JP7477857B2 - Advertisement distribution system - Google Patents

Description

Article 30, paragraph 2 of the Patent Act applies. Date of website posting: July 18, 2018. Website address: http://srv1. aaacompany. net/. Publisher: Labo Tech Co., Ltd.

The present invention relates to an advertisement distribution method and an advertisement distribution system using the method, and in particular to a distribution method for in-stream advertisements (pre-roll advertisements, mid-roll advertisements, and post-roll advertisements) that are played in a video player, and an advertisement distribution system using the method.

A wide variety of video content has been uploaded onto the Internet and distributed as shared video content from various websites. In recent years, in particular, tools and devices for capturing video have become easier to use, and the number of video contents is increasing as ordinary people upload video content more easily. In addition to providing such shared video content, there is a method of using content information such as videos as an advertising medium. In providing shared video content requested by a viewer (user), this method displays and plays the advertised material, advertising (publicity and sales promotion) products and services, etc.

Examples of advertising materials include "display ads," which display video ads in the upper right corner of the video being viewed (shared video content), and "overlay ads," which are semi-transparent ads that appear at the bottom of the video being viewed and take up an area of up to 20% of the video's size. Display ads have the advantage of not interfering with the user's viewing of the video. On the other hand, overlay ads are embedded in specific parts of the video and play the video when the viewer clicks, so they have the advantage that the video can continue to be viewed even while they are displayed, but they have the disadvantage that they can be stressful for users if there is information they want to see at the bottom of the video.

In-stream ads that play advertising videos include pre-roll ads that play just before a user starts watching a video, mid-roll ads that play while the user is watching the video they want to view, and post-roll ads that play after the video they are viewing. Mid-roll and post-roll ads are only displayed on videos that are relatively long, so currently pre-roll ads that play before playback are the norm.

The following non-patent document 1 is the website (URL) of YouTube, a major video distribution platform. As can be seen from this website, the authority to allow YouTube video viewers to play install-on-demand advertisements is limited to the administrator of the video distribution site. Furthermore, although countless shared video contents are uploaded onto the Internet, the videos provided to video viewers are limited to those that have been databased by YouTube.

Depending on the content and timing of the advertising information, in-stream advertising can be unnecessary and sometimes unpleasant for users viewing website information, and even if an advertising video is displayed before the video being viewed, users do not watch it as much as the advertiser (sponsor) would expect, resulting in no advertising effect. For this reason, there is a billing system for in-stream advertising in which the advertiser (sponsor) pays advertising fees to the media operator (operator of the in-stream advertising site) according to the results of the advertisement. This billing system pays a certain rate to the operator of the website depending on whether a viewer of an advertising video displayed on the website clicks on the advertising video to transition to a landing page that is displayed, and whether or not they make a so-called conversion on the transitioned landing page by purchasing a product or registering for a service.

In response to this issue, the technology described in Patent Document 1 below allows viewers of shared video content (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "users") to use a terminal device to watch the content free of charge, but in exchange, the users are asked to fill out a questionnaire related to an advertisement that is displayed before the content is displayed, midway through the content. Then, based on the user's response to the questionnaire, the display control device causes the user terminal to display the rest of the content. In other words, this technology discloses a technology in which, from the user's perspective, the display is controlled so that the rest of the content cannot be viewed unless the questionnaire is answered. However, many users find the questionnaire provided by the technology described in Patent Document 1 annoying, and the advertising effect of such technology is thought to be limited.

In the following Patent Document 2, not only is it necessary for the advertising creative to be attractive to the viewer so that the viewer is interested in the advertisement, but it is also important that the landing page displayed is attractive so that the viewer can purchase a product on the landing page (the performance of the advertisement varies depending on the combination of the advertising creative and the landing page), and therefore, as a technology for evaluating a suitable combination of the advertising creative and the landing page, a technology is disclosed in which the conversion amount is tallied for each medium in which the advertising creative is displayed, and the display frequency for each combination of the advertising creative and the landing page is set for each medium based on the conversion amount for each medium. However, even if the advertising creative is attractive, there are few users who intend to view the advertising creative itself, and users who are not interested in the advertised product or service will not move to the landing page of the advertisement. The performance of the advertisement is first and foremost whether or not an advertising video that meets the interests of the user who has accessed the viewed video can be provided, and the advertising effect of the technology described in Patent Document 2 is thought to be limited.

