Patent Publication Number: US-2015081455-A1

Title: Service providing apparatus and service providing method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     The present application claims priority to and incorporates by reference the entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-194684 filed in Japan on Sep. 19, 2013. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a service providing apparatus and a service providing method. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A distribution service has been known which distributes various kinds of content to a terminal apparatus of the user through the Internet. As an example of the distribution service, a moving image distribution service has been known which distributes moving image content and advertising content which is displayed in a display area of the moving image content. 
     In regard to the moving image distribution service, a technique called a program auction has been proposed. Specifically, in the program auction, sponsors bid for a given amount of investment money and only the sponsor who bids against the other sponsors has a broadcast right to a CM space for broadcasting hours. This program auction is used to make a definite promise to ensure funds beforehand. 
     However, in the related art, it is not always possible to provide value-added services for advertisers. Specifically, in the known art described above, advertisers simply compete for the broadcast rights for the CM space in the auction. For this reason, it is difficult to provide value-added services to the advertisers attending the auction. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve the problems in the conventional technology. 
     According to one aspect of an embodiment, a service providing apparatus includes a calculating unit configured to calculate an evaluation value for a content creator that creates content; a plan receiving unit configured to receive plan information indicating a plan of the content planned by the content creator; and a providing unit configured to present the evaluation value calculated by the calculating unit and the plan information received by the plan receiving unit, and provide an auction service in which a bid target is a right to display an advertisement on the content. 
     The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical and industrial significance of this invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary service providing process according to a first embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a service providing system according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure a service providing apparatus according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary auction storage unit according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary creator storage unit according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary list page according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary auction page according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 8  is a sequence diagram illustrating a service providing process by the service providing system according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a service providing apparatus according to a second embodiment; 
         FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary creator storage unit according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 11  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary schedule storage unit according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 12  is a sequence diagram illustrating a service providing process by a service providing system according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 13  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a service providing apparatus according to a third embodiment; 
         FIG. 14  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary verification process by a verifying unit according to the third embodiment; 
         FIG. 15  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a service providing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment; 
         FIG. 16  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary auction storage unit according to the fourth embodiment; 
         FIG. 17  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a service providing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment; 
         FIG. 18  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary creator storage unit according to the fifth embodiment; 
         FIG. 19  is a diagram illustrating exemplary content according to other embodiment; and 
         FIG. 20  is a hardware structure diagram illustrating an exemplary computer that implements a function of a service providing apparatus. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, a service providing apparatus, a service providing method, and a service providing program according to exemplary embodiment (hereinafter, referred to as an “embodiment”) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the service providing apparatus, the service providing method, and the service providing program are not limited by the embodiment. In the following embodiments, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will not be repeated. 
     First Embodiment 
     1. Service Providing Process 
     First, an example of the service providing process according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an example of the service providing process according to the first embodiment. A service providing apparatus  100  illustrated in  FIG. 1  presents an evaluation value for a content creator who plans to create content, and then provides an auction service in which a bid target, that is an item to be auctioned off, is right to display an advertisement on the content. Hereinafter, a moving image is given as an example of content. 
     The service providing apparatus  100  illustrated in  FIG. 1  calculates an evaluation value for a content creator who creates content. A process of calculating the evaluation value will be described later, but the service providing apparatus  100  calculates an evaluation value for each content creator based on, for example, a previous creation record. The evaluation value indicates an index such as credibility, a creating ability, and a planning ability of a content creator. In the case of the example of  FIG. 1 , the service providing apparatus  100  calculates an evaluation value “4” for a content creator CP11, calculates an evaluation value “2” for a content creator CP12, and calculates an evaluation value “3” for a content creator CP13. Here, it is assumed that the evaluation value is represented by five steps of “1” to “5”, and evaluation becomes high as a numerical value increases. 
     Then, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the service providing apparatus  100  receives plan information indicating a plan of moving image and advertising space information relating to an advertising space which is set to the moving image by the content creator CP11 who plans to create the moving image, from the content creator CP11 (step S 11 ). In addition, the service providing apparatus  100  may receive the plan information and the advertising space information at the same time or at different times. 
     In the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the plan information transmitted by the content creator CP11 includes information indicating that the type of content is a moving image, the director of the moving image is “X1”, the actors of the moving image are “Y1”, “Y2” and “Y3”, and the summary of the moving image is “vivid melodrama”. In addition, the advertising space information transmitted by the content creator CP11 includes information relating to three advertising spaces which are set to the beginning of the moving image, an advertising space which is set to a scene in which a smart phone is used among various kinds of scenes included in the moving image, and an advertising space which is set to a café scene. Here, the advertising space set to the scene in which a smart phone is used or the advertising space set to the scene of the café indicates a cast frame to make a product that an advertiser desires to advertise appear in the moving image. For example, an advertiser who has made a successful bid for the advertising space, which is set for the scene in which a smart phone is used, can make cast members appearing in the moving image use the smart phone to be advertised. Such a method of displaying an advertisement in the main part of the moving image so as to be associated with a specific scene or a cast member is called product placement or the like. 
     Subsequently, the service providing apparatus  100  presents the evaluation value for the content creator CP11 and the plan information received from the content creator CP11, and provides an auction service in which a right to display an advertisement on an advertising space which is set to a moving image is a bid target. That is, at a stage in which the content creator CP11 plans to create the moving image, the service providing apparatus  100  presents the evaluation value for the content creator CP11, and holds an auction in which the bid target is the right to incorporate an advertisement into the moving image. 
     In the case of the example of  FIG. 1 , the service providing apparatus  100  presents “4” to the advertiser as the evaluation value for the content creator CP11. Furthermore, the service providing apparatus  100  makes a type of content, a director, an actor, and a summary public based on the plan information, and individually provides an auction service related to each advertising space based on the advertising space information. Specifically, the service providing apparatus  100  individually holds an auction regarding each of advertising spaces A, B and C to be displayed in the beginning of a moving image and advertising spaces D and E to be displayed in a main part of a moving image. 
     Subsequently, the service providing apparatus  100  receives bids from the advertiser in each auction (step S 12 ). Then, the service providing apparatus  100  determines the advertiser that bids the highest price to be a winning bidder for the period for which the auction is being held and receives the winning bid amount from the winning bidder (step S 13 ). Then, the service providing apparatus  100  sends the winning bid amount received from the winning bidder to the content creator CP11 (step S 14 ). Although subsequent processes will be described in detail later, the service providing apparatus  100  generates a moving image to be distributed by incorporating advertisement data received from the winning bidder into the moving image created by the content creator CP11 after all auctions for respective advertising spaces are successful. In addition, although the advertisement of a different advertiser is displayed on a general web page for each access to the web page, only advertisement data corresponding to the winning bidder is incorporated into each advertising space set for the content such as a moving image according to the embodiment. That is, an advertiser who has become the winning bidder will monopolize the advertising space in which an advertisement is displayed. 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment presents the evaluation value for the content creator and holds an auction at the stage in which the content creator is planning to create a moving image. As a result, the service providing apparatus  100  enables the advertiser that is a bidder to apprehend, for example, the credibility, the creating ability, or the planning ability of the content creator. Specifically, in the auction service provided by the service providing apparatus  100 , a right to display an advertisement on content at the planning stage is a bid target. Thus, the advertiser that is a bidder cannot check a finished product of content at the time of bidding. However, the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment presents an evaluation value for a content creator, and provides an auction service, and thus even when an auction is held at the stage of planning content, information serving as a reference at the time of bidding can be provided to the advertiser. Accordingly, the service providing apparatus  100  can provide a service having an value-added to the advertiser. 
     2. Structure of Service Providing System 
     Next, the structure of the service providing system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of the service providing system according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a service providing system  1  includes a creator terminal  10 , advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n , a distribution server  30 , user terminals  40   1  to  40   m , and the service providing apparatus  100 . The creator terminal  10 , the advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n , the distribution server  30 , the user terminals  40   1  to  40   m , and the service providing apparatus  100  are connected through a communication network  50  so as to communicate with each other wirelessly or by wire. In addition, the service providing system  1  illustrated in  FIG. 2  may include a plurality of creator terminals  10 , a plurality of distribution servers  30 , a plurality of service providing apparatuses  100 . 
     The creator terminal  10  is an information processing apparatus which is used by the content creator. For example, the creator terminal  10  is operated by the content creator to transmit the plan information, the advertising space information, or content, such as a moving image created by the content creator, to the service providing apparatus  100 . In the following description, in some cases, the creator terminal  10  is referred to as a content creator. That is, in the following description, the content creator may be replaced with the creator terminal  10 . 
     In some cases, the content creator requests an agent to transmit the plan information. In this case, the agent uses the auction service provided by the service providing apparatus  100 . Hereinafter, it is assumed that the term “content creator” includes the agent in addition to the content creator and the term “creator terminal” includes an agent terminal used by the agent in addition to the advertiser terminal. 
     The advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n  are information processing apparatuses used by advertisers. For example, the advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n  are operated by the advertisers to acquire a web page (hereinafter, may be written as an “auction page”) related to the auction service from the service providing apparatus  100  or to transmit bid information or advertisement data to the service providing apparatus  100 . In the following description, in some cases, when it is not necessary to distinguish the advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n , the advertiser terminals  20   1  to  20   n  are generically referred to as an “advertiser terminal  20 ”. In addition, in the following description, in some cases, the advertiser terminal  20  is referred to as an advertiser, a bidder, or a winning bidder. That is, in the following description, the advertiser, the bidder, or the winning bidder may be replaced with the advertiser terminal  20 . 
     In some cases, the advertiser requests the agent to perform a bid operation. In this case, the agent uses the auction service provided by the service providing apparatus  100 . In the following description, it is assumed that the term “advertiser” includes the agent in addition to the advertiser and the term “advertiser terminal” includes the agent terminal used by the agent in addition to the advertiser terminal. 
     The distribution server  30  is, for example, a web server or the like. The distribution server  30  receives distribution target content from the service providing apparatus  100 . In addition, the distribution server  30  distributes the content received from the service providing apparatus  100  in response to the requests from the user terminals  40   1  to  40   m . 
     The user terminals  40   1  to  40   m  are information processing apparatuses used by users who view content. For example, the user terminals  40   1  to  40   m  are operated by the users to acquire content, such as a moving image, from the distribution server  30  and to display the acquired content on a display device (for example, liquid crystal display). In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish the user terminals  40   1  to  40   m , the user terminals  40   1  to  40   m  are generically referred to as a “user terminal  40 ”. In the following description, in some cases, the user terminal  40  is referred to as a user or a viewer. That is, in the following description, the user or the viewer may be replaced with the user terminal  40 . 
