JP2010529541A - Flexible revenue sharing and reference bounty system - Google Patents

Abstract

  An ad system manager, a partner and one or more participating publishers, based on revenue generated from the conversion of an ad, and a partner such as a content provider that distributes embedded content links to the publisher via the ad system manager Everyone can agree on a revenue sharing arrangement for revenue sharing. The advertising system manager may define various components of the revenue sharing arrangement, including details of the revenue sharing arrangement and criteria for proposing the revenue sharing arrangement. Partners can negotiate independently with publishers on terms of revenue sharing arrangements. The conditions can include a predetermined revenue share for partners and publishers based on the total revenue received by the advertising system manager.

Description

  The subject matter of this application generally relates to online advertising.

  As the number of people using the Internet and the World Wide Web (“Web”) continues to increase, advertisers understand online media as a potentially powerful way to advertise products and services, It came to use. One conventional method used by advertisers to advertise products and services on the web is to provide advertisements with content provided by publishers (eg, CNN.com, ESPN.com). For example, an advertiser pays a publisher when a user clicks on an advertisement posted on a web property and / or when a user purchases products and services from the advertiser as a result of such a click. Can do. Such payments can be based on a “cost per click” model or any other metric or model agreed upon by the advertiser and publisher. Managing such business arrangements is complex, and online advertising services such as the AdWords (TM) and AdSense (TM) programs offered by Google, Inc. (Mountain View, California) have emerged.

  Recently, users such as MySpace (trademark), YouTube (trademark), FaceBook (trademark), Twitter (trademark), Orkut (trademark), Friendster (trademark), weblog ("blog"), etc. There are many web properties that specialize in generating content ("UGC"). These web properties have become an attractive target for advertisers due to their increased popularity with certain demographics. Distribution of media content from content providers has also become a target for advertisers.

U.S. Patent Application No. 10 / 653,899 U.S. Patent Application No. 11 / 539,109

  Advertising system managers set up revenue sharing plans with network partners and / or content partners as incentives to register publishers for one or more advertising campaigns or to encourage participation of existing publishers can do. Network Partners will have one or more hyperlinks, signage, video, audio, games on hosted web pages to inform or encourage existing and potential publishers to participate in one or more campaigns Or other banners can be provided. Content partners can provide media content generated by experts or users to be made available to network partners, publishers and users. The advertising system manager can define various elements of the revenue sharing plan, including details of the revenue sharing plan and criteria for providing the revenue sharing plan to network partners and / or content partners. Incentives for advertisers to encourage web property owners / operators (hereinafter also referred to as “partners”) to improve web properties and to grow their web property subscription base Can be provided to partners. In addition, advertisers and partners can provide incentives to web property users (hereinafter also referred to as “publishers”) to provide and improve UGC.

  In addition, advertising system managers, participating publishers, network partners and / or content partners may be based on revenue generated from users viewing ads linked to one or more advertising campaigns (eg, based on conversion rate). Everyone can agree to the revenue sharing policy. In some implementations, the partner can negotiate directly with the publisher on the terms of the revenue sharing policy, or revenue sharing can be automated based on a system set up by the advertising system manager. The conditions of the revenue sharing policy may include a predetermined revenue sharing rate for partners and publishers based on the total revenue received by the advertising system manager.

  In some implementations, a method of revenue sharing in an online advertising system receives input from a partner specifying a revenue sharing arrangement between a provider, one or more publishers, and an advertising system manager; Receiving from the publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the provider, and invoking automated revenue sharing between the provider and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement.

  In another embodiment, a method of revenue sharing in an online advertising system specifies a revenue sharing arrangement between an advertising system manager, one or more publishers that post content on a web property, and a partner. Receiving input from the advertising system manager; receiving a request from the publisher to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager; and Starting between.

  In yet another embodiment, a method for providing a reference bounty in an online advertising system includes determining a current revenue share and revenue threshold, listing on a web property hosted by a provider and a web property host. Distributing the revenue distributed with the publishers based on the current revenue sharing ratio and determining a reward based on the distributed revenue and the revenue threshold.

  The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

  Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

It is the block diagram which showed the example of the online advertising system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a process for referring to an advertisement in the online advertising system of FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for sharing revenue between a partner and a publisher in the online advertising system shown in FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining partner rewards in the online advertising system of FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example system for implementing features described with reference to FIGS.

Overview of Advertising System FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an online advertising system, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a process for referring to an advertisement in the online advertising system of FIG.

  Generally speaking, the system 100 can facilitate the distribution and processing of advertisements. As shown, the system 100 includes one or more advertisers 102, an advertising system manager 104, one or more publishers 106, users 108 and partners 112. Each of these entities can be coupled to the network 110. Network 110 may facilitate wireless or landline communication between each entity. Network 110 may be all or part of an enterprise network or a secured network. Although shown as a single network, as long as at least a portion of the network 110 can facilitate communication of the advertisement 118 between the advertising system manager 104, the partner 112, and the publisher 106, the network 110 may be in various subnets or It may be a continuous network that is logically divided into virtual networks, which does not depart from the scope of the present disclosure.

  In some implementations, the network 110 is operable to facilitate communication between any internal or external network (s), subnetworks, or various computing components within the system 100. May be included. Network 110 may carry, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, Frame Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video, data, and other suitable information between network addresses. Network 110 is an earth known as one or more local area networks (LANs), radio access networks (RANs), city-wide networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the Internet in one or more locations. It may include all or part of a large computer network and / or any other communication system (s).

Advertiser Advertiser 102 can set up an advertising program with advertising system manager 104. Advertising programs can include, for example, information about accounts, billing, campaigns, creations, advertising formats, targeting, etc. For example, an advertiser's account may relate to information for a given advertiser, such as a unique email address, password, billing information, context information, and the like. “Campaign” or “Advertising Campaign” refers to one or more groups of one or more ads, start date, end date, budget information, geographic targeting information, and syndicated information linked to the ad Can be included. For example, a fashion design manufacturer may run an advertising campaign in the clothing department and another advertising campaign in the fragrance department. Apparel department campaigns include one or more ad groups, each containing one or more ads (e.g., for men and women, boys and girls, and different types of clothing such as infants and toddlers). You may have. Advertiser 102 may also be partner 112 and / or publisher 106.

  Each advertisement group may include individual price information (eg, unit price, average unit price or maximum unit price (impression unit price, selection unit price, conversion unit price, etc.)). For example, the advertiser 102 can specify a maximum fee with the advertising system manager 104 for how much the advertiser 102 intends to pay per user click or impression per ad or per ad group.

  Each advertising group can also include targeting criteria or restrictions. Targeting criteria (or restrictions) can also be used to identify a target audience for a particular advertising campaign of advertiser 102. Examples of targeting criteria include days of the week, geography, language, behavioral segments, demographic groups, frequency limits, domains, keywords, ad slot attributes, system information, or any other of user 108 and / or publisher 106 There are appropriate characteristics.

  Advertiser 102 can enter, submit, maintain, and track advertisement 118 directly or indirectly through advertising system manager 104. The advertisement 118 may be displayed on the web page 116 with the content 114 created by the publisher 106. Web page 116 can be displayed in browser window 117.

  The advertisement 118 may be in the form of a graphic advertisement, such as a banner advertisement, a text-only advertisement, an image advertisement, an audio advertisement, a video advertisement, an advertisement combining any one or more of such elements, executable code, Or any other media, content, or interactive advertisement. Advertisement 118 may also include embedded information, such as links, meta information, and / or machine-executable instructions. Advertisement 118 may have various unique features. Such features can often be specified by the application and / or advertiser 102 depending on the type of advertisement. For example, in the case of a text advertisement, the features of the advertisement may include a title line, advertisement text, and embedded links. In the case of image advertisements, advertisement features can include images, text, embedded links, and the like.

