A system and method of providing sequential video and contextual based content to an end user viewing video content in a video player on an end user computing device is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises storing a plurality of videos in a memory, storing a plurality of advertisements in a memory, receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of different clients and wherein each request includes information identifying a first video and each of the plurality of clients initiates its request from one of a plurality of web pages and wherein the plurality of web pages form part of a plurality of different web sites. In addition, the plurality of web pages may include program code configured to cause a video to be presented in the video player. The method further comprises for each received request, selecting a plurality of videos based on information of the first video; and selecting a plurality of advertisements, wherein at least one of the plurality of advertisements is selected based on information of the first video and at least one of the plurality of advertisements is selected based on information of a selected video. In addition, the method may comprise for each received request, transmitting the plurality of videos to the requesting client for sequential presentation by the client; and transmitting the plurality of advertisements to the requesting client and wherein at least some of the plurality of advertisements are configured to be presented concurrently with a received video.
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1. A computer implemented method comprising:
receiving a request for a first video from a user device;
determining user data for the user device;
determining advertising content based on the user data;
determining contextual data for the first video;
determining a plurality of videos based on the contextual data;
determining, based on the contextual data, a presentation order from among a plurality of possible presentation orders for presenting the first video and the plurality of videos;
transmitting the first video and the plurality of videos to the user device;
for transmitting code to the user device that controls automatic sequential presentation of the first video and the plurality of videos based on the presentation order; and
transmitting the advertising content to the user device for presentation with the first video and the plurality of videos.
0. 21. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a request for a first video from a user device;
determining video metadata about the first video;
determining advertising content based on the video metadata;
determining contextual data for the first video;
determining a plurality of videos based on the contextual data;
determining, based on the contextual data, a presentation order from among a plurality of possible presentation orders for presenting the first video and the plurality of videos;
transmitting the first video and the plurality of videos to the user device;
transmitting code to the user device that controls automatic sequential presentation of the first video and the plurality of videos based on the presentation order; and
transmitting the advertising content to the user device for presentation with the first video and the plurality of videos.
8. A server comprising:
a memory comprising computer instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, wherein, in response to executing the computer instructions, the processor performs operations comprising:
receiving a request for a first video from a user device;
determining user data for the user device;
determining advertising content based on the user data;
determining contextual data for the first video;
determining a plurality of videos based on the contextual data;
determining, based on the contextual data, a presentation order from among a plurality of possible presentation orders for presenting the first video and the plurality of videos;
transmitting the first video and the plurality of videos to the user device;
for transmitting code to the user device that controls automatic sequential presentation of the first video and the plurality of videos based on the presentation order; and
transmitting the advertising content to the user device for presentation with the first video and the plurality of videos.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive a request for a first video from a user device;
instructions to determine user data for the user device;
instructions to determine advertising content based on the user data;
instructions to determine contextual data for the first video;
instructions to determine a plurality of videos based on the contextual data;
instructions to determine, based on the contextual data, a presentation order from among a plurality of possible presentation orders for presenting the first video and the plurality of videos;
instructions to transmit the first video and the plurality of videos to the user device;
for instructions to transmit code to the user device that controls automatic sequential presentation of the first video and the plurality of videos based on the presentation order; and
instructions to transmit the advertising content to the user device for presentation with the first video and the plurality of videos.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
9. The server of
10. The server of
11. The server of
12. The server of
13. The server of
14. The server of
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of
0. 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the video metadata includes a subject matter type of the first video.
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An application on the end user's computing device (e.g., executing in the client), may generate and transmit contextual data and impression data, which includes information of the advertisement(s) that are displayed by the client 170. For example, data transmitted may include the date, time, information identifying the webpage in which the video or video link is embedded, information of the domain (e.g., the web site), information of the IP address (of the end user's computing device), user information (e.g., the location, address, sex, age, interests, hobbies, web pages previously viewed, domains visited, etc.) and other information such as information sufficient to determine whether a link (or form) associated with the advertisement was actuated. The impression data is received by the metrics server 130, which processes and writes the impression data to the ad database 105.
Control and sequencing (selection and play) of the videos and advertisements at the client may be accomplished via any suitable means in order to present the videos according to the design goals. In one embodiment, control and sequencing of the videos is accomplished by AJAX code embedded in the web page received by the client. In another embodiment control and sequencing of videos may be controlled by any combination of server-side scripting, AJAX, and Flash.