     The service providing apparatus  100  is, for example, a web server or the like. As described with reference to  FIG. 1 , the service providing apparatus  100  provides the auction service related to the advertising space which is incorporated into content in the planning stage. 
     The creator terminal  10 , the advertiser terminal  20 , or the user terminal  40  is implemented by, for example, a desktop personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). 
     3. Structure of Service Providing Apparatus 
     Next, the structure of the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the service providing apparatus  100  includes a communication unit  110 , an auction storage unit  121 , a creator storage unit  122 , and a control unit  130 . Note that the service providing apparatus  100  may include an input unit (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like) which receives various types of operations from an administrator of the service providing apparatus  100  or the like or a display unit (for example, a liquid crystal display or the like) which displays various kinds of information. 
     The communication unit  110  is implemented by, for example, a network interface card (NIC). The communication unit  110  is connected with the communication network  50  in a wired or wireless manner. Then, the communication unit  110  transmits and receives information to and from the creator terminal  10 , the advertiser terminal  20 , or the distribution server  30  via the communication network  50 . 
     The auction storage unit  121  and the creator storage unit  122  are implemented by a semiconductor memory device such as a random access memory (RAM) and a flash memory or a storage device such as a hard disk and an optical disk. 
     The auction storage unit  121  stores various kinds of information regarding an auction.  FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the auction storage unit  121  according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the auction storage unit  121  includes items such as a “plan ID”, “creator ID”, “content-plan”, “auction ID”, “advertising space information”, “auction period”, “current price”, “bidder ID”, and “end date and time”. 
     The “plan ID” indicates identification information for identifying content which is planned to be created by the content creator. The “creator ID” indicates identification information for identifying the content creator. The “content-plan” indicates, for example, skeleton, details or the like of the content. The “auction ID” indicates identification information for identifying the auction related to each advertising space. In other words, the “auction ID” indicates identification information for identifying an advertising space. The “advertising space information” indicates information related to an advertising space incorporated into the content. The “auction period” indicates a period for which the auction is held. The “current price” indicates the highest price of bid prices offered for the auction at the moment. The “bidder ID” indicates an advertiser ID for identifying an advertiser who is a bidder who has bid a highest price at the moment. The “end date and time” indicates date and time when the auction has ended. 
     Note that in  FIG. 4 , an auction for which the date and time is not stored in the “end date and time” indicates an auction that is being held or has not been held, and an auction for which the date and time is stored in the “end date and time” indicates an auction that has ended. Furthermore, when the date and time is stored in the “end date and time”, the current price corresponds to the winning bid price, and the bidder corresponds to a winning bidder. Furthermore, in the example of  FIG. 4 , the “creator ID” is assumed to correspond to a reference numeral given to the content creator illustrated in  FIG. 1 . For example, a creator ID “CP11” indicates the content creator CP11. Furthermore, hereinafter, information stored in the “bidder ID” illustrated in  FIG. 4  is used in some cases as a reference numeral of an advertiser. For example, the advertiser identified by a bidder ID “C11” is described in some cases as an “advertiser C11”. 
     That is,  FIG. 4  illustrates an example in which the content creator CP11 is planning content identified by a plan ID “P101”, and content-plan is a moving image or the like. Furthermore,  FIG. 4  illustrates an example in which the five advertising spaces A to E are incorporated into the content. Furthermore,  FIG. 4  illustrates an example in which an auction related to the advertising space A is identified by an auction ID “AU11”, and similarly, auctions related to the advertising spaces B to E are identified by auction IDs “AU12”, “AU13”, “AU14”, and “AU15”, respectively. Furthermore,  FIG. 4  illustrates an example in which the auctions related to the advertising spaces A to E are being held or are not held yet. As described above, the auction storage unit  121  stores an auction ID corresponding to each advertising space to be incorporated into content in association with one plan ID (that is, content at the planning stage). 
     Note that information stored in the auction storage unit  121  is not limited to the example illustrated in  FIG. 4 . For example, the auction storage unit  121  may store a “buyout price” indicating a price at which a successful bid for a bid target can be immediately made, a “lowest winning bid price” indicating a minimum price at which a successful bid for a bid target can be made, or the like for each auction ID. For example, the “buyout price” and the “lowest winning bid price (reserve price)” are included in the advertising space information to be transmitted from the creator terminal  10  to the service providing apparatus  100  and set by the content creator. 
     The creator storage unit  122  stores an evaluation value for a content creator and the like.  FIG. 5  illustrates an example of the creator storage unit  122  according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the creator storage unit  122  includes items such as a “creator ID”, “created content”, “views”, and an “evaluation value”. 
     The “creator ID” corresponds to the creator ID illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The “created content” indicates content created in the past by the content creator.  FIG. 5  illustrates an example in which conceptual information such as “CD11” is stored in the “created content”, but practically, content such as a moving image, a file path name indicating a storage location of content, or the like is stored. 
     The “views” indicates the number of times at which content has been viewed or the number of times at which content has been browsed. In other words, the “views” indicates the number of times at which content has been delivered to the user terminal  40  by the distribution server  30 .  FIG. 5  illustrates an example in which an average value of the views per month is stored in the “views”. The “evaluation value” indicates an index such as the credibility, the creating ability, and the planning ability of the content creator. The “evaluation value” is calculated by a calculating unit  142  which will be described later. 
     That is,  FIG. 5  illustrates an example in which content “CD11”, “CD12”, “CD13”, and “CD14” has been created previously by the content creator CP11. Furthermore,  FIG. 5  illustrates an example in which the content “CD11” was viewed 10000 times per month. Furthermore,  FIG. 5  illustrates an example in which the evaluation value for the content creator CP11 is “4”, and the evaluation value for the content creator CP12 is “2”. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 3 , for example, the control unit  130  is implemented such that a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), or the like executes various kinds of programs (corresponding to an exemplary service providing program) stored in an internal storage device of the service providing apparatus  100  using a RAM as a working area. Furthermore, for example, the control unit  130  is implemented by an integrated circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the control unit  130  includes a plan receiving unit  131 , a service providing unit  132 , a winning bid amount managing unit  133 , a content receiving unit  134 , a generating unit  135 , a transmitting unit  136 , an acquiring unit  141 , and the calculating unit  142 , and implements or executes a function or an operation of information processing which will be described below. Note that an internal structure of the control unit  130  is not limited to the structure illustrated in  FIG. 3 , and may have other structure as long as it is a structure of performing information processing which will be described later. Furthermore, a connection relation of the respective processing units of the control unit  130  is not limited to the connection relation illustrated in  FIG. 3  and may be other connection relation. 
     The plan receiving unit  131  receives the plan information and the advertising space information from the content creator (for example, the creator terminal  10 ) who plans to create content. Specifically, the plan receiving unit  131  receives the plan information indicating content-plan and the advertising space information related to an advertising space to be set to content by the content creator from the content creator. Then, when the plan information and the advertising space information is received, the plan receiving unit  131  allocates a new plan ID, and allocates an auction ID for each advertising space to be set to content. Then, the plan receiving unit  131  stores the plan information in the “content-plan” of the auction storage unit  121  in association with the plan ID. Furthermore, the plan receiving unit  131  stores the auction ID for each advertising space in the auction storage unit  121  in association with the plan ID, and further stores the advertising space information in the “advertising space information” of the auction storage unit  121  in association with each auction ID. At this time, the plan receiving unit  131  stores the creator ID corresponding to the content creator that is a transmission source of the plan information and the advertising space information, in the auction storage unit  121  as well. For example, the creator ID is transmitted by the content creator together with the plan information and the advertising space information. Alternatively, when a login process is necessary in using various kinds of services provided by the service providing apparatus  100 , a login ID of the content creator or the like may be used as the creator ID. 
     Note that for example, the plan receiving unit  131  analyzes the plan information, and thus extracts information corresponding to each item such as the type, the director, and an actor of the content. For example, when the plan information is described in a markup language such as an XML (Extensible Markup Language), the plan receiving unit  131  can easily extract information corresponding to each item from the plan information. Furthermore, when the plan information has a predefined format, the plan receiving unit  131  can easily extract various kinds of information from the plan information based on the predefined format. Similarly, when the advertising space information is described in a markup language or when the advertising space information has a predefined format, the plan receiving unit  131  can easily extract various kinds of information from the advertising space information. 
     Furthermore, the plan receiving unit  131  may receive the advertising space information including the auction period set by the content creator. In this case, the plan receiving unit  131  stores the auction period included in the advertising space information in the auction storage unit  121 . However, the plan receiving unit  131  is not limited to this example, and may store a predefined auction period in the auction storage unit  121 . For example, the plan receiving unit  131  may use a period of time until a predetermined number of days elapses from a date and time on which the advertising space information was received, as the auction period. 
     Furthermore, the plan receiving unit  131  may provide a submission site for inputting the plan information and the advertising space information to the content creator. For example, the plan receiving unit  131  provides a submission site for inputting a type of content, content-plan, and the like. Furthermore, for example, the plan receiving unit  131  provides a submission site for inputting a temporal position where an advertising space is reproduced (hereinafter, may be written as a reproduction position), reproduction time of the advertising space, display size of the advertising space, or the like. In this case, the plan receiving unit  131  receives various kinds of information input in the submission site as the plan information and the advertising space information. 
     The service providing unit  132  presents the evaluation value for the content creator calculated by the calculating unit  142  which will be described later and the plan information received by the plan receiving unit  131 , and provides an auction service in which a right to display an advertisement on an advertising space to be set to content by the content creator is a bid target. 
     Specifically, when a request for an auction page is received from the advertiser terminal  20 , the service providing unit  132  provides an auction page to the advertiser terminal  20 . At this time, the service providing unit  132  provides an auction page including the evaluation value for a content creator, content-plan of content, and information related to an auction for each advertising space. 