  Advertisement 118 can be serviced based on specific service conditions or constraints. For example, the advertiser 102 may target the service of the advertisement 118 by specifying that the advertisement 118 be served to users in a particular geographic location on a weekday, above a certain location on a web page, etc. Can do. As another example, the advertiser 102 can specify that the advertisement 118 be provided if the content 119 displayed with the provided advertisement 118 includes certain keywords or phrases. As yet another example, the advertiser 102 may use the advertisement 118 when the content 119 includes a particular topic or concept, or is classified into a particular cluster (s) or any other category (s). Can be specified to be provided. As yet another example, a particular group of publishers 106 residing in a particular geographic location can provide advertisements 118.

  In some implementations, when the user 108 clicks on the advertisement 118, the user 108 is directed to the landing page 120 provided by the advertiser 102. User 108 can then perform a conversion event (eg, purchase, registration, etc.) on the website. The conversion event generates conversion data, which is sent to the advertising system manager 104 and stored in a conversion data repository 124 (eg, a MySQL® database). In this way, conversion history can be accumulated and maintained for each ad or ad group within an advertiser's advertising campaign. Systems and methods for tracking conversion data are listed, for example, in co-pending US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 653,899, filed Sep. 4, 2003, entitled “Systems and Methods for Determining User Actions”. The disclosure of that application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In other implementations, the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) revenue can track ad user impressions, and the cost per click (CPC) revenue model can track ad user "clicks".

Advertising System Manager In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 can include a user interface to facilitate interaction between the advertiser 102, the partner 112, and the publisher 106 in an online environment. The advertising system manager 104 may be an advertising service program operated by an advertising network service provider, which cooperates with the advertiser 102 to execute one or more advertising campaigns. In some implementations, the publisher 106 can participate in one or more advertising campaigns. In these implementations, the advertising system manager 104 can create an incentive program with publishers interested in participating in one or more campaigns. Incentive programs include, for example, compensating publisher 106 instead of providing targeted advertisements on network properties (eg, web pages). Also, in order to increase the number of participating publishers 106, the advertising system manager 104 can also provide incentives (eg, revenue sharing) to the partners 112 for introducing advertising campaigns to the publishers 106.

  Targeted ads can be run by the advertising system manager 104 and based on cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, 1000 CPM bidding, cost-per-action bidding, or other criteria defined by the advertiser 102 and / or the advertising system manager 104 Can generate income. Based on the total revenue generated from the advertiser 102, the advertising system manager 104 determines the compensation rules and how the total revenue is distributed among the ad campaign participants as described in more detail below. Can be determined.

  In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 utilizes search technology to provide advertisements based on web properties posted by the publisher 106. For example, the advertising system manager 104 can search for keywords and phrases within a web property to determine the type of content and display one or more advertisements associated with the content on the web property.

  In other implementations, the advertisement system manager 104 can receive advertisement requests from the publisher 106 and / or process them. The advertisement system manager 104 can select an appropriate advertisement, such as a banner advertisement or a video advertisement, based on the type of advertisement requested by the publisher 106, for example. In addition, the advertising system manager 104 can exchange the currently displayed advertisement with another advertisement in a scheduled or random manner.

  In general, the advertising system manager 104 identifies (or receives the context from each publisher 106) the web property context of each publisher among applications, programs, modules, processes, or other software and hardware. And those that convey relevant advertisements along with other data displayed in the web property. The advertising system manager 104 can deliver relevant text and image ads that strictly target the publisher's web properties and the content displayed in those properties.

  Also, in some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 monitors the number of users 108 who clicked on the advertisement (s) and / or subsequent actions (e.g., product purchases, catalogs) for each user. Viewing), thereby further improving the context and the adequacy (and placement) of each ad and ad targeting. The advertising system manager 104 may also provide a management interface (not shown) to the publisher 106 (or partner 112) to help manage and track advertising revenue. The management interface allows publishers 106 to access federated accounts to retrieve unlimited data such as current compensation agreements, revenues earned, site performance and other data analytics set with the advertising system manager 104. can do.

  The advertisement system manager 104 can be coupled to the advertisement / content repository 128. The advertisement system manager 104 receives the advertisement request from the publisher 106 and, in response to the request, sends the advertisement 118 (optionally with the content 119) displayed in the browser window 117 from the advertisement / content repository 128 for display. Can function as. Advertising system manager 104 may include an advertising server (not shown) operable to receive, transmit, process and store data associated with the advertisement. The advertisement server can be implemented using a computer and a server pool other than the server. For example, the ad server can be any computer, electronic or processing device, such as a blade server, general purpose personal computer (PC), Macintosh®, workstation, Unix® computer, or any other suitable It may be a device. In other words, the advertisement server can include computers other than general purpose computers and computers without conventional operating systems. The advertisement server may be adapted to run any operating system, including Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, or any other suitable operating system.

  In general, an ad server includes a memory (eg, a cache) and a processor (not shown). The memory can be local memory and can include any memory or database module, without limitation, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), removable media, or any It may take the form of volatile or non-volatile memory such as other suitable local or remote memory components. The memory can function to store advertisement images and other electronic advertisements and video files. The memory can also be any other suitable data, such as VPN applications or services, firewall policies, security or access logs, print or other reporting files, HTML files or templates, data classes or object interfaces, child software Applications or subsystems, etc. can also be included.

  In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 can also include a web crawler that is operable to crawl the web page 116. The web crawler can crawl the content repository 114 and add the content 114 to the index 128. Examples of web crawlers include open source crawlers written in Java®, such as Heritrix ™, WebSPHINX ™, JSpider ™, WebEater ™, Java ™ Web Crawler ( Trademark), WebLech ™, and Arachnid ™. The web page 116 can be crawled in a scheduled manner or in response to a trigger event, and indexed content can be sorted and stored (eg, in an index repository).

  In some implementations, the partners 112 and publishers 106 registered with the advertising system manager 104 use interactive web pages to obtain information about their revenue share (as described in more detail below). There may be access to secure web properties. Access to the advertising system manager's web properties may be secure. That is, the advertising system manager 104 may provide secure access using, for example, encryption, personal identification number (PIN), access code, password, digital signature authentication, security key, and / or other similar security measures. Can do. Access to another entity's account portion by a revenue distributor or merchant may be restricted or may not be allowed at all.

Partner Partner 112 may be an online service provider that hosts one or more web properties or other network accessible properties that host content 119. For example, web page 116 may be provided by an online service that provides publisher 106 with a personal space for sharing personal and professional content with interested users / viewers. As an example, a weblog (blog) site can provide each blogger with a personal space for creating and posting a blog.

  The partner 112 may be a network partner such as a social network or a business network, for example. Such networks include, but are not limited to, Orkut (R), Myspace (R), Friendster (R), YouTube (R) and Facebook (R), game sites, game networks, music and There are content sharing sites such as video sharing sites. Other types of online networks, community or personal web pages, such as job seeking websites (e.g. monster.com), school alumni websites, professional organizations, internet dating sites, audience sites (e.g. epinations) .com), closed or private networks, corporate websites (eg intranet), etc. In some cases, partner 112 may require publisher 106 to open a publisher account with partner 112 in order for publisher 106 to use one or more web properties owned by partner 112. There is.