The video server 120 may store, select, and transmit a plurality of videos to the requesting client 170 in response to receiving a request for a requested video. How the videos are selected and sequenced may depend on the context in which the first video is requested. For example, if the first video is requested from a page on which other videos are displayed, the implied list may be played in a predetermined order. If a video channel is requested, other videos in that video channel typically will be sequenced (e.g., in a predetermined order or in an order of decreasing popularity or other user ranking). If the first video is requested from a page on which no other videos are displayed (e.g., from a third party publisher's web page), the primary channel associated with the requested video may be selected. One or more of these embodiments may require the client to provide the appropriate contextual playlist when a video is requested, and load the list into the video player for playback.
In yet another embodiment, the video server 120 may select the additional videos based on collected contextual information (in addition to or as alternate method for basing the selection).
The metrics server 130 receives responses to advertisements, stores various metrics in the ad database, and forwards data of the responses to the appropriate advertiser's web server 520, which transmits a data file to the responding client. The video player that presents the video may be transmitted from the publisher web server 160 as part of the web page 505, from the ad server 100, or from the video server 120.
Delivery of the streaming video and ads may be accomplished via any suitable method. Such methods may include push methods and/or pull methods of moving the advertisements and video content from the server(s) to the client. In addition, various videos of a sequence may be hosted by different servers so that the embedded code causes the client to transmit requests for the content to various different servers (and receives the content from the different servers).
Thus, the present invention provides for the syndication of video sequences and interactive content (e.g., for providing contextual advertisements and video) in that the video sequences and contextual advertisements may be published (to many clients) through numerous publisher web servers 160 (and websites) concurrently. In one embodiment, syndicating refers to the publication (e.g., distribution for presentation to the end users) of content (e.g., videos) in response to requests from clients (e.g., browsers, email clients, etc.) and wherein each request is received in response to a client execution of program code (e.g., resulting from user actuation of a hyperlink on a web page, loading of the web page into the client, loading of an email into a client, or other interaction with a web page, email, etc.) and where the plurality of clients receive their respective web pages (or emails or other content) from a plurality of different computers systems (e.g., web servers) and/or the web pages form parts of a plurality of different websites. Thus, the syndicated content is distributed to the end users from a computer system via a plurality of different third party servers such as web servers.
As discussed, the present invention provides a system and method for selecting and delivering sequential video content (sometimes also referred to herein as a “video”) such as a plurality of videos and contextual advertisements (and additionally, in some embodiments, interactive content) in a packet based communication system such as the Internet. The videos provided may include the video requested by the client as well as a plurality of additional videos selected based, for example, on the requested video. In addition, in some embodiments, the additional videos may alternately, or additionally, be selected based on contextual information, information of the web page from which the request is provided, or some combination thereof.
The contextual advertisements may be presented in an interactive video “skin” (illustrated in
Various types of contextual advertising may be presented to the end user. As discussed, advertising associated with video content may include advertisements that are displayed before the video content, concurrently with the video content (i.e., both the video (or video player) and the ad being present during overlapping time periods), between segments of the video content, and after the video content.
The video content is presented to the user by a video player, which comprises a software program that executes on the user's computing device. The video player of this example embodiment may allow the end user to hear audio content, hear and see video content, select and create channels, search for videos and/or channels, subscribe to a channel, and take other actions. In this example embodiment, the video player comprises a Flash application that executes within the existing browser window (client 170) along with the advertisements. In another example embodiment, a new browser (a pop-up) window is initiated and the video player is actuated and the player is disposed in the new browser with the advertisement, such as a video skin. The present invention, however, is not limited to a particular type of advertisement or video player. When one video finishes, an interstitial advertisement may be presented over the video player followed by presentation of another video in the video player. A different and new video skin advertisement may be displayed concurrently with the presentation of each new video.
In addition, as illustrated in
Each type of advertisement may be configured to be displayed at a different time or location (relative to the video content) from other advertising types. The various advertising types may be of the same or different file type (e.g., jpeg, swf, fly, mpg, etc.).
