their strategy, composition, and intended effect. This awareness diminishes the effectiveness of advertising.  
      It is well known that brands require mass adoption to become powerful. Brands achieve most of their power—and value—as substitutes for either knowledge or membership. Where brands substitute for knowledge, the consumer acquires comfort, or a sense of guarantee, by a brand purchase. Where brands substitute for membership, consumers are able to recognize either themselves or their peers as belonging to a particular social strata or special-interest group. In both cases, the substitution conferred with a brand must be widely understood and acknowledged in order to have value. Given these two problems, and the expense involved in attempting to overcome them, it may be easily seen how brands are losing their power to alter consumption behavior.  
      For purposes of illustration, a particular example of the problem of brand erosion will be used in the subsequent discussion. Consider the situation whereby an advertiser “underwrites” a television program by purchasing broadcast time sold by the television station or broadcaster. Following the traditional model, advertising is inserted interstitially into the program, that is, the advertising appears during short segments before, during, or after a program. The program is said to be “sponsored” by the advertiser through this arrangement.  
      A first disadvantage of this interstitial advertising model is that the advertising time purchased is associated with a specific calendar date and time. The advertising is not integrally associated with the media property. If, for example, the program is later released on digital video disk (DVD) for purchase by end consumers, the advertising will not be associated with the program unless the advertiser makes an additional purchase of advertising time.  
      Another disadvantage is that the broadcaster who is selling the advertising time is a licensee of the media property, and generally not the content producer. The broadcaster is thus in some sense an intermediary to the advertiser and the owner of the media property. Therefore, the advertiser must negotiate with different parties to “sponsor” the media property in different formats and environments, leading to the problem of an advertising purchase being related to a particular date and time as described above.  
      Another disadvantage of this approach is that the broadcast company owns the broadcast rights to a program, and thus controls the time when it is broadcast to a particular audience. The sponsor thus lacks the ability to optimize the time that a program is broadcast in order to best suit its advertising needs. The sponsor cannot control this or any other aspect of the program, and thus any deficiencies in the program or its broadcasting, which may reflect negatively on the sponsor, are outside of the sponsors&#39; control. The sponsor may only influence these activities by failing to renew or expand its advertising purchase.  
      Yet another disadvantage of this approach is that the sponsor is responsible for creating the advertisement that will appear interstitially during the program. Few sponsors are capable of creating such content themselves, lacking both the creative talent and resources necessary for such production. The sponsors must then rely upon third-party advertising firms (or in some cases upon the broadcaster itself) to produce its advertisements.  
      It may be seen that there are a number of disadvantages that relate particularly to the purchase of advertising in interstitial blocks of time associated with a particular program. For example, a broadcaster may decide to move a successful program to a new time slot in order to raise the cost to the advertiser of maintaining its sponsorship. In addition, the advertisements developed for such programs must generally conform to the tight timeframe constraints on the program to feature the advertising, which generally falls on multiples of a half-hour or hour-length program. This limitation is the result of audience expectation, and the difficulty of communicating program start times to the audience if these rigid limits were not imposed. Related to this limitation is the limitation that the programs generally appear in weekly installments. Another limitation is that since there are only a limited number of “prime time” slots, the programs broadcast at these times must be those that are felt to have broad appeal, that is, those that can attract multiple audience demographics with disparate advertising targets. This broad reach limits the ability of a sponsor to focus its marketing efforts at a core group of potential buyers.  
      Another more general limitation of this approach to advertising is that there need be no prior relationship between the sponsor of the program and the viewer. The viewer may have no interest in the sponsor whatsoever, and viewing the program does not create any relationship between the viewer and sponsor unless the viewer affirmatively acts to create such a relationship. The only relationship established is that between the viewer and the broadcaster, since the viewer must have chosen to watch the particular program that is being sponsored.  
      The prevalence today of audio and video recording devices further compounds certain of these problems. Since viewers can record a particular program and watch it at any time desired, the broadcaster essentially competes against itself; the viewer can skip a program currently being broadcast and can instead watch one that was previously recorded from the same broadcaster. This effect compounds the difficulties associated with the high-value program, since it can effectively be watched by more viewers. Conversely, this effect accelerates the devaluation of sponsorship for less popular programs, since the viewer may now skip a program it might watch as the best available in a particular time slot in favor of a more desirable program recorded earlier.  
      In particular, the use of audio and video recording devices creates a difficulty for the standard advertising model because viewers can now skip advertising altogether. Video cassette recorders allow viewers to “fast forward” past advertisements in order to view a desired program without being exposed to the interstitial advertising messages. Digital video recording devices (DVRs), such as the TiVo brand recording device, as well as similar devices now commonly leased to digital satellite and cable television subscribers, allow viewers to skip advertisements in a highly automated fashion. Many DVR controllers allow the viewer to skip ahead in a program by thirty-second increments with the mere touch of a button; thirty seconds is precisely the amount of time allotted to most television advertisements. Other systems have “smart” technology that automatically skip advertisements during viewing.  
      Another new technology available to consumers today is in the form of digital audio file players. The mostpopular of these devices is the iPod media player from Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif. Such devices are analogous to DVRs in that they store programs, in this case audio programs such as songs or “podcasts,” for later review. While the DVR, iPod, and like devices have proven to be incredibly popular, no new monetization model has appeared to take advantage of the unique opportunities these devices create for leveraging advertising expenditures. Any attempt to insert advertising into podcasts interstitially will suffer from the same drawbacks as described above with respect to programs recorded by DVR—the consumer may easily skip the advertisements to move along to the desired content given the capabilities of the device.  