  Further, the partner 112 may be, for example, a content partner, for example, a provider of video, music / audio, games, applications, and the like. Such content partners include media broadcast networks, sports networks or organizations, music labels, movie studios, television production studios, professional media content providers such as how-to or technical media providers, direct from users or YouTube It may be user-generated content shared via a network partner such as (registered trademark) or Facebook (registered trademark). The content partner, in one embodiment, provides the media content embedded in the web page 116 of the publisher 106 with the advertisement for the particular advertiser 102 provided from the advertising system manager 104.

  As mentioned above, the advertising system manager 104 can provide incentives to the partner 112 for referring to one or more publishers to participate in one or more advertising campaigns. These incentives may be in the form of revenue sharing or incentive bonuses, as will be described in more detail below.

  In some implementations, the partner 112 can provide a user interface (not shown) for managing the web page 116 for the publisher 106. This user interface can include an administrative space, which includes various links and / or other user interface elements that allow publisher 106 to operate and manage web page 116. Can do. For example, Publisher 106 can create or edit a linked profile, change account settings, add / edit photos, add / change videos, manage calendars, manage blogs, address book It can be managed. The user interface may also include one or more areas for displaying information and content, such as an “announcement” space for announcements, a “post” space for announcements, new emails or instant messages. "New messages" space for viewing, "Friends" space for listing members of the publisher's personal and professional networks, and for introducing newcomers recently added to the publisher's personal and professional networks "Newcomer" spaces can also be included. The partner 112 may also provide a user interface (not shown) for allowing the associated publisher 106 to manage advertisement settings and view advertisements and profitability reports.

  If partner 112 is a content provider, partner 112 can provide a user interface (not shown) for publisher 106 to embed content from partner 112 into the web properties of publisher 106. Similarly, the advertising system manager 104 provides a user interface (not shown) for the publisher 106 to embed content from the partner 112, or content for the partner 112 to make available to the publisher 106 via the advertising system manager. A user interface (not shown) for submission can be provided.

  In some implementations, the partner 112 can request one or more advertisements from the advertisement system manager 104. In response to this request, one or more advertisements (eg, image advertisements) are sent to partner 112. The one or more advertisements can be displayed on the web page 116 along with the content 119. In some implementations, the web page 116 can have a page content identifier (ID) that is determined by the advertising system manager 140 to the advertising context targeted by the advertisement that the user 108 accepts. Can be used for. In these implementations, the advertising context is a clustering technique and geographic location, such as, for example, the techniques described in copending US patent application Ser. No. 11 / 539,109, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Determined using data. In other implementations, the publisher 106 requests one or more advertisements from the advertising system manager 104, as described in more detail below.

Publisher Generally, the publisher 106 is a content provider that provides the user 108 with the content 119 stored in the content repository 114. Publisher 106 may be user 108 and vice versa. Publisher 106 can add text, audio, video and other forms of content to web page 116. In some implementations, the publisher 106 can participate in the advertising campaign (s) by providing advertisements with the content 119. In these implementations, publisher 106 and advertiser 102 are provided with code snippets that can be included on web page 116 and landing page 120 to request an advertisement from advertising system manager 104 and report conversion actions. There is also. In other implementations, the partner 112 may be provided with a code snippet from the advertising system manager 104. In response, partner 112 can insert a code snippet into web page 116 to simplify the process of display advertising for publisher 106. In some embodiments, the code snippet that is inserted into the web page 116 provides for embedded content 113 from the provider 112 that is embedded in the web page 116, as well as for a display advertisement embedding service for the publisher 106. .

  Publisher 106 may also allow advertising system manager 104 to select one or more advertisements from advertisement / content repository 126 and display the one or more advertisements on web page 116. In some embodiments, the publisher 106 selects the one or more types of embedded content 113 from the partner 112 by the advertising system manager 104 and displays the embedded content on the web page 116 along with the one or more advertisements. Or the publisher 106 can directly select the embedded content 113 or the partner 112 from which the embedded content 113 is obtained. The displayed ads can be selected by partner 112, depending on the criteria set by publisher 106, or may be limited to ads that match the criteria set by both publisher 106 and partner 112 . Because the content 119 shown on the web page 116 can earn a certain degree of readership, the publisher 106 becomes part of the advertising targeting process. In some implementations, each publisher 106 participating in an advertising campaign uses certain criteria (e.g., demographics, popularity ratings, etc.) specified by the advertiser 102, the advertising system manager 104, and / or the partner 112. It is necessary to satisfy. Similarly, partner 112 may require publisher 106 to meet certain requirements in order to display embedded content 113.

  As described above, in order for the partner 112 to use the embedded content 113 created by the partner 112 on the website of the publisher 106, the partner 106 must open a publisher account (eg, a login account) with the partner 112. You may need it. To get a publisher account, an unregistered publisher must join and register with a partner to become a member. Once registered, the unregistered publisher becomes a registered publisher, and the registered publisher can access the linked publisher account and can log into the publisher account to access the embedded content 113.

  Web page 116 may display both standard content 119 and one or more advertisements 118 with embedded content 113 from one or more providers 112. The advertisement 118 can be displayed in a particular location in the web page 116, sometimes referred to as an advertisement slot. An ad slot may have a specific height and width dimension defined by publisher 106 or advertiser 102. The advertisement 118 inserted into the advertisement slot may change each time the web page 116 is provided to the user 108 or may form a static linkage with the web page 116. An ad slot can be created via a snippet of code, such as Java® Script, and in one embodiment, the snippet includes an ad 118 and embedded content 113 from one or more partners 112. Can provide a place for both.

  In some implementations, the content 119 of the web page 116 may be a file, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links to other files, and the like. These files may be of any type, for example, text, audio, image, video, or other suitable media format. Although the content stored in the content repository 114 may be offline, its associated information can be made available online. Such online content may also include attributes, topics, concepts, categories, keywords, related information, supported advertisement types, and the like. For example, the publisher 106 may post online content that includes information about the outdoor jazz music festival, including the location of the concert, the time of the concert, the artists scheduled to appear in the festival, and the like. Similarly, the embedded content 113 may be a file, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links to other files, and the like. These files may be of any type, for example, text, audio, image, video, or other suitable media format. Although the content stored in the content repository 114 may be offline, its associated information can be made available online. Such online content may also include attributes, topics, concepts, categories, keywords, related information, supported advertisement types, and the like. For example, the publisher 106 may post online content that includes information about the outdoor jazz music festival, including the location of the concert, the time of the concert, the artists scheduled to appear in the festival, and the like.

  In other implementations, the content stored in the content repository 114 includes its content (words, photos, etc.), and its content or metadata (eg, email fields and associated data, HTML tags and associated data). Etc.) may contain structured data with some indication of meaning. For example, the web page 116 may include content and embedded information (such as meta information, hyperlinks) and / or embedded instructions (such as Java® Script).

  Publisher 106 may be a conventional computing terminal, such as a personal computer, portable computer, workstation, computer terminal, network computer, display device (eg, television), mainframe, handheld device or other data processing system or user device. Can be used to create or modify the web page 116. Publisher 106 can receive web page 116 via browser window 117 and by logging on to the associated publisher account. Web page 116 may be displayed in the form of a personal web page and may include additional hosted web pages that collectively describe interests, attributes, or characteristics associated with publisher 106.