https://www.youtube.com/intl/ja/yt/advertise/how-it-works/ 2019.01.04 JP 2015-184753 A JP 2016-76176 A

As a result of extensive research into the above-mentioned issues, the inventors have concluded that in order to provide effective in-stream advertising, it is first necessary to provide in-stream advertising that is not limited to a specific video distribution site and that is compatible with the videos that users wish to view.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that introduces countless shared video contents uploaded on the Internet, without being limited to a specific video distribution site, and that plays in-stream advertising videos extremely simply and conveniently, filling the frame of the video player on the user's terminal (with almost no gaps). Also, the objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that provides in-stream advertising with high advertising effectiveness by providing in-stream advertising that is likely to interest the user and that is compatible with the viewed video, together with the viewed video.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an advertisement distribution method for displaying advertisement information on a display unit of a user terminal connected via a network, comprising:
generating a transparent frame so as to overlap a video playback frame of a web-based video player that plays the video that the user wishes to view and is displayed on the terminal;
When the user clicks inside the transparent frame, an in-stream advertisement to be played is selected from among a plurality of in-stream advertisements based on the user's browsing history and data held by an advertisement video management site that manages the advertisement information, and the in-stream advertisement is played;
After a predetermined time has elapsed, displaying a skip button for the in-stream advertisement together with the in-stream advertisement;
The user clicks on the skip button to allow playback of the video ;
The advertising delivery method is characterized in that a landing page introducing the advertised product or service is displayed on the terminal by clicking on the in-stream advertisement other than the skip button.

This ad delivery method is not limited to a specific video distribution site, and can therefore introduce countless shared video contents uploaded to the Internet. By generating a transparent frame so as to overlap the video playback frame of a web-based video player that plays the video being viewed on the user's device, it is possible to provide in-stream ads that are similar to in-stream ads on video distribution sites and that are likely to interest the user. In-stream ads can also be skipped using a skip button that appears after a specified time has elapsed, reducing user stress. Furthermore, users who are interested in an in-stream ad can easily transition to a landing page that introduces the advertiser's products and services, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the advertisement.

According to the present invention, an artificial intelligence inference mechanism selects in-stream ads that are likely to interest the user based on the user's browsing history and various data held by the in-stream ad management server, such as information about the user obtained from the Internet, the relationship between the playback rate of each in-stream ad and the category (genre, division, type) of the viewed video, etc. This can further increase the effectiveness of advertising. It is also preferable to control the playback of the in-stream ads based on whether or not the terminal has a history of playing the in-stream ads within a specified period of time.

With this type of control, for example, if a user visits a video introduction site multiple times within a short period of time and plays in-stream ads, the in-stream ads are not played back, and the viewed video can be played back, reducing the user's stress. In addition, by linking multiple in-stream ads to the viewed video and varying the playback ratio of the multiple in-stream ads, the advertising effect can be increased.

The present invention relates to an advertisement delivery system including a plurality of video delivery sites that deliver videos, a video introduction site that introduces the videos on the video delivery sites on a display unit of a user's terminal connected via a network, and an in-stream advertisement management server that controls playback of the videos and in-stream advertisements on the display unit of the user's terminal via the video introduction site,
The in-stream advertisement management server includes a means for generating a transparent frame so as to overlap the video played on the display unit with almost no gap;
a means for displaying a skip button for the in-stream advertisement after a predetermined time has elapsed since the in-stream advertisement was played;
a means for causing the transparent frame to disappear when the skip button is clicked, thereby enabling playback of the video that the user wishes to view;
and a means for displaying a landing page introducing the advertised products and services on the user's terminal when a part other than a skip button is clicked within the in-stream advertisement.

It is preferable to control the playback of the in-stream advertisements based on the presence or absence of a history of playing the in-stream advertisements within a specified time and/or an artificial intelligence inference mechanism. It is also preferable to have a means for changing the playback ratio of each of the multiple in-stream advertisements played on the terminal depending on the category of the viewed video, the gender, age, etc. of the user.