In another embodiment (and as illustrated in
In yet another embodiment, the video skin ad 315 may comprise a piece of embedded “content” that is entirely independent of the video player and displayed above the player, in a separate layer. More specifically, the video player 320 and the video skin ad 315 may be displayed the topmost Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) layer of the publisher's web page 505. Depending on the embodiment, the video player 320 may be the publisher's proprietary player, a player service such as Brightcove®, or a third party embedded player 320, such as from YouTube®. In other embodiments, the displayed elements could also include a combination of “content” served from the publisher's web server and any of the above types of player. For example, the video skin ad 315 may appear in a CSS layer below a video player 320 in a window-like border (with a close box in the upper right corner) as illustrated in
Referring to
The video skin ad 315 may include an associated hyperlink that provides a click through to an advertiser URL so that if the user clicks a portion of the video skin ad 315, additional content (e.g., a form, a more detailed advertisement or other content) is presented. Specifically, in one example embodiment if the user clicks on the video skin ad 315, the client browser transmits a request to the advertiser's server (or, alternately, a third party server) for a data file, which (depending the advertiser, the link, and other factors) may be an HTML page (i.e., a web page), a video, a flash animation, an audio file, and/or other content. The content of the data file may include (1) an offer to provide more information, for example, including a form to allow the user to provide his or her personal information such as name, address, email address, phone number, etc.; (2) additional information about the advertiser's product or service; (3) a request that the user purchase of a product or service (e.g., additional information with a “buy now” link); (4) a request for payment (e.g., a form to allow the user to provide credit card information); (5) an offer to download content; or (6) some combination of these. The data file may be presented in the video skin or in a new browser window. In addition thereto or alternately, the video skin ad 315 may display a user input mechanism for supplying additional information to, for example, purchase a product or service, request additional information (e.g., related to the video), or otherwise interact with the video skin (and/or advertiser). A new video skin ad may be presented each time a new video is presented and each new ad may be selected based on the video with which the ad is to be concurrently presented.
A second type of advertisement is an interstitial advertisement that may comprise one or more images (static or video) that are displayed prior to (or after) a video (e.g., which includes between videos) and that split apart into multiple portions just prior to the beginning of the video content (or come together just after the end of the video content), and may act as a pre-loader while the upcoming video is buffered or transmitted. Referring to
A Pre-roll advertising type comprises an advertisement (e.g., video or still image) that is presented to the viewer just prior to the beginning of the video content and may include an associated hyperlink to the advertiser and/or a form. Thus, the interstitial ad 310 may form one type of pre-roll advertisement. While not included in this example embodiment, other implementations may further include a post-roll advertising type, which may comprise a video (or still image) that is presented to the viewer at the end of the video content (which an interstitial ad that closes may comprise one example). In addition, other implementations may further include one or more mid-roll advertisements that comprise a video (or image) that is presented to the viewer at one or more cue points (location and/or time) in the middle of the video content (between segments of the video). The various ads types may be controlled by the same or different control logic.
The following example is described in the context of a video skin ad 315. However, the invention is equally applicable for use in other ad types including a pre-roll ad, a post roll ad, or a mid-roll ad (any of which may comprise an interstitial ad or other ad type).
Depending on the embodiment, the present invention provides a method of providing a sequence of videos and contextual advertisements. As discussed, the contextual advertisements (and in some embodiments the additional videos) may be selected, at least in part, based on contextual information collected by interactive content that may comprise a programmable object (e.g., an application) that contains control logic (e.g., program code that executes rules according to business logic) that executes on the end user's computing device (e.g., in a client browser 170). The logic may have access to one or more of the (1) geographic location information of the end user, (2) demographic information of the user, (3) information about the video (e.g., cue points for inserting data, subject matter type of the video, rating of the video), and (4) technical information (e.g., about the end user's computer or the network to which the computer is connected). In other embodiments the logic may have access to different and/or additional information. The contextual information may be determined, retrieved, or received via a backend database (e.g., the ad database), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) values (e.g., IP address, variable, parameters, status codes, data in headers, etc.), and/or Internet media-type tags (sometimes referred to as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) tags—content type, type of device, from browser). An Internet media type, also sometimes referred to a Content-type, is a two-part identifier for file formats on the Internet. An internet Internet media type is composed of two or more parts: a type, a subtype, and one or more optional parameters.