      Although no satisfying answer has been forthcoming, the difficulties associated with the monetization of podcasts and similar programs has been widely recognized. Audible.com, a downloadable audiobook company, has developed a service called “Wordcast” that allows podcasters to dynamically insert ads, measure number of listeners, and charge subscription fees. This traditional advertising approach suffers from many of the disadvantages described above, particularly the problem that the listener can easily skip the advertisement. Also, there is no way to know how many times the advertisement is actually heard, only the number of times the program containing the advertisement is downloaded. Odeo, a start-up company located in San Francisco, Calif. has also developed an advertising model that relies upon the embedding of advertising in podcasts. One podcasting pioneers, Avi Partovi of GarageBand.com, has advocated shortening the embedded commercials in podcasts such that it would be too much trouble to skip them. This approach would limit the impact of the advertisement, and limit the type of message that may be conveyed by the advertiser.  
      It may be seen then that traditional methods of advertising using program sponsorship are of diminishing value in a modem technological environment, particularly with respect to time-shifted media, and a more effective method of advertising and sponsorship is desired. Previous attempts to modify traditional advertising approaches to fit the podcasting model have been unsatisfying and appear unlikely to be effective.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for advertising with respect to time-shifted media properties, which maximizes the value of the advertisement to the sponsor. Rather than being limited by the prevalence of time-shifted content storage players or appliances, such as DVRs and iPods, the present invention is enabled by such technologies. According to the present invention, the desired media content is provided to the consumer on the applicable content storage player in response to the customer having satisfied certain terms and conditions.  
      For purposes herein, this content to be transferred, in whatever form it may take in various embodiments, is referred to as a “content premium.” Generally speaking, the content premium is to be provided to a customer as an incentive for the purchase of a corresponding product or service. The content premium may be any audio, video, text, interactive game, music, text-to-speech rendition, or other media property, whether for entertainment purposes, news, or otherwise, whose acquisition and transfer to a consumer for review by the customer is conditional upon (1) the satisfaction of the purchase of a good or service; (2) the exchange of data from the customer; (3) the participation of the customer in a designated activity; or (4) other activity of the customer by which a relationship is established with the content server and from which the content server derives value. Examples of content premiums may include, but are not limited to, Podcasts, Vlogs, website content, blog content, and media-shifted television programs, movies, or radio programs. A content premium may also include a token that represents a physical artifact that may be, for example, shipped to a customer in response to receipt or conversion of the content premium. For example, the content premium for a purchase may be information necessary to receive a printed book from an on-line bookseller. The physical artifact could be prepared in special form for the promotion, such as different cover art for a book, in order to increase the value of the premium, perhaps as a collector&#39;s item.  
      According to the present invention, four players are generally involved in the distribution and consumption of the content premium, although it may be noted that one party may actually play the role of multiple players. Those players are the customer, the retailer, the content provider, and an intermediary party. The intermediary party, which will be referred to herein as a content server, represents a business that provides advertising using the monetization model of the present invention. According to one or more aspects of the present invention, media content may be licensed by the content server in order to acquire an inventory of content premiums for packing and sell in content transfer contracts.  
      Utilization of the content premium through ipods, DVRs, or other players or storage devices may include, for example, the purchase of a product by a customer at a retail location. The general principle behind the present invention may be seen as advantageous for some of the same reasons as traditional promotions requiring a prior purchase, such as, for example, a child who purchases a particular brand of cereal because a desired toy is found inside the cereal box. The present invention, however, is directed to time-shifted media properties and optimized for the use of content storage players and appliances, thereby allowing maximum advertising monetization in this environment.  
      A premise behind the present invention is that the “brand” in today&#39;s marketplace is less defined by and derived from an advertising message and more defined by and derived from the primary entertainment or other media property content used to deliver the message. In other words, the topics, characters, lifestyles, interests, and other aspects which appeal to the consumer in the media itself form the image and message associated with the ownership and consumption of a product or service. Differences between products and services are today more likely to be recognized as illusory, transitory, or of little consequence; the appeal of an associated media property can sway the purchase and consumption of a product or service at the point-of-purchase more than an interstitial message delivered away from the point-of-purchase.  
      By utilizing the present invention, brand substitution for either knowledge or membership may be supplanted by access to community aggregate assessment and judgment of the value or a product or service. For example, consumers may have access to the aggregate consumer reviews regarding any product, solution, or service via the Internet or their cell phones. Consumers can thus choose the judgment of the broad market, or rely upon an assessment from within an affinity community with which such consumer perceives common traits.  
      Another result of the present invention is that it allows consumers to adopt the lifestyles, values, and potentially the corresponding purchase preferences via “influencers” or “thought leaders” within a community or social network. For example, instead of following the central tendency of the aggregate assessment, consumers generally desire to emulate success directly from recommendations or directions. This phenomenon is recognized in current marketing as the “early adopter” influence, but it is believed this trend will become more traceable and more broadly applied as technology products such as those described above become more prevalent in society and more sophisticated.  