The present invention makes it possible to introduce countless shared video contents uploaded on the Internet, without being limited to a specific video distribution site, and to provide a mechanism for playing in-stream advertising videos in an extremely simple and easy manner that fits the frame of the video player on the user's terminal. In addition, by providing in-stream ads that are compatible with the viewed video, it is possible to provide a mechanism for providing in-stream ads with high advertising effectiveness.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings of the examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an in-stream advertising delivery system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The in-stream advertising delivery system 1 is configured to include a video introduction site (in-stream advertising site) 20, a video distribution site 30 that distributes videos that are shared video content uploaded on the Internet, an in-stream advertising management system 40 that manages in-stream advertisements, an advertising performance management system 50 that manages advertising performance, an advertising video management site (AI processing system) 60, and a viewer (user) 10 that accesses the video introduction site (in-stream advertising site) 20.

The video introduction site 20 is a site that introduces shared video content uploaded on the Internet, but at the same time, it is also a site that plays in-stream advertisements on the user's terminal display. When the user 10 clicks the play button of the shared video content (viewed video) introduced by the video introduction site 20, an in-stream advertisement selected by the advertisement video management site 60 under certain conditions described below is played within the viewed video playback frame of the video player.

The video distribution site 30 is a site that distributes the viewing videos introduced by the video introduction site 20, such as YouTube, Niconico Video, Tokyo Motion, etc. The video distribution site 30 is not limited to these major video distribution sites, but may be any site that uploads videos onto the Internet and stores them in a database as shared video content.

The in-stream advertisements of the video introduction site 20 are managed by an in-stream advertisement management system 40. The in-stream advertisement management system 40 includes an in-stream advertisement management server 100, an in-stream advertisement video server 200, and a site linking unit 300.
The in-stream advertisement management server 100 manages data to be sent to the video introduction site 20, such as the size of the video playback frame, which is necessary for properly displaying advertisements. The in-stream advertisement video server 200 transmits advertisement videos and still images stored in the in-stream advertisement video server 200 to the video introduction site 20 under the control of the in-stream advertisement management server 100 based on the data from the in-stream advertisement management server 100.
The site linking unit 300 links the video introduction site 20 with the in-stream advertisement management server 100 and the advertisement video management site (AI processing system) 60, and transmits data obtained from the video introduction site 20 as well as information that can be collected from the Internet (history, gender, etc.) to the advertisement video management site 60. Also, the advertisement video management site 60 transmits in-stream advertisements to be played on the video introduction site 20 to the video introduction site 20.

The in-stream advertising management server 100 includes an advertising data setting unit 110, a user interface setting unit 120, an in-stream advertising display interval setting unit 130, an advertising delivery setting allocation unit 140, a video introduction site data management unit 150, a video/still image linking unit 160, an advertising status detection unit 170, and an aggregated data integration unit 180.

The in-stream ad data setting unit 110 is a unit for setting the management number of the video introduction site 20. More specifically, it sets the "x" in the script "https:,,srv1.aaacompany.net/x/load.js" written on the video introduction site. The user interface setting unit 120 sets the size and click range of the skip button displayed on the user's terminal.

The in-stream ad display interval setting unit 130 is a setting unit that sets the time during which in-stream ads can be played for each video posting site; for example, on video introduction site A, if there is a history of an in-stream ad being played within 24 hours, the video being viewed can be played without playing an in-stream ad. On the other hand, on video introduction site B, if there is a history of an in-stream ad being played within 12 hours, the in-stream ad will not be played, but if more than 12 hours have passed, the video being viewed cannot be played until after the in-stream ad has been played.

The advertisement delivery setting allocation unit 140 is a setting unit that sets non-deliverable in-stream ads and deliverable in-stream ads for each video introduction site 20, and also sets the ratio at which the multiple deliverable in-stream ads are played. For example, the delivery ratio is changed according to the age group, gender, and hobbies and preferences of users visiting the site. Or the delivery ratio of in-stream ads with a high matching rate is changed. The advertisement delivery setting allocation unit 140 does not necessarily need to be provided within the in-stream advertisement management server 100, and may be provided, for example, as an artificial intelligence inference mechanism in the advertisement video management site 60.

The video introduction site data management unit 150 is a setting unit that sets the size of the skip button displayed in the in-stream advertisement, the size of the playback frame, the display position of the skip button, etc. The video still image linking unit 160 is a setting unit that sets still image data to be displayed when the in-stream advertisement ends for each video introduction site 20. This is a still image that encourages the user to transition to the landing page of the advertisement when the in-stream advertisement ends. After the video has finished playing, if there is no terminal still image, the last screen will be the first screen of the video or the last video screen. However, by displaying a still image that interests the viewer within the frame after the video ends, the transition rate to the landing page can be increased. In addition, in the case of an in-stream advertisement video, a still image is displayed to clearly communicate that the advertisement video has ended.

