Patent ID: 8490125

Claim:
A method for maximizing revenue in a video-on-demand (VOD) system operated by a service provider, the method comprising: for a plurality of VOD content items, calculating an expected revenue value (ER T ) to the service provider for each content item (T), based on an estimated value of revenue (R T ) for the content item, weighted by an estimated probability (P T ) that a subscriber will select the content item for viewing; selecting the one or more highest ranked content items of the plurality of VOD content items, wherein a rank is determined such that content items having higher ER T values are ranked higher than content items having lower ER T values; and delivering identifying information about the one or more highest ranked content items to a set-top device associated with the subscriber, for presentation to the subscriber on a menu from which the one or more highest ranked content items can be selected for viewing; wherein if the content item is an advertising supported content item, R T is calculated by multiplying a quantity of advertising availabilities allocated to the service provider for the content item, by a cost per impression for which the service provider can sell each of the advertising availabilities, by a retention rate associated with the content item.