     For example, the service providing unit  132  acquires various kinds of information related to content being planned from the auction storage unit  121 . In the case of the example of  FIG. 4 , the service providing unit  132  acquires content-plan, advertising space information of each auction ID, a current price, a bidder ID, an end date and time, and the like for each plan ID from the auction storage unit  121 . At this time, the service providing unit  132  acquires only various kinds of information corresponding to a plan ID having one or more auctions being held. Specifically, the service providing unit  132  specifies a plan ID corresponding to an auction ID having the present date and time included in the auction period and that has no date information stored in the end date and time, and acquires various kinds of information corresponding to the specified plan ID from the auction storage unit  121 . Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  specifies a creator ID corresponding to a plan ID based on the auction storage unit  121 , and acquires an evaluation value corresponding to the specified creator ID from the creator storage unit  122 . 
     Then, the service providing unit  132  generates a list page that is a web page on which a list of various kinds of information related to content being planned and an evaluation on a content creator that plans to create the content is displayed. Then, the service providing unit  132  transmits the generated list page to the advertiser terminal  20 . As a result, the service providing unit  132  receives an acquisition request including a plan ID corresponding to content being planned selected from the list page from the advertiser terminal  20 . In this case, the service providing unit  132  generates an auction page on which content-plan and the like are posted using various kinds of information corresponding to the plan ID included in the acquisition request, and provides the generated auction page to the advertiser terminal  20 . 
     Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  receives bid information including a bidding price from the advertiser terminal  20  through the auction page. In this case, the service providing unit  132  stores the bidding price included in the bid information in the auction storage unit  121  in association with an auction ID indicating a bid target auction. At this time, the service providing unit  132  also stores a bidder ID corresponding to a bidder that is a transmission source of the bid information in the auction storage unit  121 . Note that the service providing unit  132  may receive the bidder ID together with the bid information, or may use a login ID of the bidder or the like as the bidder ID. Furthermore, when an auction has been successfully performed, the service providing unit  132  stores a date and time on which the auction ended in the end date and time of the auction storage unit  121 . 
     Here,  FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary list page according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the service providing unit  132  posts a list of a content creator that is planning to create content, an evaluation value for a content creator, and a plan overview on a list page W10. Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  posts a “next” button for selecting content being planned on the list page W10. Note that the plan overview corresponds to a part or all of content-plan stored in the auction storage unit  121 . 
     Then, when any of content being planned is selected in the list page W10 illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the service providing unit  132  delivers an auction page W20 illustrated in  FIG. 7  to the advertiser terminal  20 .  FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of the auction page W20 according to the first embodiment.  FIG. 7  illustrates an example of the auction page W20 corresponding to the plan ID “P101” illustrated in  FIG. 4 . As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the service providing unit  132  posts content-plan stored in the auction storage unit  121  on a plan display field R11 of the auction page W20. Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  posts the evaluation value stored in the creator storage unit  122  in association with the creator ID “CP11” and the advertising space information for each auction ID and the like stored in the auction storage unit  121  in association with the plan ID “P101” on a bidding display field R12 of the auction page W20. Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  posts an image diagram in which a reproduction position of an advertising space is visible on an image display field R13 of the auction page W20. As described above, when information related to a plurality of advertising spaces is included in the advertising space information, the service providing unit  132  posts all the advertising space information on the auction page W20, and individually holds an auction related to each advertising space. 
     Furthermore, here, although not illustrated, when a bidding button displayed on the bidding display field R12 is pressed down, the service providing unit  132  provides a bidding page for inputting a bidding price to the advertiser terminal  20 . As a result, the service providing unit  132  receives the bid information including the bidding price from the advertiser terminal  20  through the bidding page. 
     Then, when all auctions related to the advertising spaces end, the service providing unit  132  assumes that all auctions have been officially completed. Specifically, even when some auctions among auctions related to the advertising spaces have ended, the service providing unit  132  assumes that such some auctions are provisionally completed, until all auctions are completed. In the case of the example illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the service providing unit  132  holds five auctions related to the advertising spaces A to E. Here, when a period of time of holding each auction is different or when a buyout price is set to each auction, the five auctions do not necessarily end at the same time. For example, among the five auctions, only an auction related to the advertising space A is assumed to have ended. In this case, the service providing unit  132  assumes that the auction related to the advertising space A is provisionally completed and a winning bidder is provisionally decided, until all the five auctions are completed. Then, after all the five auctions have ended, the service providing unit  132  assumes that all auctions have been officially completed, and finally settles a winning bidder of each auction. That is, the service providing unit  132  stores the end date and time in the auction storage unit  121  each time a winning bidder is decided and an auction ends, but when the end dates and times corresponding to all auction IDs among a plurality of auction IDs associated with one plan ID are stored, all auctions are assumed to have been officially completed. 
     Here, when some auctions among a plurality of auctions are not completed, the service providing unit  132  may assumes that all auctions are not completed. Examples of the aspect where an auction is not completed include a case in which the number of bids is none and a case in which the highest amount of a bidding price does not reach a lowest winning bid price. In this case, the service providing unit  132  may hold all auctions again. Alternatively, the service providing unit  132  may hold again only some auctions that have not been completed. At this time, the service providing unit  132  may set a lowest winning bid price lower than the last lowest winning bid price in an auction to be held again. Alternatively, when some auctions among a plurality of auctions have not been completed, the service providing unit  132  may notify the content creator of the fact. Then, the service providing unit  132  may hold all auctions again or may decide whether only some auctions that have not been completed are held again, according to an instruction from the content creator. 
     Note that the list page W10 illustrated in  FIG. 6  is not limited to the illustrated example. For example, the service providing unit  132  may post a name of a content creator and the like. Furthermore, the auction page W20 illustrated in the drawing is not limited to the illustrated example. For example, the service providing unit  132  may post a name of a content creator and the like on the plan display field R11. Furthermore, for example, the service providing unit  132  may display information (for example, a company&#39;s name or a type of business) related to a bidder that is bidding the highest price. Furthermore, for example, the content creator may set a target amount of a winning bid price in the plan information as an assumed amount of a cost for creating content. In this case, the service providing unit  132  may post the target amount of the winning bid price on the plan display field R11. Furthermore, for example, the service providing unit  132  may post a period of time of holding an auction on the bidding display field R12. Furthermore, for example, the service providing unit  132  may not post an image diagram on the image display field R13. 
     The winning bid amount managing unit  133  manages the winning bid amount received from the winning bidder who has successfully bid the right. Specifically, even when the winning bid amount is received from the winning bidder, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  instantly stores the entire winning bid amount, without sending the winning bid amount to the content creator. Whenever the content creator charges for the creation of content, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  sends the amount of money corresponding to the charge from the stored reserve price to the content creator. For example, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  receives, from the creator terminal  10 , charge data, such as clothing expenses, filming expenses, or food expenses which have been actually used to create content, or food expenses which will be used to create content immediately. Then, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  sends the amount of money corresponding to the received charge data to the content creator. In addition, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  manages winning bid amount using the current price (that is, the highest bid price) stored in the auction storage unit  121 . 
     Thus, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  does not instantly send the winning bid amount received from the winning bidder to the content creator, but gradually sends the winning bid amount in response to the request from the content creator. Therefore, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  can prevent the winning bid amount from being sent to the content creator who does not create content. As a result, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  can prevent the abuse of the auction service provided by the service providing apparatus  100 . 
     In addition, when the total amount of money charged by the content creator is less than the winning bid amount, the winning bid amount managed by the winning bid amount managing unit  133  is left over. In this case, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  may send the surplus money to the content creator after the content creator has created the content. Accordingly, since the winning bid amount managing unit  133  pays the content creator compensation for the completion of the content, it is possible to improve the creative impulse of the content creator. 
     In addition, although the example where the winning bid amount managing unit  133  transfers winning bid amount to the content creator is illustrated in the example described above, the winning bid amount managing unit  133  may perform only processing for calculating the amount of money transferred to the content creator. Then, the administrator or the like of the service providing apparatus  100  may transfer to the content creator the amount of money calculated by the winning bid amount managing unit  133 . 
     The content receiving unit  134  receives the content corresponding to the plan information from the content creator (for example, the creator terminal  10 ). For example, when the content creator which has transmitted the plan information completes content, the content receiving unit  134  receives a completed content. In addition, the content receiving unit  134  receives advertisement data which is incorporated into the advertising space from the winning bidder (for example, the advertiser terminal  20 ). 
     Note that the winning bidder having the right of displaying an advertisement may transfer this right to another advertiser. In this case, the content receiving unit  134  receives advertisement data not only from the winning bidder but also from an advertiser who has the right of displaying an advertisement. Hereinafter, it is assumed that even when simply expressed as “the winning bidder”, the winning bidder can also include the advertiser to whom the right of displaying an advertisement has been transferred. 
     The generating unit  135  combines the content and the advertisement data received from the content receiving unit  134  to generate composite content. Specifically, the generating unit  135  generates composite content after all auctions corresponding to the predetermined plan information (plan ID) are successful in the auction service provided by the service providing unit  132 . In this case, the generating unit  135  generates composite content by incorporating the advertisement data of the advertiser, who has made a successful bid for the right to display an advertisement in an advertising space set to the content created by the content creator, in the advertising space based on the advertising space information stored in the auction storage unit  121 . 
     In addition, as described above, the advertising space for which the advertiser has made a successful bid may correspond to a cast frame in which an advertising product appears in an image, as in the product placement. In this case, for example, the content creator receives an advertising product from the advertiser, who is a winning bidder, and creates the content, such as a moving image, using the received advertising product. Therefore, when the advertising space is the product placement, the content creator creates composite content including the advertisement data. That is, the content received by the content receiving unit  134  may correspond to composite content. For this reason, the generating unit  135  does not perform the process of generating the composite content when the advertising space set to the content is only the product placement. In other words, the generating unit  135  performs the above process of generating the composite content when advertising spaces that can be incorporated into the finished product of the content, such as the advertising spaces A to C illustrated in  FIG. 1  and the like, are set to the content. 
     The transmitting unit  136  transmits the composite content generated by the generating unit  135  or the composite content received by the content receiving unit  134  to the distribution server  30 . As a result, the distribution server  30  distributes the composite content, in which the advertisement data is incorporated, to the user terminal  40  in response to a request from the user terminal  40 . 
     The acquiring unit  141  acquires above-described various kinds of information used in calculating the evaluation value for the content creator. Specifically, the acquiring unit  141  stores the composite content generated by the generating unit  135  in the created content of the creator storage unit  122  in association with the creator ID of the content creator. That is, the acquiring unit  141  stores the composite content generated by the generating unit  135  in the creator storage unit  122  as content having created previously by the content creator. However, the acquiring unit  141  is not limited to this example, and may store content received by the content receiving unit  134  in the created content of the creator storage unit  122 . 