The advertising status detection unit 170 is a detection unit that detects whether the budget upper limit has been exceeded based on the number of times an in-stream ad is played, the number of times a transition to a landing page is made, and the number of times a product/service is viewed on the landing page. The aggregated data integration unit 180 aggregates and integrates the data from the in-stream advertising video server 200 regarding the number of times an in-stream ad is played and the number of times a transition was made from an in-stream ad to a landing page, and outputs the aggregated data. The aggregated data integration unit 180 transmits the aggregated data to the advertising result management system 50, which manages the advertising results. Advertisers can understand their advertising results using the advertising result management system 50.

The video data section 210 is a data section that stores data on advertising videos provided by advertisers. Data on in-stream advertisements to be displayed on the video introduction site 20 is stored here.

The still image data section 220 is a data section that stores the final still image. As described above, it stores still images that are displayed in a frame after the video has finished playing, in order to increase the transition rate to the landing page by attracting the viewer's interest.

The counting unit 230 is a data unit that counts and stores the number of times a video advertisement is generated and the number of times a transition is made to a landing page. The data from the counting unit 230 is sent to the counted data integration unit 180 and becomes management data for advertising results.

The advertising performance management system 50 is a system provided by an advertiser, advertising agency, etc., and is responsible for managing data such as whether a user who transitioned to a landing page registered as a user on the advertiser's website or purchased a product or service.

The advertising video management site 60 manages the advertising videos stored in the in-stream advertising video server 200, and selects in-stream ads that will interest users who access the video introduction site 20. In-stream ads are selected using an artificial intelligence inference mechanism based on user information (history, gender, accessed sites, etc.) obtained from the Internet and data held by the advertising video management site, such as information on past advertising results (number of transitions to landing pages, purchase history, conversion rate for each in-stream ad, in-stream ad delivery ratio, etc.).

Figure 2 is a visual diagram showing the operation of playing an in-stream ad. The web page of the video introduction site 20 contains a script that specifies the size and position of the video playback frame, as shown in Figure 2 (a), and the introduction video is displayed on the viewer's terminal.

Here, as shown in Figs. 2(b) and (c), a transparent frame 23 is generated so as to overlap the viewing video playback frame of the video introduction site 20 with almost no gaps. Therefore, even if the user 10 clicks the play button of the viewing video 22, playback of the viewing video does not start. When the user clicks inside the transparent frame 23, including the play button, an in-stream advertisement (a pre-roll advertisement in this embodiment) is played.

Figure 3 shows an in-stream ad 24 that is played when a user clicks inside a transparent frame 23, and a landing page that is displayed when the in-stream ad is played. A skip button is displayed on the in-stream ad 24 a predetermined time after playback starts, for example, 6 seconds. When the skip button is clicked, the in-stream ad ends and the screen changes to show the originally displayed viewed video 22. At this point, the transparent frame 23 that was generated earlier disappears, the play button for playing the video becomes active, and the viewed video is played when the user clicks the play button.

When a user who is interested in an in-stream ad clicks anywhere in the in-stream ad, the display on the terminal transitions to a landing page. On the landing page, the advertiser's products and services are displayed as ad creatives. In this way, according to the present invention, the in-stream ad is displayed within the video playback frame of the viewed video 22, so that the in-stream ad is played like an in-stream ad on a video distribution site.

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of in-stream advertisements and playback of viewed videos according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the script of the homepage of the video introduction site 20 is loaded (S1). Next, the browsing history of the user who accessed the video introduction site 20 is checked to see if there is a history of playing the in-stream advertisement 24 within a specified time period, for example, within 24 hours (S2).

If there is a history of playing an in-stream ad 24 within a specified time, a video that can be viewed and played is displayed. If there is no history of playing an in-stream ad within a specified time, a check is made to see if there is a video playback slot available for viewing (S4), and if not, the script ends (plays the video) (S5). If there is a video playback slot, a check is made to see if the video introduction site is under the control of this system (S6), and if not, the script ends (plays the video) (S7).

