Patent ID: 8527341

Claim:
A distributed computer system comprising: at least one memory device; an interface; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory device and the interface, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determine a context of a user operating a client computer to interact with an e-commerce website; translate the context into one or more context targets; identify a hurdle rate of the e-commerce website, the hurdle rate being determined by a publisher of the e-commerce website based on the one or more context targets, and the hurdle rate identifying a threshold amount to be bid by an advertiser in order to display an advertisement to the user via the e-commerce website; select, from a plurality of advertisements, each advertisement having a respective bid, an optimal advertisement to be displayed to the user, the optimal advertisement having a respective bid that exceeds the hurdle rate; and display the optimal advertisement to the user via the interface.