     Furthermore, the acquiring unit  141  accesses periodically the distribution server  30 , and acquires the number of deliveries for each piece of composite content from the distribution server  30 . Then, the acquiring unit  141  stores the number of deliveries of each piece of composite content in the views of the creator storage unit  122  in association with the composite content (created content). At this time, the acquiring unit  141  accumulates the number of deliveries for each piece of composite content acquired from the distribution server  30 , calculates an average value of the views per predetermined period of time (for example, one month), and stores the calculated average value of the views in the views of the creator storage unit  122 . 
     The calculating unit  142  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator. Specifically, the calculating unit  142  according to the first embodiment calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the created content and the views stored in the creator storage unit  122 . Then, the calculating unit  142  stores the calculated evaluation value in the creator storage unit  122 . Here, the calculation process by the calculating unit  142  will be described using a few examples. 
     For example, the calculating unit  142  calculates a high evaluation value as the number of pieces of created content stored in the creator storage unit  122  increases. In the case of the example of  FIG. 5 , the content creator CP11 has created four pieces of content previously, and the content creator CP12 has created three pieces of content. In this case, the calculating unit  142  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator CP11 than the evaluation value for the content creator CP12. This is because it can be said that a content creator that has created more content previously has more content creation experience or a high content creating ability. 
     Furthermore, for example, the calculating unit  142  calculates a high evaluation value as a total of the views stored in the creator storage unit  122  increases. In the case of the example of  FIG. 5 , a total of the views of content having created previously by the content creator CP11 is 120000 times, and a total of the views of content having created previously by the content creator CP12 is 49000 times. In this case, the calculating unit  142  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator CP11 than the evaluation value for the content creator CP12. This is because it can be said that the content creator CP11 has created excellent content viewed by more users and has a higher planning ability than the content creator CP12. 
     Furthermore, for example, the calculating unit  142  may calculate the evaluation value based on whether or not the views has an increasing tendency. Specifically, the calculating unit  142  calculates a high evaluation value when the views is as large as that of newly created composite content. For example, in the example of  FIG. 5 , the content creator CP11 is assumed to have created composite content “CD11”, “CD12”, “CD13”, and “CD14” in this order, and the content creator CP12 is assumed to have created composite content “CD21”, “CD22”, and “CD23” in this order. In this case, the composite content more recently created by the content creator CP11 has a larger views. On the other hand, the composite content more recently created by the content creator CP12 has a smaller views. In this case, the calculating unit  142  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator CP11 having an increasing tendency of the views than the evaluation value for the content creator CP12 having a decreasing tendency of the views. This is because the content creator CP11 has an improved creating ability and likelihood that content which will be created in the future will be viewed by many users. 
     Note that the calculating unit  142  may calculate the evaluation value for the content creator using two or more evaluation elements among evaluation elements such as the “number of pieces of created content”, the “views”, and the “increasing tendency of the views”. 
     4. Service Providing Process 
     Next, a service providing process by the service providing system  1  according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 8  is a sequence diagram illustrating the service providing process by the service providing system  1  according to the first embodiment. Note that in  FIG. 8 , only one advertiser terminal  20  is illustrated, but practically, there is a plurality of advertiser terminals  20 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 8 , the content creator transmits the plan information and the advertising space information to the service providing apparatus  100  using the creator terminal  10  (step S 101 ). In this case, the service providing apparatus  100  stores the plan information and the advertising space information in the auction storage unit  121 . 
     Note that the example of  FIG. 8  has described the example in which the content creator transmits the plan information and the advertising space information at the same time. However, the content creator may transmit the plan information and the advertising space information at the different timing. For example, the content creator may transmit the advertising space information to the service providing apparatus  100  after transmitting the plan information. Furthermore, for example, the content creator may transmit the plan information and the advertising space information to the service providing apparatus  100  by inputting various kinds of information to the above-described submission site. In this case, the content creator may first input the plan information to the submission site and then input the advertising space information to the submission site on a different date or the like. 
     Subsequently, the service providing apparatus  100  receives the request for an auction page from the advertiser terminal  20  (step S 102 ). For example, the service providing apparatus  100  receives the request for an auction page through the list page illustrated in  FIG. 6 . In this case, the service providing apparatus  100  provides an auction page on which content-plan of content is posted to the advertiser terminal  20  (step S 103 ). Then, the service providing apparatus  100  receives the bid information including the bidding price from the advertiser terminal  20  through the auction page (step S 104 ). In this manner, the service providing apparatus  100  receives bid information from the plurality of advertiser terminals  20 . 
     Then, the service providing apparatus  100  determines a winning bidder based on the bid information received from the advertiser terminal  20  (step S 105 ). For example, the service providing apparatus  100  determines an advertiser that is bidding the highest price at a date and time on which a period of time of holding an auction expired, as the winning bidder. Then, the service providing apparatus  100  manages the winning bid amount paid by the winning bidder. Thereafter, when the content creator has asked for payment of a production cost, the service providing apparatus  100  remits the billed amount to the content creator from the winning bid amount. 
     Furthermore, the winning bidder transmits advertisement data to the service providing apparatus  100  using the advertiser terminal  20  (step S 106 ). Furthermore, when content has been created, the content creator transmits the content to the service providing apparatus  100  using the creator terminal  10  (step S 107 ). 
     Then, the service providing apparatus  100  generates composite content by incorporating advertisement data received from the advertiser into the content received from the content creator, and transmits the generated composite content to the distribution server  30  (step S 108 ). 
     5. Effects 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment includes the calculating unit  142 , the plan receiving unit  131 , and the service providing unit  132 . The calculating unit  142  calculates an evaluation value for a content creator that creates content. The plan receiving unit  131  receives plan information indicating content-plan planned by the content creator. The service providing unit  132  presents the evaluation value calculated by the calculating unit  142  and the plan information received by the plan receiving unit  131 , and provides an auction service in which a right to display an advertisement on the content is a bid target. 
     As a result, even when an auction is held at the stage of planning content, the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment enables an advertiser that is a bidder to apprehend, for example, the credibility or the creating ability of the content creator, and thus can make the advertiser feel at ease about bidding. As a result, the service providing apparatus  100  can provide a service having an value-added to the advertiser. 
     Furthermore, in the service providing apparatus  100  according to the first embodiment, the calculating unit  142  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on a record of created content having created previously by the content creator. For example, the calculating unit  142  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator as the number of pieces of created content or the views in which created content is viewed by the user increases. 
     Accordingly, the service providing apparatus  100  according to the embodiment can calculate the evaluation value based on, for example, the creating ability or the planning ability of the content creator with a high degree of accuracy, and thus can provide a service having a high value-added to the advertiser. 
     Second Embodiment 
     The first embodiment has described the example in which an evaluation value for a content creator is calculated based on content having created previously. A second embodiment will describes an example in which an evaluation value for a content creator is dynamically calculated according to a creation status of content being planned. 
     1. Structure of Service Providing Apparatus 
     First, a structure of a service providing apparatus  200  according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 9 .  FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of the service providing apparatus  200  according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the service providing apparatus  200  includes a creator storage unit  222 , a schedule storage unit  223 , and a control unit  230 . 
     The creator storage unit  222  stores an evaluation value for a content creator for each content creator.  FIG. 10  illustrates an example of the creator storage unit  222  according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , the creator storage unit  222  includes items such as a “creator ID” and an “evaluation value”. That is, the creator storage unit  222  does not include items such as the “created content” and the “views”, compared to the creator storage unit  122  illustrated in  FIG. 5 . 
     The schedule storage unit  223  stores schedule information related to a work schedule of content at a planning stage.  FIG. 11  illustrates an example of the schedule storage unit  223  according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 11 , the schedule storage unit  223  includes items such as a “plan ID”, a “scheduled date”, and a “work process”. The “plan ID” corresponds to the plan ID illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The “scheduled date” indicates a scheduled date on which the work process ends. The “work process” indicates a process necessary in creating content corresponding to plan information. 
     That is,  FIG. 11  illustrates an example in which a plan of content identified by a plan ID “P101” is scheduled to be decided by Sep. 1, 2013. Furthermore,  FIG. 11  illustrates an example in which an actor of the content is scheduled to be decided by Sep. 10, 2013. Furthermore,  FIG. 11  illustrates an example in which shooting of the content is scheduled to be started by Sep. 20, 2013. Furthermore,  FIG. 11  illustrates an example in which the content is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 20, 2013. Note that, as will be described later, the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit  223  is transmitted by the content creator. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 9 , the control unit  230  includes a plan receiving unit  231 , an acquiring unit  241 , and a calculating unit  242  as illustrated in  FIG. 9 . The plan receiving unit  231  receives the schedule information in addition to the plan information and advertising space information from the content creator. Specifically, the plan receiving unit  231  receives schedule information including a combination of a work process necessary in creating content corresponding to the plan information and the scheduled date on which the work process ends. Then, the plan receiving unit  231  stores the schedule information received from the content creator in the schedule storage unit  223  in association with the plan ID. 
     Note that the plan receiving unit  231  may provide a submission site for inputting the schedule information to the content creator. For example, the plan receiving unit  231  provides a submission site for inputting a work process (referred to as a milestone or the like in some cases) in content creation, a scheduled date and time on which the work process ends, and the like. In this case, the plan receiving unit  231  receives various kinds of information input to the submission site as the schedule information. 
     The acquiring unit  241  acquires progress information related to a content creation progress from a content creator that is planning content creation. Specifically, when the present date and time is the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223 , the acquiring unit  241  acquires the work process corresponding to the scheduled date from the schedule storage unit  223 , and acquires the plan ID stored in the schedule storage unit  223  in association with the scheduled date. Then, the acquiring unit  241  specifies a creator ID corresponding to the plan ID acquired from the schedule storage unit  223  with reference to the auction storage unit  121 . As a result, the acquiring unit  241  specifies a content creator that is planning content creation. Then, the acquiring unit  241  notifies a creator terminal  10  used by the specified content creator of a transmission request for requesting transmission of the progress information. Specifically, the acquiring unit  241  makes a request to transmit an end date and time of the work process acquired from the schedule storage unit  223  as described above. In this case, the content creator transmits the progress information including the end date and time of the work process to the service providing apparatus  200  using the creator terminal  10 . Note that when the work process has not ended, the content creator transmits the progress information indicating that the work process has not ended to the service providing apparatus  200 . In this manner, the acquiring unit  241  acquires the progress information from the creator terminal  10 . 