  In some implementations, the web page content 119 and / or embedded content 113 includes, without limitation, articles, discussion threads, music, video, games, graphics, broadcast media, search results, web page lists, information feeds, etc. May include. Publisher 106 can submit an advertising request to advertising system manager 104 that targets content 119 on web page 116. In some embodiments, the publisher 106 may submit a request for embedded content 113 that is targeted and served together. The advertisement request can include the number of advertisements desired, or the type of advertisement provided. The advertisement request can also include content request information. This information may include the content itself (e.g., a page or other content document), the category corresponding to the content or content request (e.g., art, business, computer, art movie, art music, etc.), part of the content request or All may include content elapsed time, content type (eg, text, graphics, video, audio, mixed media, etc.), geographic location information, and the like.

  In response to the publisher's ad request, the advertising system manager 104 displays to the publisher 106 one or more advertisements that are displayed on the web page 116 that can be viewed by the user 108 (eg, a browser or other content display system). In that case, in some implementations, the advertisement may be transmitted with embedded content 113. In some examples, for example, a video database of shared video content that can be accessed by clients using a web browser can be provided, or a video hosting website can provide content publishers with various parameters (e.g. player type, appearance, advertisements). For example, publisher 106 can customize how and when the requested ad (s) are included, including customizing the player according to options (such as options) and further including posting tools that allow the player parameters to be stored in the player database. And / or additional information including advertising system manager 104 or advertiser 102 including information describing where (eg, in HTML, AJAX, ActiveX ™ or Java ™ Script ™) Can be sent to. The publisher can coordinate the player with the selection of video playlists or advertisement placement priorities in the video database. The player may be linked to the publisher, and may be further linked to the selection of playlists or advertisement placement priorities for multimedia content such as audio and video in the video database.

  In addition, a user interface can be provided for creating a player designed to view a video playlist embedded in a website. One embodiment may be a player that can be embedded in a web page, such as a publisher web page, using an embed code that includes a player identifier associated with a particular player. The embedded code, when executed, can cause the identified video player to be displayed on the web page according to the customized parameters and the playlist associated with the player. The player can include a browsing window and various controls and options that allow a user browsing the web page to navigate the playlist and play the video. When a video for playback is selected from the playlist, the player can connect to the video hosting site and retrieve the video from the video database at the host site.

  In one implementation, advertisements can be displayed along with video content from a playlist, for example, according to advertisement priorities associated with a client, player, content, or website providing content for a player. In another embodiment, revenue generated from advertisements can be shared among one or more of a video hosting site, an ad management site, a custom player publisher, and an original provider of video content.

  As described above, when the user 108 clicks on the advertisement 118 displayed on the web page 116, the user 108 is redirected to the landing page 120 provided by the advertiser 102. In these implementations, when the user 108 performs a predefined conversion action, the publisher 106 can be compensated for the conversion. In general, a conversion is a defined action that responds to an ad call for an action. The conversion action may be a sale, but may be registered, downloaded, or entered into the advertiser's lead database depending on the advertiser's advertising campaign goals. Alternatively, the publisher can be compensated on a cost-per-click (CPC) model when a user clicks on an advertisement, or on a cost-per-click (CPM) model, on a user ad CPM basis.

  Users 108 and advertisers 102, as well as one or more publishers 106, may provide usage information to the advertising system manager 104, such as whether conversions or click-throughs associated with the advertisements have occurred, for example. This usage information may include measured or observed user behavior related to the advertisement being served. Based on this usage information, the advertisement system manager 104 performs accounting processing such as crediting the participating publishers and charging the sponsor advertiser.

  In some implementations, the publisher 106 receives one or more code snippets each associated with the selected advertisement. Each code snippet can include a signed or encrypted designation of the advertisement (s) determined by the publisher 106. For example, for an advertisement for an MP3 music player, publisher 106 may receive a code snippet associated with the selected advertisement, such as a banner advertisement for the MP3 music player, from advertising system manager 104. In some implementations, the code snippet is a set of conversion actions (e.g., purchasing an MP3 player, subscribing to a mailing list) that may result from interaction (e.g., click-through) with an advertisement by the user 108. Includes designations that correspond to the selected advertisement (s) that are associated with. In other embodiments, if an advertisement that is eligible for a particular conversion action set is known to the advertising system manager 104, that designation can be omitted from the code snippet. When a conversion occurs, the conversion action allows the advertising system manager 104 to determine how much to credit the publisher 106 as a result of displaying the advertisement 118 on the web page 116. In some embodiments, credits are booked based on impressions, click-throughs, or playback of linked embedded content 113.

  In some implementations, one or more code snippets can be added to the web page code. For example, publisher 106 may add a banner ad code snippet to the web page code. In some implementations, the code snippet is a web script, such as Java® Script®. Executing the code snippet contacts the display of the advertising system manager 104 and the advertisement 118, and in some embodiments the embedded display of the embedded content 113. When the user 108 clicks on the displayed advertisement 118, the advertisement system manager 104 is also contacted and the user 108 is redirected to the landing page 120. During this event, the user 108 can receive a signed browser cookie from the advertising system manager 104. In some embodiments, tampering with the contents of a signed browser cookie invalidates the conversion action associated with that cookie. The cookie may include information such as the identifier of the MP3 player banner advertisement, the identifier of the publisher 106, and the date / time that the banner advertisement was selected by the user 108. Cookies can also be used with information associated with conversion actions performed by advertisers 102 by users 108 to credit the publisher 106 and debit advertisers 102.

  By way of example, in operation, user 108 can select a particular advertisement displayed on publisher web page 116. The publisher code snippet directs the user 108 to the advertising system manager 104 where the signed browser cookie is retrieved. In some embodiments, the selection of an advertisement is considered a credit entry for publisher 106 and / or partner 112. The user 108 is then directed to a landing page 120 provided by the advertiser 102. In some embodiments, the user 108 performs conversion actions with the advertiser 102, such as purchasing a product or service, registering, and joining a mailing list. The advertiser code snippet can be incorporated into a conversion confirmation page script, eg, a script in a web page that is displayed after purchase. The advertiser code snippet contacts the advertising system manager 104 and reports the conversion type identifier from the advertiser code snippet and information from the cookie, such as the publisher identifier, the advertising identifier, the ad impression and the date / time of the click. Conversion data (eg, the number and type of conversions) can be stored in the conversion data repository 124, in which case the conversion data can be used by the advertising system manager 104 to improve ad targeting performance.

Conversion and click-through overview In general, when a user or viewer clicks on an ad (for example, ad 118), an embedded hypertext link associated with that ad typically takes the viewer to the advertiser landing page. Induce. This process by which a viewer selects an advertisement is commonly referred to as “click-through” (“click-through” is intended to cover all user selections). The ratio of the number of click-throughs to the number of ad impressions (i.e., the number of times an advertisement has been displayed) is commonly referred to as the "click-through rate" or CTR of the advertisement. A “conversion” is said to occur when a user completes a process associated with a previously provided advertisement. What forms a conversion may vary from case to case and can be determined in various ways. For example, it may be the case that a conversion occurs when a user clicks on an advertisement, is introduced to the advertiser's web page, and completes shopping there before leaving the web page. Many other definitions are possible for what forms a conversion. The ratio of the number of conversions to the number of impressions of an ad (ie, the number of times an ad has been displayed) is commonly referred to as the conversion rate.

  In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 may receive an income income report for a particular product or service from the advertiser 102, and based on the income income report, the advertising system manager 104 may measure metrics such as Unlimited, based on click-through rate (CTR), 1000 ad unit revenue (RPM), paid dollar conversion (CPD), or at least partially based on viewer actions associated with each participating publisher Other suitable metrics can be further determined.