In one embodiment, the present invention may be implemented via three applications that perform separate logical functions as illustrated in
Finally, the control logic application 348, which may comprise a JavaScript application that executes in the browser 170, communicates with the backend services application 345 and the video player logic application 347. For example, the control logic application 348 may use the above mentioned cue points to retrieve information from a third party server (e.g., via the backend services application 345 or directly) or the ad server 100, the video server 120, and then insert the digital information into the video by communicating with the video player logic application 347. Depending on the embodiment, the control logic application 348 or the video player logic application 347 may request additional videos and advertisements as the play of the sequence of videos (and presentation of the advertisements) progresses. The schematic of
At steps 415 and 420 demographical data and personal data, respectively, may be determined by the CLA 348 via a form into which the user supplies information. Alternately, or in addition thereto, the CLA 348 may retrieve information identifying the end user (e.g., a user ID) from a cookie stored on the end user's computer and transmit the user ID to the BSA 345. Using the user ID, the BSA 345 may then access the database to retrieve demographic and/or personal information that has been previously supplied by the end user or otherwise determined. Alternately, some demographical data (e.g., user's gender) and personal data (e.g., user's first name) may be stored in a cookie on the end user's computing device that is retrieved and used by the CLA 348.
The CLA 348 may determine technical data at step 425, which may include information about the end user's computer or the network to which the end user's computer is connected via the client browser 170. For example, the CLA 348 may determine the type of computing device, the browser (and version), the operating system, and other data. Such data typically is readily available via program code in the browser 170 as is known to those skilled in the art.
At step 430, the CLA 348 may receive data about the requested video (video metadata) from the video player logic application 347. The video metadata may include one or more of the video's rating, the subject matter type of the video (e.g., cars, extreme sports, sports, comedic, etc.—identified via tags), accepted content types for customization of the video (e.g., audio, video, still images (such as jpeg), etc.), cue points of the video, sizes of content elements, and other parameters and data related to the video. In other embodiments, video metadata of the requested video may be determined (e.g., previously stored and then retrieved from memory) by the video server 120 upon receiving the request for the video.
It is worth noting that in some instances, some of steps 410-430 may be omitted. For example, if the video is being played in a video player that does not provide video metadata, step 430 may be omitted. If the user's computing device is configured to prevent the storage of cookies, step 415 and/or 420 may be omitted. In addition, the sequence of processes 410-430 may be arbitrary and, depending on the embodiment, may be performed in any order or concurrently. In addition, in other embodiments the system may use other data or only some of this described data for providing contextual advertisements, selecting videos, and/or customizing the video.
At step 435, the BSA 345 (e.g., at the video server) selects one or more additional videos to be provided to the client. The BSA 345 may select the one or more videos based on the, for example, information about the web site (e.g., its demographics) that the web page containing the hyperlink that the user actuated to request the video. Alternately, the BSA 345 may select the one or more additional videos based on contextual information (e.g., personal data of the user, or demographical data). Thus, the one or more additional videos may be selected based on any combination of (1) information of the requested video (e.g., the subject matter of the content (such as the content category), channel, rating, etc.); (2) any contextual information; and (3) the web page from which the request is initiated. In one embodiment, a first set of videos is selected and transmitted. In some embodiments, as the video player progresses through the requested video and the initially selected videos, a request for additional videos may be received (e.g., from the player or CLA), which results in additional videos being selected and transmitted to the video player.
At step 440, the system determines the one or more content elements to be used to customize the advertisement(s) and/or video(s). This process 440 may include selecting—based on the data collected from any of steps 410-435—one or more existing content elements from a plurality of content elements stored in memory. A content element may comprise an advertisement, a still image that may form a portion of an advertisement or video (i.e., be inserted into the video), an audio file that may form part of an advertisement or the video, or a video clip that may form part of an advertisement or the video. This process 440 also may include constructing content elements such as by creating a customized still image (such as cropping and formatting a photo of, or from, the user or constructing an image with the user's name), processing a video supplied by the user, or processing an audio file supplied by the user. In addition, the process 440 may include requesting and receiving content elements from third party servers. Depending on the embodiment, this process 440 may be performed by the CLA 348 (i.e., on the end user's computing device), by the BSA 345 (remote from the end user's computing device) or some combination of both. In some embodiments, this step may be omitted. In some embodiments, this process 440 may simply comprise selecting the advertisements. In one embodiment, an interstitial ad is selected to be presented prior to the start of each of the plurality of videos (i.e., the requested video and selected videos). In addition, a different video skin ad may be selected to be presented concurrently with each of the plurality of videos (i.e., the requested video and selected videos).