      Applying the present invention, it may be seen how the invention overcomes the deficiencies described above with respect to the traditional means of purchasing interstitial advertising in media programs. First, patronage by a consumer can be negotiated via access to media properties. Using the present invention, a consumer may indicate a purchase preference, and the consumer&#39;s purchase subsequently influenced via a subscription list. For example, a manufacturer can previously have licensed media properties and can make selecting a subscription from these licenses available to influence a purchase decision at the point-of-purchase.  
      Another advantage of the present invention is that a consumer can indicate a subscription preference, and may influence the manufacturer&#39;s license acquisition. For example, a consumer may indicate a media property preference and a manufacturer can purchase a license to the media property via a “market” price for that license based upon demand, exclusivity, “leadership quotient” of the pending customer, or other factors. In essence, the present invention allows for a highly efficient market for the exchange of media licenses.  
      Another advantage of the present invention is that a consumer may be influenced based upon recommendations from any of a general community, an affinity group, or individuals. A consumer can glance at the “ratings” of either a product purchase or media subscription from groups to which he has membership, special interests, or geographic affinity, for example. A consumer can also receive “private” recommendations via family or friends to either a product or media property. This may be thought of as the manufacturer providing access to the aggregate judgments via a known intermediary “influencer.” 
      Another advantage of the present invention is that the purchase or consideration of purchase of a good or service is coupled explicitly with the delivery of a media property. A consumer must either purchase a product or service in order to receive a copy of a media property for consumption, or enter a retail location in order to receive a copy of a media property for consumption. The consumption of the good or service, however, is not necessarily “time-restricted” with respect to the consumer who made the required purchase or retail visit. That is, the consumer can retain the media for later consumption for as long as desired, so long as the consumer remains willing to dedicate storage capacity to retaining the media.  
      Another advantage of the present invention is that exchanging, trading, or passing copies of media to friends or associates is not restricted. It is, in fact, likely to be encouraged using various embodiments of the present invention. “Subscription markers” that associate the “original friend” with subsequent subscriptions may serve to create and identify “social networks” of like-minded people, as well as the “thought leaders” within a consumption community. Passing a copy of a media property to another user&#39;s portable storage device enables the present invention to identify the user as a member of the primary consumer&#39;s social network. The present invention also allows for the identification of the user as interested in the media property and therefore subject to purchase influence of one or more products within a product group through either purchase discounts or bundling.  
      Another advantage of the present invention is that the proliferation or acquisition of more media content than what can be consumed within any interval is of no consequence to the manufacturer or other advertiser, since the acquisition of the content has already altered the consumption behavior. In other words, the manufacturer cares that the media is consumed in as much only that demand is sustained for any media licenses. No interstitial messages are developed or associated with the media content. This means that these additional costs are avoided, that these messages cannot be ignored or by-passed, and that the efficacy of the messages to alter consumption behavior need be of no concern.  
      A related advantage of the present invention is that it eliminates the cost of advertising production for the sponsor. No interstitial advertising messages need to be produced in order to take advantage of the present invention. Furthermore, the present invention allows a direct coupling between the alteration of consumer behavior with the acquisition of media content, rather than the loose coupling using in traditional advertising methods to alter consumer behavior by means of advertisements inserted into content for which the consumer need not directly compensate the sponsor.  
      Finally, providing the primary option of delivery of media content at a retail or other location is preferred to downloading digital media directly over the Internet, since by distributing either known subscriptions or predicted “high probability” subscriptions into the retail or other location, the downloads can be copied to several points on a content server instead of pulled from few sources. This result lowers transmission costs and improves transmission performance.  
      These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings as described following: 
    
    
     DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is an illustration of the various main components of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating the steps in reaching an agreement between a content server and a content provider according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating the steps in reaching an agreement between a content server and a retailer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating the steps in reaching an agreement between a content server and an Internet point of presence (POP) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating the steps by which a consumer receives a content premium according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating a basic business process model according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the product acquisition workflow software module.  
       FIG. 8  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the license management and billing software module.  
       FIG. 9  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the server management software module.  
       FIG. 10  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the POP management software module.  
       FIG. 11  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the POP terminal application software module.  
       FIG. 12  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the client terminal application software module.  
       FIG. 13  is a hierarchical chart illustrating the components of the content server subscription analysis software module.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , a preferred embodiment of the present invention may now be described. Content server  10  comprises an input module, an output module, an input module, a search module, a key creation module, and a storage module. It may be seen that such modules (as well as the modules of other components of the preferred embodiment) may be implemented in computer software or hardware, as desired. In the preferred embodiment, an off-the-shelf, microprocessor-based server with storage capability may be used to implement content server  10 . Retailer system  12  is preferably a computer system maintained by a retail establishment, and comprises a storage module, an input module, an output module, and a sales processing module. Content provider  14  is a computer system maintained by a party that generates media properties, and may be a single computer with a storage medium or a network. It also comprises a transfer module to send media content to content server  10 . Consumer appliance  16  is preferably a device that can store and playback media properties, such as a DVR or iPod device. Point of presence (POP)  18  is a point on the Internet or another network that includes a storage module, user interface module, and a search module, the functioning of which will be described below in various preferred embodiments. POP  18  may be eliminated in certain embodiments. Terminal  19  may be used by a customer to communicate with POP  18  or content server  10  and includes a user interface; terminal  19  is preferably a personal computer or laptop computer, but the functions of terminal  19  may also be integrated in an alternative embodiment into consumer appliance  16 .  