If the video introduction site is under management, information (history, gender, etc.) about the user who accessed the video introduction site 20 is sent to the advertising video management site 60 (S8). The advertising video management site 60 uses an artificial intelligence inference mechanism to analyze the sent information related to the user and information stored internally, such as information about past transitions (landings) to advertiser sites, product purchase history, viewing time for each in-stream ad, and other data, to select an in-stream ad that is likely to interest the user, and instructs the in-stream ad management server 40 to do so (S9), generating a transparent frame and overlapping the transparent frame with almost no gaps (matching the video playback frame) (S10).

When the user clicks to play the video being viewed from the transparent frame generated above the video playback frame, the in-stream ad is played (S11), and a certain time after playback, for example 6 seconds, a skip button for the in-stream ad is displayed and enabled (S12).

When the user clicks anywhere in the in-stream ad other than the skip button (S13), the user is redirected to a landing page on the advertiser's site, and the ad site is displayed on the user's device (S14). When the skip button is clicked (S15), the transparent frame generated over the viewed video is erased (S16), and the viewed video can be played (S17). If the skip button is not clicked, the in-stream ad is played until it ends, after which the transparent frame is erased (S14), and the viewed video can be played (S18).

Figure 5 shows a list of in-stream ads played on a user's terminal, their playback ratio (delivery ratio), the URL (landing page) of the advertiser's advertising site, and the still image displayed when the in-stream ad ends. Figure 5(a) shows the delivery ratio (#1 to #5) of in-stream ads played on video introduction site A (#1 is 10%, #2 is 30%, etc.), each advertising URL, and the still image displayed when the in-stream ad ends (#1 is end.com, #2 is test.com, etc.).

Figure 5 (b) shows the delivery ratio (#1 is 20%, #2 is 30%, etc.) of the in-stream ads (#1 to #5) played on video introduction site B, their respective ad URLs, and the still images displayed when the in-stream ads end (#1 is end.com, #2 is over.com, etc.).
In this way, by changing the in-stream ads played on each video introduction site and by changing the distribution ratio, the advertising effectiveness can be improved.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an in-stream advertisement delivery system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a visual representation of an in-stream advertisement being played. FIG. 2 illustrates an in-stream advertisement and a transitioned advertising website. 1 is a flowchart showing a flow of playing an in-stream advertisement and a video to be viewed according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing in-stream advertisements and their delivery ratios, etc.;

1 In-stream advertising distribution system 20 Video introduction site (in-stream advertising site)
30 Video distribution site 40 In-stream advertising management system 50 Advertising performance management system 60 Advertising video management site 100 In-stream advertising management server 110 Advertising data setting unit 120 User interface setting unit 130 In-stream advertising display interval setting unit 140 Advertising distribution setting allocation unit 150 Video introduction site data management unit 160 Video still image linking unit 170 Advertising status detection unit 180 Aggregated data integration unit 200 In-stream advertising video server 210 Video data unit 220 Still image data unit 230 Aggregation unit 300 Site linking unit

Claims (2)

An advertisement delivery system including a plurality of video delivery sites that deliver videos, a video introduction site that introduces the videos of the video delivery sites on a display unit of a user's terminal connected via a network, and an in-stream advertisement management server that controls playback of the videos and in-stream advertisements on the display unit of the user's terminal via the video introduction site,
The in-stream advertisement management server includes a means for generating a transparent frame so as to overlap the video played on the display unit with almost no gap;
a means for displaying a skip button for the in-stream advertisement after a predetermined time has elapsed since the in-stream advertisement was played;
a means for causing the transparent frame to disappear when the skip button is clicked, thereby enabling playback of the video that the user wishes to view;
and a means for displaying a landing page introducing the advertised product or service on the user's terminal when a part other than a skip button is clicked within the in-stream advertisement. The transparent frame includes a script for selecting an in-stream advertisement to be played based on the user's browsing history and data stored in the in-stream advertisement management server and playing the in-stream advertisement on the display unit when the user clicks inside the transparent frame;
a script that displays a skip button for the in-stream advertisement on the display unit after a predetermined time has elapsed since the in-stream advertisement was played;
a script that, when the skip button is clicked, causes the transparent frame to disappear and enables playback of the video that the user is attempting to view;
The advertising delivery system described in claim 1, characterized in that the in-stream advertisement contains a script that, when a part other than a skip button is clicked, displays a landing page introducing the advertised products and services on the user's terminal via the video introduction site.

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