At step 445, the CLA 348 (and/or BSA 345) assembles the advertising (if necessary) to provide contextual advertising and/or customizes the video with the content elements (determined in step 440). For example, some content elements may be selected (or constructed or received) by the BSA 345 (at step 440) and transmitted to the CLA 348, which inserts some of the received content elements into an advertisement in the video skin ad 315. In addition, some of the determined content elements may be provided to the video player logic application 347, which inserts the content elements into the video according to the corresponding cue points to thereby customize the video. In some embodiments, this process 445 (assembling) may be a logical function performed when the advertisement and/or video is presented at step 450.
At step 450, the videos are sequentially presented to the user in the video player along with the contextual advertisements. An example is shown in
In summary, by determining contextual information (e.g., geographic, demographic, personal, technical information of the user, and video metadata) the system can provide a sequence of videos and contextual advertisements and may further customize the advertisement(s) and/or video(s) based on the contextual data. Such customization may include, but is not limited to: (1) utilizing the geographic and/or demographic information to select appropriate images and/or advertisements to be presented by the video skin 315 (or video player in the video); (2) using geographic information to customize (e.g., personalize) the images, language, and form of the ad; (3) choosing a form, text, image, or video based on the machine, operating system, browser, television, or network used by the user viewing the video; (4) selecting and/or modifying advertising content elements and/or content elements to be inserted into a video based on contextual data; or (5) some combination thereof.
The CLA 348 may use one or a combination of methods to customize content for the end user. For example, the video skin 315 may personalize the images, language, and/or other content and/or select images, videos and/or other content by (1) sending a request for appropriate advertising content (e.g., a request for an image, form, video, and/or language text); (2) sending a request for a particular type of image, form, and/or video; (3) selecting one or more of a plurality of images, forms, videos, language texts that are sent with (or to) the CLA 348 (as part of the video skin and/or video player); (4) via another suitable method; or (5) some combination thereof.
As discussed, the CLA 348 may be configured to customize the video by providing digital information from third party servers to the video player logic application (VPLA) 347 for insertion into the video at specified cue points, which may result in modification of the video being presented to the end user. In this way, the CLA 348 may facilitate customization of the video. The cue points of a video comprise time points within a video and may be tagged with type of content element that is expected (e.g., image, audio, video, text, etc.). Thus, the video customization feature may be used to provide product placement within the video content (e.g., a car, can of soda), placement of user generated content in the video (e.g., photos, videos and/or voices), placement of background scenery based on the time of day and/or geographical location (e.g., an early morning sunrise in Manhattan, N.Y. or a night time skin in Los Angeles, Calif.), placement of custom messages in the video (such as placing the user's name on the marquee of a cinema within the video), and other such customizations.
The CLA 348 may use any suitable method of providing the digital information from the third party server to the video player. In one example, the CLA 348 uses a communication channel between the video player 320 and the web browser 170. With a Flash video player, for example, the CLA 348 may use an ExternalInterface call that binds JavaScript to functions in Flash.
As an example, the CLA 348 may provide a request to the video player logic application 347. The request may include a request for one or more of the video's rating, the subject matter type of the video (e.g., cars, extreme sports, sports, comedic, etc.), accepted content types for customization of the video (e.g., audio, video, still images (such as jpeg), etc.), cue points of the video, and other parameters and data related to the video (collectively referred to herein as video meta-data). In response, the video player logic application 347 may supply all (or some) such information to the browser logic application 348. In addition and as discussed above, the CLA 348 also may determine (or receive via the browser 170) information identifying the type of computing device (e.g., mobile telephone versus notebook computer), the browser type, user and/or demographic information (e.g., received from a backend database based on a user ID from a cookie stored on the user's computing device), geographic information (e.g., based on information in a cookie, the IP address of the computing device, or zip code supplied by the end user), and other information (e.g., such as information supplied by the user via a form in the video skin ad 315).