     Note that the acquiring unit  241  may provide a progress input site for inputting the progress information to the content creator. For example, the acquiring unit  241  delivers a progress input web page including a display field on which the scheduled date and the work process stored in the schedule storage unit  223  are displayed and an input space for inputting an end date and time for each work process to the creator terminal  10 . In this case, the acquiring unit  241  acquires various kinds of information input to the progress input web page as the progress information. 
     The calculating unit  242  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the progress information acquired by the acquiring unit  241  and various kinds of information stored in the schedule storage unit  223 . Specifically, when the progress information is acquired by the acquiring unit  241 , the calculating unit  242  compares the end date and time included in the progress information with the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223 . As a result, the calculating unit  242  determines whether or not the content creation by the content creator is progressing as scheduled. Then, the calculating unit  242  calculates a low evaluation value as the content creation progress is delayed, and calculates a high evaluation value as the content creation is progressing earlier than the scheduled date. This is because it can be said that the content creator that is proceeding with content creation as initially scheduled has high credibility. 
     In this manner, the calculating unit  242  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator each time the progress information is acquired by the acquiring unit  241 , and stores the calculated evaluation value in the creator storage unit  222 . That is, the calculating unit  242  according to the second embodiment sequentially calculates an evaluation value for a content creator while an auction is being held. Thus, the service providing unit  132  according to the second embodiment posts an evaluation value that possibly changes during an auction is held, on an auction page. 
     2. Service Providing Process 
     Next, a service providing process by a service providing system  1  according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 12 .  FIG. 12  is a sequence diagram illustrating the service providing process by the service providing system  1  according to the second embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 12 , the content creator transmits the plan information, the advertising space information, and the schedule information to the service providing apparatus  200  using the creator terminal  10  (step S 201 ). In this case, the service providing apparatus  200  stores the plan information and the advertising space information in the auction storage unit  121 , and stores the schedule information in the schedule storage unit  223 . Note that the content creator may transmit the plan information, the advertising space information, and the schedule information at the different timing. 
     Subsequently, when the present date and time is the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223 , the service providing apparatus  200  requests the creator terminal  10  to transmit the progress information (step S 202 ). Accordingly, the creator terminal  10  transmits the progress information to the service providing apparatus  200  according to an operation of the content creator (step S 203 ). Then, the service providing apparatus  200  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223  and the progress information received from the creator terminal  10  (step S 204 ). Then, the service providing apparatus  200  updates the evaluation value stored in the creator storage unit  222  to the evaluation value calculated in step S 204 . Then, the service providing apparatus  200  repeatedly performs the process of requesting the progress information, the process of receiving the progress information, and the process of calculating the evaluation value each time the present date and time becomes the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223 . 
     Subsequently, when a date and time on which an auction is held comes, the service providing apparatus  200  starts to provide an auction service (step S 205 ). Specifically, when the request for an auction page is received from an advertiser terminal  20 , the service providing apparatus  200  provides an auction page to the advertiser terminal  20 . 
     Then, even while the auction service is being provided, each time the present date and time becomes the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223 , the service providing apparatus  200  repeatedly performs the process of requesting the progress information, the process of receiving the progress information, and the process of calculating the evaluation value as described above (step S 206  to S 208 ). 
     3. Effects 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  200  according to the second embodiment includes the plan receiving unit  231 , the acquiring unit  241 , and the calculating unit  242 . The plan receiving unit  231  receives the schedule information related to the work schedule of content. The acquiring unit  241  acquires the progress information related to creation of content planned by the content creator. The calculating unit  242  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the schedule information received by the plan receiving unit  231  and the progress information acquired by the acquiring unit  241 . 
     For example, the plan receiving unit  231  receives a combination of a work process necessary in creating content corresponding to the plan information and a scheduled date on which the work process ends as the schedule information. Furthermore, the acquiring unit  241  acquires an end date of the work process corresponding to the scheduled date for each scheduled date included in the schedule information as the progress information. Furthermore, the calculating unit  242  calculates a lower evaluation value for the content creator as the end date acquired by the acquiring unit  241  is delayed later than the scheduled date received by the plan receiving unit  231 . 
     As a result, the service providing apparatus  200  according to the second embodiment can calculate the evaluation value based on the credibility of the content creator with a high degree of accuracy. For example, the service providing apparatus  200  can calculate a higher evaluation value for a content creator that is proceeding with content creation as schedule, and calculate a lower evaluation value for a content creator that delays content creation or a content creator that is likely to give up content creation. Then, the service providing apparatus  200  can provide a service having a high value-added by presenting the thus calculated evaluation value to an advertiser. 
     4. Modified Example 
     The example has been described in which the above-described service providing apparatus  200  updates the evaluation value for the content creator according to the progress status of content being planned. However, the calculating unit  242  of the service providing apparatus  200  may calculate the evaluation value for the content creator based on a record of the progress in content having created previously by the content creator. In this case, the schedule storage unit  223  illustrated in  FIG. 11  stores an end date on which the work process has actually ended for each work process. Furthermore, the schedule storage unit  223  stores various kinds of information related to created content as history information. Then, when the plan information is received by the plan receiving unit  231 , the calculating unit  242  compares the scheduled date stored in the schedule storage unit  223  with the end date, and determines whether or not content having created previously has been created as scheduled. Then, the calculating unit  242  calculates a higher evaluation value for a content creator that has created content as scheduled or a content creator that has created content earlier than a schedule, and calculates a lower evaluation value for a content creator that has created content later than a schedule. As described above, the calculating unit  242  may calculate the evaluation value for each content creator based on a previous creation record. 
     Furthermore, the calculating unit  242  may calculate a content delivery rate for each content creator. Specifically, the calculating unit  242  calculates the delivery rate for each content creator by dividing the number of times at which content has been received by the content receiving unit  134  by the number of times at which the plan information has been received by the plan receiving unit  231 . Then, the service providing unit  132  posts the delivery rate calculated by the calculating unit  242  on the auction page. Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  may post information related to the content creator on the auction page. For example, the service providing unit  132  may post a uniform resource locator (URL) for accessing content having created previously by the content creator or a URL to a web page in which the content creator is introduced. 
     Third Embodiment 
     A third embodiment will describe an example in which an evaluation value for a content creator is calculated based on consistency between composite content to be transmitted to a distribution server  30  and content-plan or the like. 
     1. Structure of Service Providing Apparatus 
     First, a structure of a service providing apparatus  300  according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 13 .  FIG. 13  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of the service providing apparatus  300  according to the third embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 13 , a control unit  330  of the service providing apparatus  300  includes a verifying unit  341  and a calculating unit  342 . 
     The verifying unit  341  verifies consistency between composite content generated by a generating unit  135  and the content-plan indicated by plan information. Specifically, when the composite content is generated by the generating unit  135 , the verifying unit  341  verifies whether or not content of the generated composite content matches with the content-plan and advertising space information stored in an auction storage unit  121 . 
       FIG. 14  illustrates an exemplary verification process performed by the verifying unit  341  according to the third embodiment. In the example illustrated in  FIG. 14 , the plan receiving unit  131  receives plan information PD10 and advertising space information QD10, and stores the plan information PD10 and the advertising space information QD10 in the auction storage unit  121 . Furthermore, the generating unit  135  generates composite content CD1 in which advertisement data received from a winning bidder is incorporated into content created by a content creator. Metadata MD10 indicating content of a moving image is given to the composite content CD1. In the case of the example of  FIG. 14 , the metadata MD10 includes a type of content, information related to a director and an actor, or information related to a reproduction position of an advertising space. 
     In this state, the verifying unit  341  analyzes the metadata MD10, and extracts a keyword corresponding to each item such as a type of content, a director, an actor, and a reproduction position of an advertising space. For example, when the metadata MD10 is described in a markup language, the verifying unit  341  can easily extract the keyword corresponding to each item from the metadata MD10. Then, the verifying unit  341  verifies a degree of consistency between the plan information PD10 and the advertising space information QD10 stored in the auction storage unit  121  and the keyword extracted from the metadata MD10 for each item. 
     Note that examples of the items for which identity is verified by the verifying unit  341  include a “type of content”, “content-plan (a director, an actor, a summary, and the like)”, the “number of advertising spaces”, a “reproduction position of advertising space”, a “reproduction time of advertising space”, and a “size of advertising space”. Furthermore, for example, when the plan information includes a creation time limit of content, the verifying unit  341  may verify whether or not content has been created in a time limit. 
     The calculating unit  342  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the verification result by the verifying unit  341 . Specifically, the calculating unit  342  calculates a high evaluation value as a degree of consistency for each item verified by the verifying unit  341  increases, and calculates a low evaluation value as a degree of consistency for each item decreases. This is because it can be said that a content creator that has created content as initially planned has high credibility. 
     Note that the verifying unit  341  may accumulate record information indicating whether or not content having a consistency with the content-plan or the advertising space information has been generated, for each content creator. Then, the calculating unit  342  may calculate the evaluation value for the content creator based on the record information accumulated by the verifying unit  341 . 
     Furthermore, when the number of items that do not match in the keyword in the example of  FIG. 14  is a predetermined threshold value or more, the above-described verifying unit  341  may determine that composite content does not match with the content-plan or the advertising space information. In this case, the verifying unit  341  may give a notification indicating that there is no consistency to a creator terminal  10  of the content creator without outputting the composite content to the transmitting unit  136  and then end the process. Furthermore, when the verifying unit  341  determines that there is no consistency, a winning bid amount managing unit  133  may refund a winning bid amount to a winning bidder. 
     Furthermore, the service providing unit  132  may give a penalty to a content creator that has previously created content having no consistency more times than the predetermined number of times. For example, the service providing unit  132  may give a penalty of inhibiting a contribution of the plan information and the advertising space information, a penalty of stopping the distribution server  30  to deliver created content to a user terminal  40 , or the like. 
     2. Effects 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  300  according to the third embodiment includes the generating unit  135 , the verifying unit  341 , and the calculating unit  342 . The generating unit  135  generates composite content in which content created by the content creator and advertisement data corresponding to an advertiser that has made a successful bid for a right to display an advertisement on content are incorporated. The verifying unit  341  verifies a degree of consistency between the composite content generated by the generating unit  135  and the content-plan indicated by the plan information. The calculating unit  342  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the verification result obtained by the verifying unit  341 . 