Revenue Sharing Process Advertiser 102 can have an advertising program or campaign set up with advertising system manager 104. The advertising system manager 104 can facilitate an advertising campaign by identifying one or more participating publishers and placing one or more advertisements on the participating publisher's web properties. Advertisers 102 can be charged on a cost-per-click (CPC), 1000 CPM, cost-per-action, or other basis for advertising, and participating publishers can partially Can be credited.

  Generally, the fee received from the advertiser 102 is income. In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 may generate revenue with the partner 112 as an incentive to register for additional publishers in one or more advertising campaigns, or as an incentive to promote participation of existing publishers. A distribution plan can be set. For example, advertising system manager 104 may allocate 50% of total revenue to partner 112 while retaining the remaining 50% of total revenue. In other implementations, the revenue sharing plan can also include a publisher 106, as described in more detail below.

  Partner 112 may embed content 113 to inform or encourage existing and potential publishers to participate in one or more advertising campaigns on web page 116 or directly through partner 112's web presence. One or more fragments, hyperlinks, signs, or banners may be provided. In embodiments where hyperlinks are provided, the hyperlinks can direct potential publishers to web pages provided by the advertising system manager 104. The web page can provide instructions, rules, policies, or instructions on how the user can participate in the advertising campaign. The web page also provides a user interface that users can use to set up publisher accounts to become publishers and participate in advertising campaigns and, in particular, revenue sharing with advertisers 102 and partners 112. it can.

  Partner 112 may also provide potential publishers with, for example, embeddable content 113 for inclusion in publisher web pages 116, free web hosting, free email accounts, By advertising and offering discounted premium access, the network of participating publishers 106 can also be expanded. In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 can manage the placement of ads based on publisher content and collect additional fees from the advertiser 102 for determining the targeting of the ads.

  The advertising system manager 104 can define various elements of the revenue sharing plan, including details of the revenue sharing plan and criteria for providing the revenue sharing plan to the partner 112. Details of the revenue sharing plan can include, for example, information describing the nature and quantitative measure of compensation provided, and the criteria can be, for example, a publisher 106 posting a particular type of content, or a particular geographic Publisher 106 may be included at the location.

  In addition, advertising system manager 104, participating publisher 106, and partner 112 all agree on a revenue sharing policy based on revenue generated from users 108 viewing the ad (eg, based on impressions, click-throughs, or conversion rates). You can also In some implementations, the partner 112 can also negotiate directly with the publisher 106 regarding the terms of the revenue sharing policy. The conditions of the revenue sharing policy can include a predetermined revenue sharing rate for the partner 112 and publisher 106 based on the total revenue received by the advertising system manager 104. For example, if the total revenue received from the advertising system manager 104 is $ 100 and 40% of that is retained to cover operating expenses, the partner will make 85% of the remaining 60% of the total revenue as a publisher. By allocating to 106, publisher 106 can be encouraged to participate in the advertising campaign. Conditions can be changed to reflect higher or lower revenue share at any time period. Using the above example, the conditions may be changed by partner 112 to allocate 95% (as opposed to 85%) of the remaining 60% to publisher 106 after 30 days.

  In some implementations, the partner 112 can determine the quality of the publisher's content, the popularity of the associated web page (eg, based on the number of visits of the user), membership class (eg, Based on the registered gold, silver, and bronze), different publishers can be offered different revenue sharing levels (eg, tiered levels). For example, participating publishers with Gold membership are given 60% revenue sharing, participating publishers with Silver membership are given 50% revenue sharing, and participating publishers with Bronze membership receive 40% revenue. It is possible to be given a share rate. As another example, other participating publishers may be given a 50% revenue share, while publishers with the most visits may be given an 80% revenue share.

  Of course, the revenue allocated to partner 112 and publisher 106 need not be a percentage of the total revenue. On the contrary, partner 112 may receive a flat fee from advertising system manager 104 for each publisher reference, or publisher 106 may receive a flat fee from advertising system manager 104 for each displayed ad or each click-through. sell. The partner 112 may receive a part of the revenue generated by the cost-per-click (CPC) system, the cost-per-action system, and the cost-per-impression system as a result of the participation of the publisher in the advertising campaign operated on the web page 116. In one embodiment, the revenue share of partner 112 is further subdivided between partner 112 and additional third party creators and licensors of embedded content 113 provided by partner 112.

  In cases where the partner 112 is associated with multiple participating publishers 106, the partner 112 may receive a percentage of revenue sharing from each publisher 106 according to their terms. The condition may be extended to existing and potential publishers 106. The revenue sharing policy can be specified on a partner-publisher basis. Alternatively, the same revenue sharing policy may be applied to all linked participating publishers 106. For example, partner 112 has three participating publishers 106 (eg, publisher “A”, publisher “B”, publisher “C”), and partner 112 negotiates a 15% revenue share with publisher “A”. If so, partner 112 would receive the same revenue share from publisher “B” and publisher “C”.

  In an embodiment where partner 112 receives a 15% revenue share from publisher “A” but declares a different revenue share from publisher “B” and publisher “C”, the revenue share is the same for each publisher As such, the advertising system manager 104 can also intervene to automatically adjust the revenue share with publisher “B” and publisher “C”. In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 may track potential rate mismatches based on payable events, including cost-per-thousand-impression, cost-per-click and cost-per-action events. And can intervene by adjusting the payment of revenue to partner 112 to match the rate of revenue specified for publisher “B” and publisher “C”. Alternatively, the advertising system manager 104 can notify the partner 112 and request that changes be made until the revenue sharing plan becomes effective.

  In other cases, partner 112 may use publisher content 119, for example, as a means to attract potential consumers, even if the revenue share specified between partner 112 and each participating publisher 106 matches. The revenue sharing plan by dynamically removing the advertisement 118 displayed on the web page 116 and replacing it with an advertisement linked to another advertising campaign in which the partner 112 may personally participate. It is possible to operate unfairly, thus reducing the percentage of total revenue that publisher 106 could have received from advertising campaigns in which publisher 106 is participating.

  More specifically, as described above, the advertisement can be displayed on the web page 116 by inserting a code snippet along with the content 119. This code snippet typically identifies the publisher 106 and identifies which publisher 106 will be credited for revenue and impression / click / conversion for ads displayed on the web page 119 Contains information. Typically, this publisher identification information is identification information of the publisher 106 that owns and creates the content 119 on the web page 116. In a two-way revenue sharing plan where the advertising system manager 104 and the publisher 106 may have agreed to the revenue sharing rate, the advertising system manager 104 refers to the publisher identity to verify that it is a legitimate publisher (as opposed to a different publisher). Can be credited). In a three-way revenue sharing plan involving advertising system manager 104, publisher 106, and partner 112, partner 112 is credited by advertising system manager 104 and based on publisher identification information (as identified by advertising system manager). B) Post a portion of the credit entry to Publisher 106. However, because the publisher 112 places a code snippet on the web page 119 hosted by the partner 112, the partner 112 has the ability to replace the publisher identification information with the partner's personal publisher identification information. For example, partner 112 may display its own advertisement with its own publisher identity 20% of the time and receive 20% more revenue than publisher 106 would otherwise receive. This is called advertisement code replacement, which allows a merciless partner to obtain revenue for cashing the content 119 on behalf of the publisher.

  Thus, in some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 systematically determines the occurrence of each advertisement for publisher content in a scheduled or random manner and is not linked to an advertising campaign in which the publisher 106 is participating. Can be identified and notified to the publisher. The advertising system manager 104 can also determine whether two or more publisher identification information appears in two different cases in the code snippet for the same web page (e.g., web page 116) in a scheduled or random manner. By inspecting, potential ad code alternations can be tracked. If the advertising system manager 104 determines that two or more publisher identifiers appear in two different cases in the code snippet on a web page, the partner associated with that web page is sanctioned. Or may be punished.