      In order to make use of the services offered by content server  10 , a retailer operating retailer computer system  12  purchases the right through content server  10  for content server  10  to transfer a content premium to customer  16  through retailer system  12  when certain contract conditions are satisfied. The content premium is generated by a content provider system  14 , which is then transmitted over a network such as the Internet to content server  10 . Content server  10  may thus act as a clearinghouse for multiple content providers  14  and retailer systems  12  in the preferred embodiment, thereby maintaining a plurality of content premiums, each associated with a particular product or service, and perhaps uniquely associated with different products and services for different retailers.  
      The distributor acting through content server  10  may sell media transfer contracts to retailers acting through retailer systems  12 , for example, in any variation or combination of a purchase being required; a purchase of an affiliate product being required; the provision of marketing data being required; and the acceptance of the media with embedded advertising being required. In turn, retailers may sell media transfer contracts to a customer associated with consumer appliance  16 , for example, in any variation or combination of incentives for store or site patronage; incentives to purchase additional products; incentives to purchase a specific product or service (as, for example, an agent of the business); and incentives to provide lifestyle, interest, and customer-profile data.  
      As part of the media transfer contract, content server  10  may optionally provide any of a number of service or transaction support packages or bundles. One possible package is the “preference.” A preference is created where two or more content premiums are available as compensation, from which the customer associated with consumer appliance  16  may select the desired premium.  
      Another possible package is the “swap,” whereby the customer associated with consumer appliance  16  need not satisfy the primary terms to receive a content premium, but rather can substitute the purchase of one product to satisfy the transfer terms for another product. Reciprocal “swap” obligations are incurred by the second corporate product when the condition is satisfied. For example, a men&#39;s shaving blade company may own a content premium license, and also have a “swap” license agreement with a feminine hygiene products company. A male purchaser could thus receive the content premium via the purchase of a feminine hygiene product for his wife, or a female purchaser could acquire a content premium that she desired via the purchase of her husband&#39;s razor blades.  
      A “cross-sell” package allows the customer to satisfy the primary terms of a content premium transfer, but may be induced to additional purchases of the same or other products by the offer of discounted content premiums. This package may be popular with complementary items. For example, a customer may purchase a particular brand of beer in order to receive a sporting event premium. To induce the purchase of a snack food, such as pretzels, an additional content premium—such as, for example, an interview with players associated with the sporting event—could be offered as an additional enticement. In this example the content premiums are related, but they need not necessarily be connected. In addition, the content premiums need not be exercised together in order for the cross-sell package to be realized: for example, the customer could receive a Sunday afternoon sporting event premium for the purchase of beer, and receive a Monday night sporting event premium for the purchase of pretzels.  
      As a final example, the “up-sell” package allows the customer to be induced to purchase a competing product to receive a content premium. The distributor associated with content server  10  may develop, combine, sell, and deploy necessary technology to retailers associated with each retailer system  12  to support monitoring compliance with and fulfillment of media transfer contract terms and conditions; transfer and validated receipt of content premiums; and analysis of customer behaviors and subsequent refinement of business practices. This functionality is a part of the sales processing module at retailer system  12 ; the various software routines used to implement these functions will be described in greater detail below.  
      Various methods may be used to transfer the content premium to consumer appliance  16  either by means of or through terminal  19 . These methods include WiFi, physical connection, or authentication code. WiFi, short for “wireless fidelity,” is the common term for high-frequency wireless local area networks (WLANs). Using WiFi transfer in the preferred embodiment, whenever consumer appliance  16  or terminal  19  moves within reception of a radio or laser network access point to POP  18 , and the appropriate contract terms are satisfied, the user interface (comprising a utility program for this purpose) logs consumer appliance  16  or terminal  19  onto POP  18 , transfers credentials and other data from the device to POP  18 , and downloads the content premium to consumer appliance  16  or terminal  19 . Using a physical connection, such as a computer docking station or the like, the device is physically connected to POP  18 . As with the WiFi example, once the connection is established a utility determines if contract terms are satisfied, and if so logs consumer appliance  16  or terminal  19  onto POP  18 , transfers credentials and other data from the device to POP  18 , and downloads the content premium to the appropriate device. Using the authentication approach, POP  18  can issue an authentication code and Internet address, or uniform resource locator (URL) when contract terms are satisfied, and the consumer may then log in at the URL at a later time (through consumer appliance  16  or terminal  19 ) to download the content premium.  
      POP  18  according to a preferred embodiment may collect and maintain various types of data in its storage module. Such data includes the customer content premium preferences and subscriptions; customer purchases to satisfy premium terms; and content premium download status and transfer availability. The data may also include the applicable content premium terms themselves, including “swap”, “cross-sell”, and “up sell” terms.  
      Referring now to  FIGS. 2-4 , the processes by which agreements may be established between the various parties involved in utilizing the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be described in more detail.  FIG. 2  illustrates the process by which an agreement is arranged between distributor network  10  and a content provider  14  according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. At action block  20 , content provider  14  conceives of an original media property, produces an original version of a previous work, acquires coverage rights for an event, or otherwise acquires an interest in a media property. At input block  22 , content provider  14  submits to content server  10  a proposed format and sample of the media property for review. At block  24 , content server  10  evaluates the format and sample of the media property. Moving to decision block  26 , content server  10  determines if the proposed media property from content provider  14  is desirable in light of its business plans for distribution as a content premium. If the media property is not approved, then processing returns to step  22 . If it is approved, then processing moves to block  28 , where content server  10  agrees to market the media property within its content premium allocation system.  