     As a result, the service providing apparatus  300  according to the third embodiment can calculate the evaluation value based on the credibility of the content creator. For example, the service providing apparatus  300  can calculate a higher evaluation value for a content creator that has created content matching the plan information presented at a planning stage, and can calculate a lower evaluation value for a content creator that has created content deviating from the plan information. Then, the service providing apparatus  300  can provide a service having a high value-added by presenting the thus calculated evaluation value to an advertiser. 
     Fourth Embodiment 
     A fourth embodiment will describe an example in which an evaluation value for a content creator is dynamically calculated based on auction information related to an auction having held previously. 
     1. Structure of Service Providing Apparatus 
     First, a structure of a service providing apparatus  400  according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 15 .  FIG. 15  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of the service providing apparatus  400  according to the fourth embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 15 , the service providing apparatus  400  includes a creator storage unit  222 , an auction storage unit  421 , and a control unit  430 . The creator storage unit  222  is the same as the example illustrated in  FIG. 10 . 
       FIG. 16  illustrates an example of the auction storage unit  421  according to the fourth embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 16 , the auction storage unit  421  stores information such as the “total number of bids” and a “total winning bid price” as an example of auction information. Note that although not illustrated in  FIG. 16 , the auction storage unit  421  also stores the “content-plan”, the “advertising space information”, the “auction period”, the “current price”, and the “bidder ID” which are illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     The “total number of bids” indicates a sum of the numbers of bids that have been made in auctions corresponding to a plan ID. The “total winning bid price” indicates a total amount of the winning bid price in auctions corresponding to the plan ID. The “total number of bids” and the “total winning bid price” are stored by the service providing unit  132  after all auctions corresponding to the plan ID end.  FIG. 16  illustrates an example in which auctions corresponding to plan IDs “P11”, “P12”, and “P21” have ended, and auctions corresponding to a plan ID “P101” do not end. That is, the auction storage unit  421  illustrated in  FIG. 16  stores various kinds of information corresponding to the plan ID “P11”, “P12”, and “P21” as history information. 
     The control unit  430  includes a calculating unit  442 . The calculating unit  442  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the auction information stored in the auction storage unit  421 . Then, the calculating unit  442  stores the calculated evaluation value in the creator storage unit  222 . Here, the calculation process by the calculating unit  442  will be described using a few examples. 
     For example, the calculating unit  442  acquires auction information related to an auction held for a plan having previously made by a content creator from the auction storage unit  421  for each content creator. Specifically, the calculating unit  442  acquires the total number of bids as the auction information. Then, the calculating unit  442  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator as the total number of bids increases. In the case of the example of  FIG. 16 , the calculating unit  442  specifies the plan IDs “P11” and “P12” as the plans having previously made by a content creator CP11. Then, the calculating unit  442  acquires the total number of bids “1600” corresponding to the plan ID “P11” and the total number of bids “2000” corresponding to the plan ID “P12”. Then, the calculating unit  442  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator CP11 based on an average value “1800” of both total numbers of bids. For example, the calculating unit  442  holds a threshold value of the total number of bids for each stage of the evaluation value, and uses an evaluation value corresponding to a threshold value which the average value “1800” of the total numbers of bids exceeds as the evaluation value for the content creator CP11. Similarly, the calculating unit  442  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator CP12. 
     Furthermore, the calculating unit  442  is not limited to the above example, and may calculate a higher evaluation value for the content creator as a total winning bid price increases. In the case of the example of  FIG. 16 , the calculating unit  442  specifies the plan IDs “P11” and “P12” as the plans having previously made by the content creator CP11. Then, the calculating unit  442  acquires a total winning bid price “380000” corresponding to the plan ID “P11” and a total winning bid price “460000” corresponding to the plan ID “P12”. Then, the calculating unit  442  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator CP11 based on an average value “420000” of both the total winning bid prices. For example, the calculating unit  442  holds a threshold value of a total winning bid price for each stage of the evaluation value, and uses an evaluation value corresponding to a threshold value which the average value “420000” of the total winning bid prices exceeds as the evaluation value for the content creator CP11. Similarly, the calculating unit  442  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator CP12. 
     2. Effects 
     As described above, in the service providing apparatus  400  according to the fourth embodiment, the calculating unit  442  calculates an evaluation value for a content creator based on the auction information including the number of bids or the winning bid price in an auction related to a right to display an advertisement on content having planned previously by the content creator. 
     Accordingly, the service providing apparatus  400  according to the fourth embodiment can calculate an evaluation value for a content creator based on an auction having held previously with a high degree of accuracy. For example, when content-plan is excellent, content is expected to be viewed by many users, and thus the number of bids or the winning bid price of an auction tends to increase. That is, the service providing apparatus  400  can calculate a high evaluation value for a content creator that has presented excellent plan information previously, using the auction information related to the auction having held previously. Then, the service providing apparatus  400  can provide a service having a high value-added by presenting the thus calculated evaluation value to an advertiser. 
     Fifth Embodiment 
     A fifth embodiment will describe an example in which the views in which content being planned is viewed by a user is predicted, and an evaluation value for a content creator is calculated according to the prediction result. Note that hereinafter, the number of times at which content is viewed by the user is described in some cases as “the number of PV (page view)”. Furthermore, hereinafter, a predicted value of the number of PV is described in some cases as “the predicted number of PV”. 
     1. Structure of Service Providing Apparatus 
     First, a structure of a service providing apparatus  500  according to the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to  FIG. 17 .  FIG. 17  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of the service providing apparatus  500  according to the fifth embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 17 , the service providing apparatus  500  includes a creator storage unit  522  and a control unit  530 . 
     The creator storage unit  522  stores various kinds of information related to content having created previously by the content creator.  FIG. 18  illustrates an example of the creator storage unit  522  according to the fifth embodiment. As illustrated in  FIG. 18 , the creator storage unit  522  includes items such as “creator ID”, “created content”, “category”, “viewing date and time”, “views”, and “evaluation value”. 
     The “creator ID” corresponds to the creator ID illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The “created content” corresponds to the created content illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The “category” indicates a category to which the created content belongs. Examples of the category of the created content include a drama, a fiction, and an animation. Note that, for example, a content category is included in plan information and set to the content creator. However, a content category may be set by an administrator of a service providing apparatus  500  or a distribution server  30  that has checked finished content. The “viewing date and time” indicates a date and time on which content was viewed. In other word, the “viewing date and time” indicates a date and time on which content was browsed. In the example of  FIG. 18 , information indicating a year and a month among a year, a month, a date, a time, a minute, and a second is stored in the “viewing date and time”. The “views” indicates the number of times at which content has been viewed. In other words, the “views” indicates the number of times in which content (actually, composite content) has been delivered to a user terminals  40  by the distribution server  30 .  FIG. 18  illustrates an example in which the monthly views is stored in the “views”. The “evaluation value” corresponds to the evaluation value illustrated in  FIG. 5 . 
     That is,  FIG. 18  illustrates an example in which content “CD11” and content “CD12” have been created previously by a content creator C211. Furthermore,  FIG. 18  illustrates an example in which the content “CD11” is content (for example, a moving image) related to a drama. Furthermore,  FIG. 18  illustrates an example in which the content “CD11” was viewed 35,000 times on June 2013, viewed 35,000 times on July 2013, and viewed 45,000 times on August 2013. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 17 , the control unit  530  includes an acquiring unit  541  and a calculating unit  542 . The acquiring unit  541  stores composite content generated by a generating unit  135  in the created content of the creator storage unit  522  in association with the creator ID of the content creator, similarly to the acquiring unit  141  according to the first embodiment. Furthermore, the acquiring unit  541  periodically accesses the distribution server  30 , and acquires the number of deliveries for each piece of composite content from the distribution server  30 . Then, the acquiring unit  541  accumulates the number of deliveries for each piece of composite content acquired from the distribution server  30 , and stores the views for each predetermined period of time (for example, one month) in the views of the creator storage unit  522 . 
     The calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content being planned, and calculates the evaluation value for the content creator using the predicted number of PV. Here, when the plan information is received by a plan receiving unit  131 , the calculating unit  542  according to the fifth embodiment is assumed to calculate the predicted number of PV of content being planned and calculate the evaluation value for the content creator. A process of calculating the predicted number of PV by the calculating unit  542  will be described below. 
     For example, the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content corresponding to the plan information based on the views of content having created previously by the content creator that has transmitted the plan information. Specifically, the calculating unit  542  specifies created content corresponding to a creator ID of the content creator that has transmitted the plan information among pieces of created content stored in the creator storage unit  522 . Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content being planned based on the views corresponding to the specified created content. For example, the calculating unit  542  calculates an average value of the views corresponding to the created content as the predicted number of PV. This is because the number of PV of content, which is created by the same content creator, is considered to be within a certain range. 
     The above-described calculation process will be described using the example of  FIG. 18 . Here, the plan information is assumed to be transmitted by the content creator CP11. In this case, the calculating unit  542  specifies created content “CD11” and “CD12” having a creator ID of “CP11”. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates a sum “115000” of the numbers of views of the created content “CD11”, and a sum “125000” of the numbers of views of the created content “CD12”. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates an average value “120000” of both sums as the predicted number of PV. Note that the calculating unit  542  may calculate a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined percentage from the average value of the views as the predicted number of PV. 
     Furthermore, for example, the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content corresponding to the plan information based on the views of created content corresponding to the plan information received by the plan receiving unit  131  among all created content (that is, created content having created previously by various content creators as well as the content creator that has transmitted the plan information) stored in the creator storage unit  522 . Specifically, the calculating unit  542  specifies created content that is identical in a content category included in the plan information, and calculates the prediction PV based on the views corresponding to the specified created content. This is because the number of PV of content that is identical in a category is likely to be within a certain range. For example, content related to a drama is considered to tend to be generally viewed about 100,000 times, and a content related to an animation is considered to tend to be generally viewed about 50,000 times. 
     The above-described calculation process will be described using the example of  FIG. 18 . Here, the content category included in the plan information is assumed to be a “drama”. In this case, the calculating unit  542  specifies the created content “CD11” and “CD21” having the category of a “drama”. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates a sum “115000” of the numbers of views of the created content “CD11”, and calculates a sum “30000” of the numbers of views of the created content “CD21”. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates an average value “72500” of both sums as the predicted number of PV. 
     In this manner, when the plan information is received by the plan receiving unit  131 , the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content corresponding to the plan information. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator as the predicted number of PV of content increases. On the other hand, the calculating unit  542  calculates a lower evaluation value for the content creator as the predicted number of PV of content decreases. 