  Advertising system manager 104 can implement a fee policy that removes a portion of the total revenue to be retained by advertising system manager 104 before distributing the total revenue to partner 112 for distribution to publisher 106. As an example, if the total revenue generated from an advertising campaign is $ 100 and the revenue share for advertising system manager 104, partner 112 and publisher 106 is 40%, 15% and 85%, respectively, advertising system manager 104 Can hold $ 40 before distributing the remaining $ 60 to partner 112 and publisher 106, partner 112 will receive $ 9 and publisher 106 will receive $ 51.

  Other orders are possible. For example, advertising system manager 104 first distributes total revenue to partner 112 and publisher 106 according to a revenue sharing agreement between partner 112 and publisher 106 before retaining the revenue sharing assigned to advertising system manager 104. You can also The advertising system manager 104 can then deduct and retain the percentage revenue from the portion distributed to the partner 112 and the percentage revenue from the portion distributed to the publisher 106.

  In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 can deduct different percentages of revenue from the partner 112 and the publisher 106. For example, if the total revenue generated from an advertising campaign is $ 100, and the revenue share for partners and publishers is 15% and 85%, respectively, then advertising system manager 104 will distribute $ 15 to partners and $ 85 to publishers. That's fine. Next, advertising system manager 104 deducts 30% of $ 15 distributed to partner 112 (ie, $ 4.50) and 40% of $ 85 distributed to publisher 106 (ie, $ 34) to cover operating expenses. be able to. If the rate can be changed in this manner, the advertising system manager 104 can further encourage and facilitate the continued participation of valuable partners 112 or publishers 106 for the generation of advertising campaigns and revenue. For example, partners 112 may have a large group of coordinated publishers, each participating in an advertising campaign. In this example, advertising system manager 104 can reduce the percentage of revenue collected from partner 112 (e.g., from 30% to 20%), thus maintaining the percentage of revenue collected from each of publishers 106, As a reward for partner performance, a greater percentage of revenue can be passed directly to partner 112.

  Similarly, advertising system manager 104 can reduce the percentage of total revenue collected from participating publishers 106 while maintaining the percentage of revenue collected from partners 112 (e.g., 40% to 30% for best performers). Therefore, a larger percentage of revenue can be passed directly to the partner 112 as a reward for increasing the number of content readers and improving the content.

  The advertising system manager 104 can also track accounting, contractual, service and audit issues on behalf of advertisers 102, partners 112 and publishers 106. For example, the advertising system manager 104 primarily debits the advertiser 102, receives payments from the advertiser 102, determines total revenue, partners 112 according to the revenue sharing rate specified in the existing revenue sharing agreement, and May be responsible for crediting publisher 106. Partner 112 may be responsible for splitting a portion of revenue received from advertising system manager 104 with publisher 106 according to terms negotiated between partner 112 and publisher 106.

  In other implementations, the publisher 106 and the advertising system manager 104 can agree to a revenue sharing arrangement without the participation of the partner 112. For example, publisher 106 can negotiate revenue sharing rates directly with advertising system manager 104 for participation in advertising campaigns. In these implementations, the publisher 106 can register with the advertising system manager 104 to become a partner 112 and host it on other publishers 106 or provide their own embeddable content 113 to other publishers 106. . In such an implementation, partner 112 may receive a variable or flat fee (rate) from publisher 106 for managing the display of advertisements and / or embeddable content 113 on web page 116.

  Partner 112, in one embodiment, caps the maximum revenue share by advertising system manager 104 to lose partner 112's desire to capture all or most of the revenue from the cashing of the publisher's network property content. It may be determined. For example, each partner 112 may be capped at a maximum revenue share of 75% by the advertising system manager 104 to prevent fraudulent acquisition of revenue. In other implementations, other incentives can be applied to allow all of the total revenue to pass directly to publisher 106, thereby potentially encouraging content improvements and a higher rate of readership. Can be obtained.

  In some implementations, the partner 112 can change the terms of an existing revenue sharing agreement. As an example, partner 112 can determine a change in revenue share with the associated publisher 106. Partner 112 can submit changes to the revenue share to advertising system manager 104 for approval. Changes can be submitted through a user interface configured to facilitate communication between partner 112 and advertising system manager 104. Alternatively, the changes can be submitted in the form of an email or electronic message rather than a user interface.

  In response to receiving the request to change the revenue share rate, the advertising system manager 104 can notify each associated publisher 106 about the rate change request. For example, the advertising system manager 104 may ensure that electronic messaging (or an account linked to the advertising system manager 104) adjusts the revenue sharing rate for similar partners 112 from “15%” to “20%”. The linked publisher 106 can be notified. In other implementations, the partner 112 may be required to notify all participating publishers associated with the changed condition partner 112 directly.

  In some implementations, the rate change is only effective after a predetermined period of time to give the participating publishers 106 an opportunity to stay and adapt to the new rate change. As an example, the modified terms of an existing revenue sharing agreement will become effective 30 days after the request is received. As another example, the modified terms of an existing revenue sharing agreement become effective 30 days after the date when the new rate change is communicated to participating publishers 106.

  In response to the rate change request, publisher 106 may be given the option of accepting the new terms after the change or working with a new partner 112 having a lower partner revenue share rate.

  In some implementations, the terms of the revenue sharing agreement can be determined prior to forming a partnership between the prospective publisher 106 and the linked partner 112. For example, during the partner-publisher collaboration process, each prospective publisher 106 can evaluate the partnership with the partner 112. This evaluation may be based on the revenue sharing rate set by partner 112 with other participating publishers 106. Each prospective publisher 106 can compare revenue sharing rates among multiple partners 112 before forming partnerships with the partners 112. In some implementations, if the partner 112 submits a rate change request that will become effective, the prospective publisher 106 may be notified of new rate changes and values associated with the change.

  If a partner 112 with multiple participating publishers 106 frequently submits a request to change the terms of an existing revenue sharing agreement, frequent changes may cause confusion among participating publishers 106. Thus, in some implementations, the number of requests that partner 112 can submit to advertising system manager 104 may be limited. For example, the advertising system manager 104 may allow only one request per month. In other embodiments, the advertising system manager 104 may provide a review period between requests. For example, there may be a 90 day review period between the previous request and the current request.

  Although the embodiments described above are described for a publisher 106 that is associated with a single partner 112, the publisher 112 may form a partnership with multiple partners 112. For example, publisher “A” can set up a blog on “blogger.com” and participate in a revenue sharing plan with “blogger.com” by allowing one or more ads to appear on the blog. Can do. At the same time, publisher “A” may have a personal web space on “Myspace.com”, where publisher “A” has interests, characteristics, personalities, networks and organizations related to publisher “A”. You can also set up your personal profile page with Publisher “A” can participate in another revenue sharing plan with “Myspace.com” by allowing context ads to be displayed on the page for viewers browsing that personal profile page. Similarly, publisher 106 can embed content from multiple partners 112 along with associated advertisements.

  In some embodiments, the partner 112 may exclude any content 113 from being used in revenue sharing, and / or the publisher 106 may have a particular partner 112 or content 113 placed on the publisher's 106 website 116. It can be excluded so that it does not appear. The embedded content 113 may be a single piece of content or a playlist of content that can be played back in an ordered configuration.