Upon obtaining such information (from the video player logic application 347, via the video skin 315, and/or the browser 170) the control logic application 348 may then transmit all or a portion of the information to the backend services application 345. Upon receiving the information, the backend services application 345 may determine information about the end user. For example, the IP address may be used to determine the general location of the end user. In addition, based on information identifying the end user (e.g., retrieved by the browser via a cookie), the backend services application 345 may retrieve from memory user information (e.g., demographical information) previously supplied by the end user. Based on the received information and information determined by the backend services application 345, the backend services application 345 may then select, retrieve content elements (e.g., images, video, audio, etc.) from memory, and (in some instances) customize the retrieved content elements. In addition, or alternately, the BSA 345 may then transmit a request for digital information (e.g., content elements of images, video, audio, etc.), subsequently receive digital information from one or more third party web servers, and in some instances, customize the received digital information. The backend services application 345 then transmits the retrieved and/or received content elements to the control logic application 348. The BSA 345 may also use the determined contextual information to select the additional videos.
Upon receipt of the data from the backend services application 345, the control logic application 348 may supply some information (such as some of the received content elements or other data) to the video player logic application 348 to, for example, be integrated into the video (to thereby customize the video) for viewing by the end user. In addition (or alternately) the control logic application 348 may present data (such as some of the received content elements or other data) to the user in the video skin ad 315 such as, for example, to provide a contextual advertisement in the video skin (e.g., a list of local cinemas that have a particular movie).
The control logic application 348 may also include subordination logic to ensure that the video skin ad 315 does not annoy or distract an end user who is watching and listening to a video. For example, the application 348 may include logic for limiting animation, ensuring colors do not flash, vibrate, and ensuring that the video content is not obscured with highly saturated images (e.g., bright reds, yellows, polka dots). In addition, the CLA 348 may control the video skin 315 by, for example, (1) pausing a video that is embedded in the video skin when the video content is playing unless it is activated by the user; (2) muting audio content that is embedded in the video skin 315 when the video content is playing unless it is activated by the user. The CLA 348 may request and receive information from the VPLA 347 in order to determine when to pause a video, mute the audio, darken colors, reduce animation, and perform other controls of the video skin ad 315. In addition, when the user interacts with a video skin ad 315 (e.g., by clicking on a link or entering data into a form), the CLA 348 may provide control messages to the VPLA 347 to pause the video. The video may remain paused until the user clicks the play button of the video player 320.
Also, because there are different types and sizes of video players 320, the CLA 348 may configure the ads (e.g., adjust to the size of the video player 320), or may be transmitted in a format and size that is appropriate for the video player 320. The video skin ads 315 may be displayed while the video player is displayed (e.g., for substantially the same time period), may be removed from the display before the video player 320 is removed, or may continue to be displayed after the video player 320 is removed for a predetermined time period or until a triggering event (e.g., a user actuation to close the video ad 315). Similar to the video skin ad 315, the interstitial ads 310 may be displayed in a separate CSS layer of the web page (e.g., in front of the video player), under control of a flash application, or via other suitable mechanisms.
In this embodiment, a plurality of third party web sites contain web pages that include hyperlinks directed to one or more of the plurality of videos stored on the server. As discussed, the hyperlinks typically are embedded in the web page by the operator of the website. When a user clicks on such a hyperlink in a web page (or when the page is loaded), a request for the specific video identified by the hyperlink is sent to the server. At step 519, the server receives a request for the specified video. In addition, clicking on the hyperlink may initiate a software application on the user's computing device (e.g., CLA) that initiates the video player and configure presentation of the videos and display of the still images 316 representing the next five videos to be presented.
In some embodiments, the request may include contextual information as described above. In other embodiments, the server may request and, subsequently receive the contextual information. In still other embodiments, the contextual information may be received when retrieved from memory (e.g., retrieving information about the user upon receipt of a user ID from a cookie). In these embodiments, the contextual information is received at step 525. In other embodiments, the system may not employ contextual information. For example, if the first video is requested from a page on which other videos are displayed, the implied list will play in a predetermined order. If a video channel is requested, other videos in that channel may be selected (e.g., in a predetermined order or in an order of decreasing popularity or other user ranking). If the first video is requested from a page on which no other videos are displayed (e.g., from a third party publisher's web page), the primary channel associated with the requested video may be selected (such information may be stored in memory at the server). One or more of these embodiments may require the client to transmit the appropriate contextual playlist when a video is requested, and transmit the identified videos to the video player for presentation to the end user.