     2. Effects 
     As described above, in the service providing apparatus  500  according to the fifth embodiment, when the plan information is received by the plan receiving unit  131 , the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content corresponding to the plan information based on the plan information, and calculates a higher evaluation value for the content creator as the calculated predicted number of PV increases. 
     Accordingly, the service providing apparatus  500  according to the fifth embodiment can calculate the evaluation value based on the content-plan with a high degree of accuracy. Then, the service providing apparatus  500  can provide a service having a high value-added by presenting the thus calculated evaluation value to an advertiser. 
     3. Modified Example 
     The service providing apparatus  500  according to the above fifth embodiment may be carried out in various different modes other than the above embodiment. Now, other embodiment of the service providing apparatus  500  will be described below. 
     3-1. Technique of Calculating the Predicted Number of PV 
     The above fifth embodiment has described the example in which the service providing apparatus  500  calculates the predicted number of PV based on a prediction element, such as “views of created content matched with a content creator to content being planned” or “views of created content that matched with a category to content being planned”. However, the calculating unit  542  may calculate the predicted number of PV using a plurality of prediction elements. 
     For example, the calculating unit  542  may calculate the predicted number of PV based on “views of created content matched with a content creator to content being planned” and “views of created content matched with a category to content being planned. Hereinafter, description will be made about an example in which the calculating unit  542  generates a regression model (hereinafter, referred to as a “PV number model M1”) from both of the prediction elements, and calculates the predicted number of PV from the generated PV number model M1. 
     First, the calculating unit  542  generates the PV number model M1, which shows the predicted number of PV by the creator ID or the category, by performing regression analysis using the views stored in the creator storage unit  522  as a dependent variable (objective variable) and the creator ID or the category stored in the creator storage unit  522  as an independent variable (explanatory variable). For example, the PV number model M1 calculated by the calculating unit  542  is expressed by the following Expression (1). 
         pv=a 0 ·x 0 +a 1 ·x 1  (1)
 
     In the above Expression (1), “pv” indicates the views stored in the creator storage unit  522 . Furthermore, “x0” indicates an average value of the views for each creator ID. In the case of the example of  FIG. 18 , the views of the created content “CD11” created by the content creator CP11 is “115000”, and the views of the created content “CD12” is “125000”. Thus, “x0” corresponding to the content creator CP11 becomes “120000”. Furthermore, “x1” indicates an average value of the views for each category. In the case of the example of  FIG. 18 , the views of the created content “CD11” corresponding to the category “drama” is “115000”, and the views of the created content “CD21” is “30000”. Thus, “x1” corresponding to the category “drama” becomes “72500”. 
     For example, in the case of the created content “CD11” illustrated in  FIG. 18 , the number of “pv” is “115000”. Furthermore, as in the above example, “x0” corresponding to the content creator CP11 is “120000”, and, “x1” corresponding to the category “drama” is “72500”. In this case, the above Expression (1) is expressed as in the following Expression (2). 
         pv=a 0· x 0 +a 1 ·x 1  (1)
 
       115000 =a 0·(120000)+ a 1·(72500)  (2)
 
     The calculating unit  542  also obtains the same expression as the above Expression (2) for the created content “CD12” and “CD21”. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates “a0” and “a1” that approximately satisfy each expression by performing regression analysis on the expression corresponding to the respective created content, and generates the PV number model M1 by applying the calculated “a0” and “a1” to the above Expression (1). 
     Then, when the plan information is received by the plan receiving unit  131 , the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV using the PV number model M1 expressed in the above Expression (1). Specifically, the calculating unit  542  substitutes an average value of the views of created content corresponding to the content creator that has transmitted the plan information into “x0” of the above Expression (1). Furthermore, the calculating unit  542  substitutes an average value of the views of created content corresponding to a category included in the plan information into “x1” of the above Expression (1). As a result, the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV of content indicated by the plan information. 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  500  can calculate the predicted number of PV with a high degree of accuracy using a plurality of prediction elements. As a result, the service providing apparatus  500  can calculate the evaluation value for the content creator with a high degree of accuracy and thus provide a service having a high value-added. 
     Note that in the above Expression (1), a linear model has been described as an example, but the calculating unit  542  may use a “log linear” model as in the following Expression (3) rather than the linear model. 
         pv= 1/{1+exp(−( a 0 ·x 0 +a 1 ·x 1))}  (3)
 
     3-2. Update (1) of Evaluation Value 
     Furthermore, the plan receiving unit  131  of the service providing apparatus  500  may receive the plan information from the content creator more than once in a stepwise manner. In this case, each time new plan information is received by the plan receiving unit  131 , the calculating unit  542  may calculate the predicted number of PV based on the views of created content corresponding to the new plan information and update the evaluation value for the content creator. In this case, the service providing unit  132  presents the evaluation value for the content creator newly calculated by the calculating unit  542 , and provides the auction service. 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  500  may receive the plan information more than once in a stepwise manner. As a result, the service providing apparatus  500  can implement an auction service practical for the content creator. For example, even when content-plan is not sufficiently reviewed yet, the content creator transmits a brief version of the content-plan to the service providing apparatus  500  so that an auction can be held. Then, when the plan information is received in a stepwise manner, the service providing apparatus  500  calculates the predicted number of PV each time the plan information is received, and thus updates the evaluation value for the content creator. As a result, the service providing apparatus  500  can provide the evaluation value calculated with a high degree of accuracy to the advertiser (the bidder) each time the plan information is enriched. 
     3-3. Update (2) of Evaluation Value 
     Furthermore, the service providing apparatus  500  may update the predicted number of PV even when the plan information is not received in a stepwise manner. Specifically, the calculating unit  542  may periodically calculate the predicted number of PV based on the views of created content corresponding to auction information such as the number of bids or the highest bidding price while an auction service is being provided by the service providing unit  132 . In this case, the service providing unit  132  presents the predicted number of PV newly calculated by the calculating unit  542 , and provides the auction service. 
     This point will be specifically described. Note that here, the service providing apparatus  500  is assumed to include the auction storage unit  421  illustrated in  FIG. 16  instead of the auction storage unit  121 . The calculating unit  542  generates a regression model (hereinafter, assumed to be a “PV number model M2”) for calculating the predicted number of PV from the total number of bids or a total winning bid price based on an auction that has ended and that is stored in the auction storage unit  421 . For example, the calculating unit  542  performs regression analysis, assuming that the views stored in the creator storage unit  522  is a dependent variable (an objective variable) and the total number of bids or a total winning bid price stored in the auction storage unit  421  is an independent variable (an explanatory variable), and thus generates the PV number model M2 representing the predicted number of PV by the total number of bids or a total winning bid price. 
     Then, the calculating unit  542  periodically updates the predicted number of PV using the PV number model M2 after provision of the auction service is held. Hereinafter, a process of calculating the predicted number of PV will be described using the plan ID “P101” illustrated in  FIG. 16  as an example. 
     First, the calculating unit  542  calculates the total number of bids and a total amount of the current price (hereinafter, assumed to be a “total bidding price”) in auctions being held that are identified by auction IDs “AU11” to “AU15” corresponding to the plan ID “P101”. For example, the total number of bids and the total bidding price are temporarily stored in a predetermined storage unit (that may be the auction storage unit  421  or the like) by the service providing unit  132  while the auctions are being held. 
     Then, the calculating unit  542  predicts the total number of bids when the auctions being held have ended, based on the calculated total number of bids. Specifically, the calculating unit  542  predicts the total number of bids and a total winning bid price at the time when the auctions ended, based on a period of time of holding an auction and the number of days elapsed from a date of holding an auction to the present date. For example, the calculating unit  542  can predict the total number of bids from a period of time of holding an auction and the number of elapsed days based on a history of auctions having held previously. For example, the service providing apparatus  500  is assumed to store a period of time of holding an auction and the total number of bids and a total bidding price for each number of elapsed days in each auction as auction history information related to an auction having held previously. In this case, the calculating unit  542  can predict the total number of bids and a total bidding price when each auction being held has ended from a period of time of holding an auction and the number of elapsed in each auction being held by analyzing a relation between a period of time of holding an auction and the number of elapsed days and the total number of bids and a total bidding price stored in the auction history information. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates the predicted number of PV by substituting the predicted total number of bids and total winning bid price into the PV number model M2. 
     As described above, the service providing apparatus  500  may sequentially calculate the predicted number of PV based on various kinds of information (the number of bids or the bidding price) related to the auction while the auction service is being provided and sequentially update the evaluation value for the content creator. Here, when content-plan is excellent, many users are expected to view content, and thus the number of bids and the winning bid price of an auction tend to increase. Then, when content-plan is actually excellent, many users generally tend to view content. That is, it can be said that the total number of bids and a total winning bid price predicted by the calculating unit  542  while an auction is being held indicates an evaluation index of content-plan. Then, it can be said that the above PV number model M2 indicates a relation between the evaluation index of the content-plan and the actual views. As a result, the calculating unit  542  can calculate the predicted number of PV with a high degree of accuracy using the PV number model M2, and can consequently calculate the evaluation value for the content creator with a high degree of accuracy. 
     3-4. Prediction Element Used in Prediction Process 
     Furthermore, the above fifth embodiment has described the example in which the service providing apparatus  500  uses the “views of created content matched with a content creator to content being planned”, the “views of created content matched with a category to content being planned”, the “total number of bids”, the “total winning bid price”, or the like as the prediction element used in calculating the predicted number of PV. However, the calculating unit  542  of the service providing apparatus  500  may calculate the predicted number of PV using a prediction element other than the above prediction elements. 
     For example, the calculating unit  542  may calculate the predicted number of PV using the prediction element such as the “views of created content matched with a director to content being planned”, the “views of created content matched with an actor to content being planned”, the “views of created content that is equivalent in a reproduction period of time to content being planned”, the “views of created content that is equivalent in the number of advertising spaces to be set to content being planned”, or the “views of created content that is similar in a position of an advertising space to be set to content being planned”. In this case, the calculating unit  542  generates the PV number model using these prediction elements, and calculates the predicted number of PV from the generated PV number model. 