Bounty Reference Program In some implementations, the advertising system manager 104 rewards the partner 112 for registering the new publisher 106 for participation in one or more advertising campaigns managed by the advertising system manager 104. A reference program can also be implemented. The bounty program may be configured such that the partner 112 that allocates a larger portion of the revenue received to the participating publishers 106 becomes more advantageous. Providing a higher revenue share to participating publishers 106 can encourage more publishers to place their content on the partner's web property, while providing appropriate compensation for placement Publisher loyalty grows among participating publishers.

  The bounty reference program may provide a bounty bonus that can be calculated based on the revenue share allocated to each participating publisher 106 after adjusting for the partner's revenue share. The bounty bonus may be determined based on the total revenue before deducting the revenue allocated to the advertising system manager 104 for the advertising campaign run on the web page 116.

  In some implementations, in order for partner 112 to be eligible for a bounty bonus, there is an income threshold and a time limit that publisher 106 must reach within that time threshold. May be. For example, if the revenue threshold is set to $ 10 and the time limit is set to a period of 180 days, then partner “A” will only be paid if publisher “A” earns $ 10 as revenue within 180 days. Is eligible to receive a bounty bonus.

  In some implementations, if the publisher 106 is associated with multiple partners 112, a revenue threshold (and time limit) can be specified for a particular partner. As an example, if publisher "A" works with both partner A and partner B, revenue thresholds and time limits for partner "A" and partner "B" are $ 10 and $ 180 days, respectively, $ 20 And Partner A is rewarded only if Publisher “A” earns $ 10 in income on a web page hosted by Partner “A” within 180 days. Partner “B” can only qualify for the gold bonus and is rewarded only if publisher “A” earns $ 20 in income on a web page hosted by partner “B” within 90 days Can qualify for a gold bonus.

  In some implementations, the bounty reference program can also be set as a function of distributed revenue, revenue share rate, and a predetermined revenue threshold. The bounty bonus can be awarded to the partner 112 when the revenue of the participating publisher 106 reaches a predetermined threshold. In one embodiment, the amount of bounty bonus distributed to partner 112 is equal to a predetermined revenue threshold. For example, if the predetermined revenue threshold is set to $ 10, partner 112 will receive a $ 10 bounty bonus when publisher 106 revenue reaches $ 10.

  A bounty bonus may be applied each time a predetermined revenue threshold is reached. For example, if a given revenue threshold is set to $ 10, and the participating publisher 106 receives $ 30, the partner partner 112 will receive a reward in addition to the revenue received under the revenue sharing agreement. You will receive a $ 30 bounty bonus (3 x $ 10 for every $ 10 reached) based on the gold reference program.

  Examples include partner “A” who has agreed to 25% and 75% revenue sharing, respectively, and publisher “A” introduced by partner “A”, and partner who has agreed 50% and 50% revenue sharing, respectively. For publisher “B” introduced by “B” and partner “B”, assuming that the total revenue portion (ie, net revenue) remaining daily after adjusting the revenue sharing of the advertising system manager is $ 1, the revenue sharing agreement By 10 days, publisher “A” will receive $ 7.50 ($ 1 × 10 days × 75% revenue share) and publisher “B” will receive $ 5.00 ($ 1 × 10 days × 50% revenue share) after 10 days. ) Will receive. If the predetermined revenue threshold is set to $ 10, partner “A” who introduced publisher “A” to the advertising campaign will receive $ 2.50 (for example, $ 1 x 10 days x 25% Will not receive the bounty bonus because the revenue received by publisher “A” has not reached the predetermined revenue threshold (ie, $ 10). Similarly, partner “B” who introduced publisher “B” to the advertising campaign would benefit from $ 5.00 (for example, $ 1 × 10 days × 50% revenue share) under the revenue sharing agreement, Since the income received by “B” did not reach the predetermined income threshold of $ 10, it would not receive a bounty bonus.

  However, using the same criteria applied in the previous example, after 15 days publisher “A” would receive $ 11.25 ($ 1 × 15 days × 75% revenue share), while publisher “B” would receive $ 7.50 ($ 1 x 15 days x 50% revenue share). Publisher “A” 's revenue exceeded the required revenue threshold of $ 10, so partner “A” would be eligible for a bounty bonus, and partner “A” would receive $ 13.75, of which $ 3.75 ($ 1 x 15 days x 25% revenue share) is the revenue received from the revenue sharing agreement, and $ 10 is the revenue received from the bounty reference program. On the other hand, partner “B” is not eligible for the bounty bonus because the revenue received by publisher “B” did not reach the predetermined revenue threshold of $ 10.

  As is apparent from the above example, partner “A” initially earns less than partner “B” (eg, after 10 days). However, with a bounty reference program, partners 112 with lower revenue share (for example, 25%) will be larger over longer periods than partners 112 with higher revenue share (for example, 50%) Profits can be earned due to the ability to earn revenue (for example, partner "A" is $ 13.75 after 15 days, $ 40 after 40 days, in contrast, partner "B" is $ 7.50 after 15 days , 40 days later is $ 30).

  When implementing a bounty reference program, allocating a high share of revenue to each participating publisher 106 allows partners 112 to gain financial benefits in the long run by earning more income, while the prospects Engage publisher 106 and nurture publisher loyalty. The bounty reference program allows partner 112 to allocate a larger share of revenue to participating publishers 106 without suffering from revenue declines, which enables partner 112 to develop a revenue plan that is tailored to a particular business profile. It becomes possible to configure flexibly.

  As an example, if the partner's business model to allow publishers to participate in advertising campaigns via an advertising system manager should increase business revenue, partners can choose to allocate a lower percentage of revenue to participating publishers. . As another example, if the partner's business model should attract and attract publishers that produce high-quality content, the partner will keep revenue sharing from participating publishers flexible, almost none, or none You can also.

  In some implementations, there may be more than one incentive threshold with a corresponding bounty bonus defined based on each threshold. This constitutes a staged reward structure. For example, in the first stage, if a participating publisher earns $ 10 in revenue, the partner may qualify for a $ 10 bounty bonus. In the second stage, if the publisher earns $ 100 as revenue, the partner can qualify for a $ 250 bounty bonus, and therefore, based on the staged bounty structure, a total $ 255 bounty bonus to the partner Accumulated.

  In some implementations, a partner may also be rewarded for joining a number of publishers that have reached one or more thresholds, as described above. For example, if the revenue threshold is set to $ 100, 25 participating publishers have acquired $ 100 as a net income (for example, after adjusting for the revenue share held by the advertising system manager) If so, the partner may be eligible for an additional bounty bonus (eg, a $ 2000 bounty bonus). You can also limit the number of such bonuses that can be offered to partners during a specific time period. For example, a participation bounty bonus based on the number of participating publishers that have reached a certain revenue threshold may be limited to once a year. Alternatively, there is no limit on the number of such bonuses that can be made to a partner in a given period.

Exemplary Process FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for determining revenue sharing between partner 112 and publisher 106. Process 300 may be performed, for example, by system 100, and for the sake of clarity, the following description uses these as an example basis for describing process 300. However, another system or combination of systems can be used to perform the process 300.

  In the illustrated example, process 300 begins with receiving a request from a partner to participate in revenue sharing (302). A partner may be an online service provider that hosts one or more web properties, or may be a provider of online content that can be embedded with advertisements provided to publishers. A web property may be an online service that provides publishers with a personal space for sharing user-generated content with interested users / viewers, media companies, music labels, broadcast networks, and the like, for example.