      At block  30 , content server  10  provides to content provider  14  the delivery requirements and other technical specifications for the final media property to be delivered. At block  32 , the necessary changes are made by content provider  14 , and at block  34  content server  10  determines if the final media property specifications are acceptable. If not, then processing moves to block  34 , where amendments are made and processing returns to block  30 . If so, then processing moves to block  38 , wherein final contractual arrangements are established between content server  10  and content provider  14 .  
      Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the process whereby an arrangement is formed between content server  10  and a retailer  12  may be described. While this arrangement is described here for a program with only one retailer  12 , it may be seen that the same process may be applied regardless of the number of participating retailers  12 . Likewise, the relationship may be formed with regard to a single content premium, or multiple content premiums, which may be provided with a single product or different products offered to the customers of retailer  12 . At block  50 , content server  10  establishes a contact or relationship with retailer  12 , which is a potential licensee for content premiums. At block  52 , content server  10  provides a proposed client agreement to retailer  12  for review. At block  54 , retailer  12  considers the terms and conditions of membership within the system created by content server  10 , and at decision block  58  determines whether it wishes to be a member. If retailer  12  does not wish to be a member under the stated terms and conditions, then processing moves to decision block  56 , where content server  10  determines whether it wishes to make any proposed revisions to the agreement between the parties. If not, then the process terminates at step  60 . If so, then processing returns to block  52 .  
      If retailer  12  determines that it does wish to be a member of the network under the stated terms and conditions at decision block  25 , then processing moves to block  62 , where the agreement is executed. At block  64 , content server  10  provides premium content samples to retailer  12  for its review. At block  66 , retailer  12  determines which content premiums it wishes to associate with each of its products being considered for inclusion in this system, and at decision block  68  determines if it has identified a desired content premium or premiums for its products. If no desired content premium is identified, then processing moves processing moves to decision block  72 , where retailer  12  determines if it wishes to consider other possible content premium proposals. If not, then the process ends at block  74 . If so, then processing returns to block  66 .  
      If retailer  12  determines that it has identified a desired content premium or premiums at block  68 , then processing moves to block  70 , where content server  10  establishes a price, duration, and other transfer forms associated with the particular content premium identified by retailer  12 . Processing then proceeds to block  76 , where retailer  12  considers these terms. If the terms are not accepted by retailer  12  at decision block  80 , then processing moves to block  78  where content server  10  determines whether it is willing to modify these terms as requested by retailer  12 . If so, then processing returns to block  70 . If not, then the process ends at block  82 .  
      If retailer  12  accepts the terms of content server  10  at block  80 , then processing moves to block  84 , where retailer  12  agrees to proposed terms. Processing then moves to block  86 , where the parties agree to terms such that the transfer of the content premium or premiums may now take place.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 4 , the process whereby an agreement may be established between the content server and an Internet point of presence (POP) may now be described. At block  100 , content server  10  establishes a marketing contact or relationship with POP  18 . At block  102 , content server  10  provides POP  18  with a proposed agreement by which the content premium or related information may be transferred through POP  18 . At block  106 , POP  18  considers the proposed agreement, and at decision block  110  POP  18  determines whether it wishes to accept the proposed terms. If not, then processing moves to decision block  108 , where content server  10  determines whether it wishes to propose alternate terms and conditions. If so, then the terms of the proposed agreement are modified at block  104 , and processing returns to block  102 . If not, then processing terminates at block  112 .  
      If POP  18  determines that it wishes to accept the proposed terms of the agreement at block  110 , then processing moves to block  116 , where content server  110  provides, installs, and integrates all necessary hardware, software, network, and administrative services at POP  18 &#39;s retail locations in accordance with the terms of the agreement. If at block  110  POP  18  determines that it does not wish to enter the proposed agreement even under any alternate terms and conditions, then processing terminates at block  114 .  
      Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the process whereby the consumer  16  receives a content premium according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described. At block  120 , consumer  16  acquires a device capable of loading or storing the content premium. Such device may be acquired, for example, by means of purchase, rent, or lease. Such device may or may not be provided by one of retailer  12  or content server  10 . At block  122 , At block  124 , consumer  16  provides transfer access to content server  10  or a designated agent of content server  10  for the transfer of a content premium or premiums to the storage device acquired by consumer  16 . At block  124 , consumer  16  acquires access to a device with playback capability for playing the content premium stored on the storage device of consumer  16 . The playback device and storage device of consumer  16  may in fact be the same device, or may be different devices. The playback device may be a hardware device, a software application, or a combination of both.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 6 , a basic business model may be described for use of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. At block  130 , content provider  14  produces a media property suitable for capture or development and digital transfer. It may be seen that this step follows in sequence from the steps outlined in reference to  FIG. 2  above. At block  132 , the content premium developed by content provider  14  is packaged as a digital file in accordance with production specifications. For an audio file, for example, those specifications may be MP3 format. At block  134 , the content premium is transferred from content provider  14  to content server  10 . At block  136 , the content premium is checked by content server  10  to validate compliance with the applicable license agreement. Content server  10  may maintain a quality. assurance department for this purpose. At decision block  138 , content server  10  determines whether the content premium is acceptable or should be rejected. If rejected, processing returns to block  130 . If accepted, then processing moves to block  140 , where the content premium is stored digitally in a library file maintained on a storage system by content server  10 .  
