Patent ID: 8145527

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for governing delivery of an advertisement, the computer-implemented method comprising: a) receiving, using a computer system including one or more computers, an advertiser-specified budget value for a defined budget time period within an advertising campaign that includes a plurality of budget time periods, wherein a target cost for the advertisement during the defined time period is derived from the advertiser-specified budget value; b) determining, using the computer system, an expected total cost associated with delivering multiple impressions of the advertisement, not subject to budget constraints, over the defined time period, wherein a budget constraint is a maximum cost for a given time period; and c) when the expected total cost exceeds the target cost, iteratively determining a degree by which to reduce delivery of the advertisement over the time period, wherein the degree is iteratively determined based at least in part on an amount of time remaining in the time period and an amount of time remaining in the advertising campaign.