Patent ID: 8306857

Claim:
A method of selecting and delivering content items, comprising: receiving a request for a content item from a requestor; selecting an eligible primary content item from a primary datastore including identifying pricing information associated with delivery of the eligible primary content item; after selecting an eligible primary content item, generating, by one or more processors, a query that includes a threshold price and information based at least in part on the received request, wherein the threshold price is based at least in part on one or more of the pricing information or a floor price, wherein the floor price is a minimum price acceptable to a requestor; submitting the query to a secondary datastore, the secondary data store being different than the primary datastore; receiving a selection of an eligible secondary content item from the secondary datastore; comparing an effective payout associated with the eligible secondary content item to the threshold price; and delivering one of the primary content item or the secondary content item to the requestor based on the comparison of the effective payout associated with the secondary content item to the threshold price.