      Following the various steps outlined in reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4  above, processing moves to step  142 , where the content premium is transferred to the local storage system of retailer  12  or POP  18  for later distribution to consumer  16 . At step  146 , consumer  16  purchases a product or service from retailer  12 , and the purchase is validated in some manner by retailer  12  as appropriate to the product or service purchased. At decision block  150 , retailer  12  inquires of consumer  16  whether consumer  16  desires the content premium associated with the product or service purchased to be transferred immediately to the consumer  16 &#39;s storage device. It may be noted here that consumer  16  at this point should have already acquired the storage device as detailed above in reference to  FIG. 5 . If consumer  16  does not desire an immediate transfer, then at decision block  148  retailer  12  determines whether, under the applicable program and with respect to the content premium and product or service at issue, the content premium is “bankable,” that is, may be transferred to consumer  16  at a later time. If so, then processing returns to block  146 . If not, then the content premium is not transferred to consumer  16 , and processing ends at block  152 .  
      If consumer  16  indicates at block  150  that it desires an immediate transfer, then processing proceeds to block  154 , where retailer  12  checks the storage capacity of consumer  16 &#39;s storage device. This may be performed automatically by software that is integrated into the transfer process. At decision block  156  it is determined whether the storage device has sufficient free storage capacity to allow the transfer of the content premium to take place. If storage is insufficient, then processing moves to decision block  148 , where it will be determined if the content premium is bankable. If storage is sufficient, then processing moves to block  158 , where the content premium is in fact transferred to the storage device of consumer  16 . At block  160 , consumer  16  maintains the content premium in storage until such time as it is desired to play the content premium, preferably utilizing software associated with the storage advice. At block  162 , consumer  16  retrieves the content premium on the storage device for purposes of playback. Again, this process is preferably performed by software incorporated into the storage device. At block  164 , the consumer plays the content premium using the playback device (as acquired in the steps described above with reference to  FIG. 6 ), and processing ends at block  166 . Consumer  16  may maintain the content premium in the storage device as long as desired for replay purposes, or may delete the content premium in order to make room for additional content on the storage device.  
      The present invention encompasses a number of alterative embodiments to that described above with respect to  FIGS. 2-6 . For example, instead of each retailer  12  maintaining the actual coupon premiums themselves at a local storage device, retailers  12  may maintain digital keys that may be used to later unlock the coupon premium by consumer  16 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . Once the keys are transferred to the storage device of consumer  16 , they may be sent to content server  10 , by digital network such as the Internet or other means, in order to retrieve the content premium. Likewise, POP  18  may be used to retrieve content premiums by consumer  16 , also as shown in  FIG. 1 .  
      An example may be used to illustrate the embodiments described above. Suppose that consumer  16  regularly purchases brand “A” toothpaste. Consumer  16  may not believe, however, that the difference between brand “A” toothpaste and brand “B” is so great that he or she will not switch to brand “B” if a purchase of that brand will enable consumer  16  to watch a new video being released by a favorite recording artist. If the manufacturer of brand “B” were, through the applicable retailer, to offer this video as a content premium, consumer  16  may then purchase brand “B.” The content may then be downloaded directly to a portable storage and playing device at the retailer, or consumer  16  may receive a digital key to unlock the content at a remote site, or consumer  16  may receive a URL and password in order to access the content premium at a remote site. The consumer having begun using brand “B” may now continue using brand “B” out of habit, regardless of whether the content premium, or a like content premium, is again provided.  
      The preferred embodiment of the present invention has thus far been described in terms of the functionality of various hardware and network components. The modular structure of the software components that provide this functionality for the preferred embodiment of the present invention may now be described with reference to  FIGS. 7-13 . Turning first to  FIG. 7 , the structure of the application software module for product acquisition workflow  180  may first be described. The general function of this software module, which preferably resides at content server  10 , is to automate the process of securing contracts between content server  10  and content providers  14  for the distribution of content premiums. Content producer agreement subroutine  182  is operable to generate a standard contract for the distribution of content with terms acceptable to content server  14 . Dynamic contract generation subroutine  184  is responsible for generating content provider-specific terms for the contract generated by content producer agreement subroutine  182 , such as the name of the content provider, the name of the content premium, and various specific information regarding each, resulting in a completed first draft of the contract in an electronic form. Workflow management of contract review/approval subroutine  186  automates the process of reviewing and approving changes that may take place during the negotiation process. Contract review/approval subroutine  186  preferably includes the functionality of highlighting changes that have occurred during each stage of the negotiation, and may preferably contain rules for setting allowable ranges in the changing of various contract terms. Contract monitoring subroutine  188  provides for automation of the ongoing maintenance of an executed contract. Its various components include quality component  190 , which allows for automation of the quality of content premium provided; length component  192 , which provides monitoring for the length of the contract and appropriate actions upon expiration or, for renewal purposes, when approaching expiration; component  194 , which provides for monitoring of the delivery schedule and quantity of content premiums under the contract, and component  196 , which provides monitoring of the performance of payment terms by the content server agent under the contract.