     3-5. Prediction Accuracy of the Number of PV 
     Furthermore, the service providing apparatus  500  described above may calculate prediction accuracy that is a probability that the predicted number of PV will be correct. For example, the calculating unit  542  stores a predicted number of PV having calculated previously for created content having created previously, a prediction element having used in calculating the predicted number of PV previously, the actual number of PV of pieces of created content, an error number of PV that is an error between the predicted number of PV and the actual number of PV in a predetermined storage unit as prediction history information. Then, when the predicted number of PV of content being planned is calculated, the calculating unit  542  acquires the error number of PV corresponding to the prediction element used in calculating the predicted number of PV from the prediction history information. Then, the calculating unit  542  calculates the prediction accuracy of the predicted number of PV based on the error number of PV acquired from the prediction history information. For example, the calculating unit  542  calculates high prediction accuracy as an average value of the error number of PV acquired from the prediction history information decreases, and calculates low prediction accuracy as the average value of the error number of PV increases. 
     Then, when the evaluation value for the content creator is calculated using other evaluation element (for example, the views of created content) in addition to the predicted number of PV, the calculating unit  542  may adjust a weight of the predicted number of PV according to the prediction accuracy and then calculate the evaluation value. Specifically, the calculating unit  542  may increase the weight of the predicted number of PV as the prediction accuracy increases, decrease the weight of the predicted number of PV as the prediction accuracy decreases, and then calculate the evaluation value for the content creator using a plurality of evaluation elements. Accordingly, the evaluation value for the content creator can be calculated with a high degree of accuracy. 
     Other Embodiment 
     The service providing systems  1  according to the above embodiments may be carried out in various different modes other than the above embodiments. Now, other embodiment of a service providing system  1  will be described. Note that hereinafter, other embodiment will be described using mainly a service providing apparatus  100  as an example, but other embodiment which will be described below can also be applied to service providing apparatuses  200 ,  300 ,  400 , and  500 . 
     1. Evaluation of User and Advertiser 
     The service providing apparatus  100  may calculate an evaluation value for a content creator based on an evaluation on a content creator by a user that has viewed created content having created previously by the content creator or an evaluation on a content creator by an advertiser having a right to display an advertisement on the created content. Specifically, an acquiring unit  141  accesses a distribution server  30 , and thus acquires the user evaluation for each piece of composite content. Furthermore, the acquiring unit  141  acquires the user evaluation for each piece of composite content from an advertiser terminal  20 . Then, the calculating unit  142  calculates the evaluation value for the content creator based on the evaluation on the content creator by the user and the advertiser. Accordingly, the service providing apparatus  100  can calculate the evaluation value for the content creator based on the evaluation on content with a high degree of accuracy. 
     2. Ranking Based on Evaluation Value 
     The above-described service providing apparatus  100  may rank the content creator based on the evaluation value. Then, the service providing unit  132  may receive rank information indicating a rank when the acquisition request of the list page W10 illustrated in  FIG. 6  is received from the advertiser terminal  20 . In this case, a service providing unit  132  generates the list page W10 illustrated in  FIG. 6  based on various kinds of information related to content being planned by a content creator corresponding to the rank information received from the advertiser terminal  20 . That is, the service providing unit  132  posts only various kinds of information related to content being planned by the content creator corresponding to a rank designated from the advertiser on the list page W10. 
     3. Introduction Page of Content Creator 
     Furthermore, the above-described service providing apparatus  100  may provide an introduction page on which user information of a content creator is posted. For example, the service providing unit  132  may provide an introduction page for a corresponding content creator to the advertiser terminal  20  when an anchor is placed on “CP11”, “CP12”, “CP13”, or the like displayed on a content creator column, and “CP11” or the like is clicked in the list page W10 illustrated in  FIG. 6 . Note that examples of the user information posed on the introduction page include a name, an age, content having created previously, and a career. Furthermore, the service providing apparatus  100  may provide a creation site for creating the introduction page to the content creator. 
     4. Type of Content 
     Furthermore, in the above embodiments, a moving image has been mainly described as an example of content. However, a type of content is not limited to a moving image. For example, the above-described content may be an application such as a game, a digital book, or a web page such as a weblog. For example, the content creator can use the above-described auction service when planning to create a game, a digital book, or a specialized web page. 
     Here,  FIG. 19  illustrates exemplary content according to other embodiment.  FIG. 19  illustrates an example in which content is a game. In the example of  FIG. 19 , the content creator plans to create a game using icons of characters. Then, the content creator sets three icons among a plurality of types of icons as an advertising space. As described above, the above-described auction service can be applied even to content such as a game. 
     Note that in the case of the example of  FIG. 19 , similarly to product placement, the content creator receives an icon image for advertisement and the like from an advertiser that is a winning bidder, and creates a game using the received icon image and the like. Thus, the content creator can create composite content (a game in this example) including advertisement data. 
     5. Program 
     Furthermore, the service providing apparatuses  100 ,  200 ,  300 ,  400 , and  500  according to the above embodiments are implemented, for example, by a computer  1000  having a structure illustrated in  FIG. 20 , for example. Hereinafter, description will be made using the service providing apparatus  100  as an example.  FIG. 20  is a hardware structure diagram illustrating an example of the computer  1000  that implements a function of the service providing apparatus  100 . The computer  1000  includes a CPU  1100 , a RAM  1200 , a ROM  1300 , a HDD  1400 , a communication interface (I/F)  1500 , an input output I/F  1600 , and a medium interface (I/F)  1700 . 
     The CPU  1100  operates based on a program stored in the ROM  1300  or the HDD  1400 , and controls each unit. The ROM  1300  stores, for example, a boot program executed by the CPU  1100  when the computer  1000  is activated, or a program depending on hardware of the computer  1000 . 
     The HDD  1400  stores, for example, a program executed by the CPU  1100  and data used by the program. The communication interface  1500  receives data from other device via a communication network  50 , sends the data to the CPU  1100 , and transmits data generated by the CPU  1100  to other device via the communication network  50 . 
     The CPU  1100  controls an output device such as a display and a printer and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse through the input output interface  1600 . The CPU  1100  acquires data from the input device through the input output interface  1600 . The CPU  1100  outputs generated data to the output device through the input output interface  1600 . 
     The medium interface  1700  reads a program or data stored in a recording medium  1800 , and provides the read program or data to the CPU  1100  through the RAM  1200 . The CPU  1100  loads the program onto the RAM  1200  from the recording medium  1800  through the medium interface  1700 , and executes the loaded program. Examples of the recording medium  1800  include an optical recording medium such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) and a phase change rewritable disk (PD), a magneto optical recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk (MO), a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, and a semiconductor memory. 
     For example, when the computer  1000  functions as the service providing apparatus  100  according to the embodiment, the CPU  1100  of the computer  1000  executes the program loaded onto the RAM  1200 , and thus implements the function of the control unit  130 . Furthermore, data in the auction storage unit  121  or the creator storage unit  122  is stored in the HDD  1400 . The CPU  1100  of the computer  1000  reads the program from the recording medium  1800  and then executes the program, but as other example, the program may be acquired from other device via the communication network  50 . 
     6. Others 
     Among the processes described in the above embodiment, some or all of the processes described as being automatically performed can also be manually performed, or some or all of the processes described as being manually performed can also be automatically performed by a known method. In addition, a process, a specific name, or information including various kinds of data or parameters described hereinabove or illustrated in the drawings can be arbitrarily changed unless set forth otherwise herein. 
     For example, various kinds of information illustrated in the figures are not limited to the illustrated information. Furthermore, for example, the above embodiments have described the example in which a plurality of advertising spaces are set to identical content, but a single advertising space may be set to identical content. 
     Furthermore, the above embodiments have described the example in which the content creator sets a reproduction position of an advertising space, a reproduction time, or the like in content. However, the service providing apparatus  100  may receive only the plan information from the content creator and may not receive the advertising space information. In this case, for example, the service providing apparatus  100  sets an advertising space of a predefined reproduction position or reproduction time in content. 
     Furthermore, the above embodiments have described the example in which the service providing apparatus  100  generates composite content, but the process of generating composite content may be performed by other device such as the distribution server  30 . In this case, the service providing apparatus  100  illustrated in  FIG. 3  may not include the generating unit  135  and the like. 
     Furthermore, for example, the above embodiments have described the example in which composite content including advertisement data incorporated into content is delivered to the user terminal  40 , but the advertisement data may be delivered to the user terminal  40  through an advertising server (not illustrated in  FIG. 2 ) (called an ad server or the like) each time content is displayed or played back by the user terminal  40 . Specifically, the generating unit  135  of the service providing apparatus  100  may generate the composite content by incorporating access information (for example, a uniform resource locator (URL)) to the advertising server into an advertising space of content. In this case, the user terminal  40  accesses the advertising server based on the access information set to the advertising space. Then, when there is access from the user terminal  40 , the advertising server delivers the advertisement data incorporated into the content to the user terminal  40 . At this time, the advertising server selects advertisement data to be delivered based on, for example, a user attribute of an access source user. Then, the user terminal  40  causes the advertisement data acquired from the advertising server to be displayed on the advertising space of content. Furthermore, in the case of this example, the advertiser may transmit access information for accessing, for example, a moving image or a still image that is an advertisement to the service providing apparatus  100 , as the advertisement data. 
     Furthermore, each component of each device illustrated in the drawings is conceptual one, and needs not be necessarily physically configured as illustrated in the drawings. That is, a specific mode of distribution or integration of each device is not limited to the illustrated one, and some or all thereof can be configured to be functionally or physically distributed or integrated by any unit according to various kinds of loads or usage. For example, the plan receiving unit  131  and the content receiving unit  134  illustrated in  FIG. 3  may be integrated with each other. Furthermore, for example, the above-described service providing apparatus  100  may be integrated with the distribution server  30 . 
     Furthermore, the above embodiments can be appropriately combined within a range in which processing content is not contradictory. 
     Furthermore, the above embodiments can be appropriately combined within a range in which processing content is not contradictory. For example, the above-described service providing apparatus  100  may calculate an overall evaluation value for the content creator using all or some of the evaluation elements described in the embodiments. 
     As above, some of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above in detail based on the drawings, but the above embodiments are exemplary, and the present invention can be carried out in other modes in which various kinds of modification or improvement are made based on knowledge of a person skilled in the art, including the aspects described in the disclosure of the invention. 
     Furthermore, “section, module, or unit” described above can be interpreted as “means”, “circuit”, or the like. For example, the plan receiving unit can be interpreted as plan receiving means or a plan receiving circuit. 
     According to an aspect of an embodiment, such an effect is obtained that a service having an value-added can be provided to an advertiser. 
     Although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modifications and alternative constructions that may occur to one skilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein set forth.