At step 530, the server selects one or more additional videos for transmission to the requesting client. As discussed, the selection may be based on information of the requested video. In one example, video metadata about the video may be retrieved from memory to select the additional videos. In addition, information about the web page (including the website) containing the hyperlink from which the request for the video was initiated may also (or alternately) be received and used to select the one or more videos. For example, if a user selects a ski video from a news based website (e.g., CNN.com®), a first group of additional videos may be selected such as videos about various travel destinations or family oriented skiing videos. The advertisements selected (based on the news website and the ski video) may be directed to ski travel destinations. Alternately, if the user selects the same ski video from a web site related to outdoor activities, videos containing subject matter related to outdoor activities (e.g., hiking, canoeing, kayaking, etc.) or extreme skiing videos may be selected. The advertisements selected (based on the outdoor website, the ski video, and/or the extreme skiing video) may be directed to ski boots, skis, or ski clothing. Thus, the same user may receive different videos and advertisements when selecting the same video from different websites.
As discussed, the selection of the additional videos and advertisements may be based on both contextual information and information of the web page from which the request was initiated. Thus, as another example, if a first user selects the snow skiing video from a news related web site and the contextual information indicates that the user is presently in a location having a cold climate, videos containing outdoor activities in cold climates may be selected. Similarly, advertisements may be selected for the first user that include products based on the user's location, the video selected, and the website and may be, for example, advertisements directed to warmer travel destinations or products for use in cold (and outdoor) climates. In addition to being selected based on the user's location and the selected video, the selection of the ad may be based on the demographics of users who visit news related websites (e.g., who may be more likely to be interested in such advertised products).
If a second user selects the snow skiing video from the same web site and the contextual information indicates that the user is presently in a warm climate, videos containing outdoor activities in warm climates may be selected such as videos directed to hiking, kayaking, and such. Similarly, advertisements may be selected for the second user that include products based on the user's location, the video selected, and the website and may be, for example, advertisements directed to products used in warmer travel destinations by outdoor enthusiasts (e.g., roller blades, bicycles, swimming gear, etc.). In addition, advertisements directed to local venders, or for products available locally may be selected (e.g., be preferred for selection based on the contextual data).
At step 535, the server selects the advertisements based on the contextual information, the requested video, and/or the selected videos as described above.
The server then transmits the requested video, the selected video(s), and the selected advertisements to the client at step 540. Upon receipt, the video player (e.g., of the client) presents the requested video to the user and may display a thumbnail image of the additional selected videos. In addition, the received advertisements may also be presented as video skin ads and/or interstitial advertisements (e.g., before, between, and after each video). In some embodiments, (e.g., when numerous videos have been selected) only a portion of the selected videos (and advertisements) are transmitted (although their thumbnails may be transmitted) in order to conserve bandwidth. For example, although ten videos may be selected, only the first five may be initially transmitted. In this example, when the video player finishes playing the first video (or when the second video starts to play) a request for another video and advertisement(s) may be sent to the server which responds with the next video and ad set. Consequently, if the user elects to discontinue watching the video sequence, only a few videos will have been transmitted without being viewed.
At step 545, the server receives metrics that comprise information on the number and identity of advertisements responded to by end users, the number and identity of videos viewed by end users—all of which can be used to improve the selection processes.
The present invention has been described in the context of syndicating the delivery of contextual advertisements and sequenced video content to a plurality of clients via the internet Internet. However, it is equally well suited for syndicating interactive content for providing contextual advertisements and/or customized and sequenced video content via a plurality of mobile telephone networks (or a combination of the internet Internet and mobile telephone networks) wherein the content is presented on wireless mobile telephones or other portable communication devices.
Examples of systems for delivering ads and various types of ads such as, for example, video skin ads, interstitial ads, Top Bar Marquee, Channel Sponsorship, Pre-roll, post roll, Radio Channel Sponsorship, Radio Banner, Radio Trailer and other ads—all of which may be employed with various embodiments of the present invention—are provided in U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/750,665 filed on May, 18, 2007, entitled “System and Method for Providing Advertisements for Video Content in a Packet Based Network” incorporated by reference above. However, the present invention is not limited to the types of ads or delivery systems disclosed herein.
It is to be understood that the foregoing illustrative embodiments have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the invention. Words used herein are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. In addition, the advantages and objectives described herein may not be realized by each and every embodiment practicing the present invention. Further, although the invention has been described herein with reference to particular structure, materials and/or embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein. Rather, the invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the teachings of this specification, may affect numerous modifications thereto and changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
Johnson, Bradley G., Assaad, Simon A., Carson, David V., Penberthy, John S.
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