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 8 , the structure of license management and billing module  200  may be described. The general function of this module, which preferably resides at content server  10 , is to automate the management of contracts for the provision of content premiums by content server  10  to retailers  12 . Content license agreement subroutine  202  is operable to generate a standard contract for the distribution of content with terms acceptable by content server  10 , and further in keeping with the contract executed between content server  10  and the applicable content provider  14  with respect to the content premium at issue. Dynamic contract generation subroutine  204  is responsible for generating retailer-specific terms for the contract generated by content license agreement subroutine  202 , such as the name of the specific retailer  12  at issue, the name of the content premium, and various specific information regarding each, resulting in a completed first draft of the contract in an electronic form. Workflow management of contract review/approval subroutine  206  automates the process of reviewing and approving changes that may take place during the negotiation process. Contract review/approval subroutine  206  preferably includes the functionality of highlighting changes that have occurred during each stage of the negotiation, and may preferably contain rules for setting allowable ranges in the changing of various contract terms. Contract monitoring subroutine  208  provides for automation of the ongoing maintenance of an executed contract. Its various components include license—payments component  210 , which allows for automation of the monitoring of licenses that involve monetary payment from retailer  12 , and license—swap component  212 , which allows for automation of the monitoring of licenses that are granted on the basis of a swap for rights to other content. Billing and payment subroutine  214  provides monitoring of the performance of billing and payment terms under the applicable contract.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 9 , the structure of server management module  220  may be described. The general function of this module, which preferable resides at content server  10 , is to administer the transfer of retrieval of content premiums and various data through content server  10 . The two main subroutines are premium transfer subroutine  222  and data retrieval subroutine  224 . The general function of premium transfer subroutine  22  is to transfer content premiums and related information to retailers  12 , consumer terminals  19 , and POP servers  18 . The general purpose of data retrieval subroutine  224  is to retrieve information from other system components concerning data related to the content premium licensing program.  
      Premium transfer subroutine  222  may be split into two components, content transfer  226  and data transfer  228 . The general purpose of content transfer component  226  is to transfer content premiums to various licensees and to provide information related to their transfer, as applicable. Its sub-components include known subscriptions loader  230 , which provides content premiums for known subscription requests; probable subscription loader  232 , which provides content premiums for probable subscription requests; and on-demand subscription loader  234 , which provides content premiums for parties that provide content premium on an on-demand basis to the end consumers. Probable subscriptions are subscriptions for which a consumer has a high probability of subscribing to based on, for example, the customer&#39;s current subscriptions, his or her known cultural or premium affinity groups or associated “thought leaders,” and his or her geographic location or retail venue profiles. Another sub-component of content transfer component  226  is key and remote subscription authentication sub-component  236 , which is responsible for receiving keys transmitted by, for example, a consumer terminal  19 , and authenticating the key received for purposes of transferring a content premium based upon the verification of a valid subscription. The other component of premium transfer subroutine  222 , data transfer  228 , includes transfer license data sub-component  238 ; this sub-component provides the capability of transferring key data from the applicable license agreement to other parties in the network for purposes of verification that such terms are being met by the various actions of the applicable parties.  
      Data retrieval subroutine  224  may be split into various components according to the type of information being retrieved from other remote elements of the system. Subscription list retrieval component  240  provides for the retrieval of the list of current subscribers in the system; negotiated promotions retrieval component  242  provides for the retrieval of the current promotions that are the subject of executed contracts with other remote elements on the system; and forwarded premium retrieval component  244  provides historical data concerning premiums that have been licensed and transferred using the system.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 10 , the structure of POP management module  240  may be described. The general function of POP management module  240 , which preferably resides at content server  10 , is to provide automation for the management of the various subscription agreements maintained through the system network. It is comprised of a number of subroutines for this purpose. Display and appeal subroutine  244  provides functionality for a consumer to know what content premiums are available and associated with which purchase terms. It manages the presentation of available content premiums associated with a particular purchase. “Display and appeal” may be as simple as a program list, or it may manage in-store shelf displays; in the preferred embodiment, however, it is operable to make a wireless connection, real-time audio appeal via a consumer&#39;s telephone or portable content player.  
      Subscriber demographic management subroutine  246  maintains demographic information for subscribers, which may be used for purposes such as marketing and data mining. Subscription management subroutine  248  allows a consumer to indicate his or her subscription preferences where more than one premium is available through a purchase via licensing or swap arrangements, or a content premium is desired but the consumer does not have access to it through his or her current purchases. This latter situation indicates a situation where the premium is found to be insufficient to sway a purchase.  
      Retailer and co-licensee negotiation subroutine  250  utilizes the demand data acquired from subscription management subroutine  248  to enable retailers and co-licensee&#39;s to propose “swap” or bundling contracts to their mutual advantage. The purpose of the module is to facilitate these proposals and the definition of their terms. Likewise, licensee and peer licensee swap accounting subroutine  252  establishes and tracks any swap or bundling proposals that are entered into by agreement between parties during negotiations facilitated by either the automation within retailer and co-licensee negotiation subroutine  250  or directly by the intervention of an agent. Specific accounting issues may limit the number of swaps available to a side, to prevent, for example, a situation where one licensee ends up providing all of the content premiums while the other provides none, or the module may simply monitor the term of the agreement.  
      Licensee and content server real-time market auctions subroutine  254  provides the functionality for a licensee to either increase or decrease the favorability of its terms via auction; that is, it can establish a swap contract with a potential co-licensee on the basis of a competitive auction for either money, other content premium licenses, or other consideration. Customer account sharing with approved POPs module  256  enables both retailers and customers to “share” subscriptions. For example, a customer may leave a grocery store and travel to another store that has a subscription sharing agreement. Once in the second store, the customer would not be required to necessarily create a subscription unique to that store. This enables stores to affiliate their subscription servicing—or to remain exclusive, as desired.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 11 , the structure of POP terminal application module  260  may be described. The general function of POP terminal application module  260 , which preferably resides at POP server  18 , is to provide functionality to POP server  18  in order to facilitate its functionality within the overall system network. Pop terminal application module  260  is comprised of connections subroutine  262  and prioritization/archiving subroutine  264 . The general function of connections subroutine  262  is to negotiate network connections made for the purpose of the transfer of content premiums, and to authenticate the identity of parties seeking to receive a content transfer. The general function of prioritization/archiving subroutine  264  is to manage customer accounts and the transfer of content premiums once a connection is established.  
      Connections subroutine  262  is comprised of WiFi negotiation and authentication component  266  and hardware negotiation and authentication component  268 . The function of WiFi negotiation and authentication component  266  is to negotiate a connection for the purpose of transferring a content premium by means of a wireless (WiFi) connection, and authenticate that the person seeking the transfer is in fact authorized to receive the transfer. The function of hardware negotiation and authentication component  268  is to negotiate a connection for the purpose of transferring a content premium by means of a wired network connection, and authenticate that the person seeking the transfer is in fact authorized to receive the transfer.  
      Prioritization/archiving subroutine  264  is comprised of customer account retention component  270  and premium queuing and transfer status component  272 . Customer account retention component  270  enables the customer to allocate storage quotas rules for premiums, based on such factors as consumption status, age, and relative priority. Customer account retention component  270  also enables the customer to make manual determinations concerning the retention of a particular premium, such as delete, delete if space is needed for new content, never delete, prompt for deletion, or delete if within retrieval window end data by a certain number of days. The function of premium queuing and transfer status component  272  is to manage the physical aspects of a transfer of a content premium, including managing a queue of transfers when multiple transfers are pending.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 12 , the structure of client terminal application module  280  may be described. The general function of client terminal application module  280 , which preferably resides at each retailer  12 , is to provide the functionality to retailer  12  in order to facilitate its functionality within the overall system network. Client terminal application module  280  is comprised of acceptance subroutine  282 , refusal subroutine  284 , transfer priority subroutine  286 , storage priority subroutine  288 , and archive and retention management subroutine  290 . Acceptance subroutine  282  functions to perform processing related to the acceptance of a subscription at retailer  12  from content server  10 . Refusal subroutine  284  functions to perform processing related to the refusal of a subscription at retailer  12  from content server  10 . Transfer priority subroutine  286  functions to handle priority issues related to the transfer of content premiums to retailer  12 , while Storage priority subroutine  288  functions to handle storage priority issues related to the transfer of content premiums. Archive and retention management subroutine  290  functions perform various recordkeeping tasks associated with subscription processing, including the retention of copies of all current and past subscriptions and the content premiums that have been transferred through retailer  12 .  
      Referring now to  FIG. 13 , the structure of content server subscription analysis module  300  may be described. The general function of server subscription analysis module  300 , which preferably resides at content server  10 , is to provide the functionality to content server  10  in order to perform certain non-real time analysis of the results of the content premium program. Server subscription analysis module  300  is comprised of premium instance demand subroutine  302 , premium topic/classification demand subroutine  304 , product/premium elasticity subroutine  306 , customer demographic and premium identification subroutine  308 , co-premium cluster identification subroutine  310 , and effective swap and bundling identification subroutine  312 .  
      Premium instance demand subroutine  302  functions to keep track of the number of requests and downloads for each of the content premiums offered through content server  10 . This information is used by other subroutines within content server subscription analysis module  300 . Premium topic/classification demand subroutine  304  functions to determine and track the demand for content premiums based upon the topic area or classification of the premium. For example, this might include the classifications “music” and “spoken word,” and might also include various sub-classifications within broader classifications, such as “news” and “audio books” within the “spoken word” classification.  
      Product/premium elasticity subroutine  306  functions to calculate and track the elasticity of demand for the product with respect to the premium promotion. Elasticity is an economic concept that generally indicates the degree to which the demand for a product varies with respect to price or other factors, in this case the key factor being the presence of a content premium. Customer demographic and premium identification subroutine  308  is used to correlate information concerning desirable product premiums with demographic information for the customers who received such a content premium. The demographic information may be obtained from a retailer  12 , from the customer directly, or through third-party data services. The results obtained from customer demographic and premium identification subroutine  308  may be used to calculate the best content premium for a particular future product.  
      It is anticipated that many premiums will have natural co-premiums, that is, complementary premiums with a highly predictive correlation. Co-premium cluster identification subroutine  310  functions to examine consumer premium seeking behavior, especially for those premiums pursued via swap or bundling strategies, in an attempt to identify opportunities for swap and bundling strategies and to facilitate correct and effective pricing for those agreements. Effective swap and bundling identification subroutine  312  uses data from co-premium cluster identification routine  310  to posit initial contract terms suitable for matchmaking propositions for retailer and co-licensee negotiation module  250 .  
      The present invention has been described with reference to certain preferred and alternative embodiments that are intended to be exemplary only and not limiting to the full scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.