  In response to the request, a graphical user interface (GUI) can be generated (304). The GUI may be operable to allow the partner to interface with at least the advertising system manager for any suitable purpose, such as viewing advertisements. In general, a GUI provides a specific user with an efficient, user-friendly display of data provided by the system 100 or of data transmitted within the system 100. The GUI can include multiple customizable frames or views with interactive fields, pull-down lists and buttons. In some implementations, if a partner has previously participated in a revenue sharing plan, the GUI may be operable to display past revenue sharing rates in a user-friendly manner. The GUI can also display multiple portals or dashboards.

  The GUI can be configurable and supports a combination of tables and graphs (bar graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, status dials, etc.) and provides real-time data, including current income obtained, current income rate, etc. There are things that can be built. It should be understood that the term graphical user interface may be used in the singular or plural form to represent each of one or more graphical user interfaces and a particular graphical user interface display. In practice, when referring to a GUI, it may represent a front-end reference as well as a specific interface accessible through an advertiser, partner or publisher, as appropriate. Thus, the GUI described herein assumes any graphical user interface that processes information within system 100 and efficiently displays the results to the user, such as a common web browser or touch screen. is doing.

  In some implementations, if the partner has already participated in the revenue sharing plan, step 302 can be omitted, and the partner can log in (by username and password) and access the user interface. The login can be done, for example, from a web page, and the login process can also use encryption such as Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS).

  Process 300 also includes receiving (306) input specifying a revenue share from the partner. For example, a partner may specify a 50% revenue share, in which case the partner will be 50% of the total revenue, i.e. the remainder after deducting operating expenses (e.g. operating expenses for the advertising system manager) Will receive 50% of the income. In some implementations, receiving the input specifying the revenue share from the partner may include changing the previous revenue share.

  Process 300 proceeds to receiving a request to join a revenue sharing plan from a publisher associated with the partner (308). The publisher may be a content provider that provides content to viewers / users via a web property hosted by the partner, or a publisher that wants to embed content from the provider on the publisher's own web property. May be. In some implementations, receiving the request from the publisher includes receiving the request from the publisher via the partner's web property. For example, the publisher can click on a hyperlink displayed in a web property provided by the partner, thereby directing the publisher to a web page provided by the advertising system manager. The publisher can then set up an account to participate in the revenue sharing plan.

  The process 300 then checks 310 with the publisher the revenue share specified by the partner. In some implementations, the step of confirming the revenue share may include displaying the revenue share of other partners so that publishers can compare rates among the various participating partners. In other implementations, the step of confirming the revenue share may include, for example, receiving additional information from a publisher associated with the type of content that the publisher provides to the viewer / user. The publisher may be provided with a user interface that allows the publisher to log in at any time and view the revenue share set by the various partners with which the publisher is affiliated.

  Next, the process 300 triggers automated revenue sharing between the partner and the publisher (312). In some implementations, initiating automated revenue sharing may include determining when a previous revenue sharing rate, if present, has become effective. If the period during which the previous revenue share rate was active is shorter than the desired period, the step of activating automated revenue sharing may include activating the revenue share after the desired period has passed. As an example, if the desired period is 90 days and the current revenue share rate was last changed 30 days ago, the process 300 will only trigger an automated revenue share after 60 days.

  In other implementations, invoking automated revenue sharing may include determining how often the revenue sharing rate is changed within a given time period. In these embodiments, if the frequency within a given period exceeds a predetermined ratio, the step of activating automated revenue sharing may include activating revenue sharing only after the given period is over. . For example, if a given ratio is changed twice within 30 days, and if it is determined that the current proposed change to the revenue share is the third change within 15 days, then process 300 Automated revenue sharing will be activated.

  Steps 302-312 of process 300 may be performed in the order listed, in parallel (eg, substantially or otherwise, non-sequentially by the same or different processes), or in reverse order. For example, in some implementations, the step (308) of receiving a request to participate in revenue sharing from a publisher may be performed prior to the step (306) of receiving an input specifying a revenue sharing rate from a partner. In other embodiments, receiving (308) a request to participate in revenue sharing from the publisher may be performed prior to receiving (302) a request to participate in revenue sharing from the partner.

  FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 400 for determining partner rewards. Similar to process 300, process 400 may be performed, for example, by system 100, and for purposes of clarity, the following description uses these as an example basis for describing process 400. However, another system, or combination of systems, can be used to perform process 400.

  As shown, process 400 begins with receiving a gross revenue report from an advertiser (s) (402). In some implementations, gross revenue reporting is linked to other processes related to, but not limited to, click-through rates, revenue per 1000 ad units, cost per dollar conversion consumed, and the ad (s) served. May include information including conversion data. In some implementations, an advertising system manager may be able to generate such a report based on data flowing through an online advertising system.

  Process 400 may include determining a current revenue share and a revenue threshold (404). In some implementations, the process can determine a current revenue share between the partner and publisher based on the input received at process 300 (eg, from step 306). The revenue threshold can be defined by the advertising system manager 104, for example. When publisher income reaches revenue thresholds, rewards can be distributed to partners.

  In some implementations, the revenue threshold is determined based on the revenue share. The revenue threshold can be set in proportion to the revenue share specified by the partner. As an example, lowering the revenue share allocated to partners (for example, from 20% to 10%) will reduce the revenue threshold (for example, from $ 20 to $ 10), and publishers will be able to Revenue threshold can be reached.

  The process 400 includes determining (406) the revenue to be distributed between the partner and publisher, and calculating (e.g., automatically) a bounty based on the revenue share and revenue threshold (408). ). In some implementations, bounties are calculated from publisher revenue after adjusting for partner revenue sharing. In these implementations, calculating the bounty may include comparing publisher revenue to a predetermined revenue threshold. If the publisher's revenue is determined to be less than a predetermined revenue threshold, the bounty is not allocated to the partner. For example, if the net revenue is $ 10, the revenue threshold is set to $ 20, and the revenue share between the partner and publisher is set to a ratio of 90% to 10%, the publisher revenue of $ 10 is the revenue threshold The partner will not be eligible for a bounty. As another example, using the same criteria except that the revenue share between the partner and publisher is set to a ratio of 20% to 80%, publisher revenue of $ 80 exceeds the revenue threshold. So the partner will be eligible to receive a bounty.

  In some embodiments, the bounty is calculated based on total revenue before operating expenses are deducted. An example of an operating expense is revenue sharing that is distributed to the advertising system manager without limitation. In these implementations, the revenue threshold is compared to the remaining revenue share after adjusting for the partner's revenue share and operating expenses. As an example, if the total revenue is $ 100, the revenue share between the partner and publisher is set to a ratio of 60% to 40% (that is, the publisher will receive $ 40) and the operating expenses are $ 20 , The remaining $ 20 (ie, minus operating expenses from publisher revenue) is compared to the revenue threshold. A reward bonus can then be awarded to the partner when the remaining revenue share (after adjusting for the partner's revenue share and operating expenses) meets a predetermined revenue threshold.

General Computer System FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an example of a general computer system 500. System 500 can be used for the operations described in connection with method 300 according to one embodiment. For example, system 500 may be incorporated into a device or system owned or operated by any of advertiser 102, advertising system manager 104, and publisher 106.

  System 500 includes a processor 510, a memory 520, a storage device 530, and an input / output device 540. Each of components 510, 520, 530 and 540 are interconnected using system bus 550. The processor 510 can process instructions executed in the system 500. In some implementations, processor 510 is a single threaded processor. In other embodiments, processor 510 is a multi-threaded processor. The processor 510 may process instructions for displaying graphical information for a user interface on the input / output device 540, stored in the memory 520 or the storage device 530.

  Memory 520 stores information within system 500. In some implementations, memory 520 is a computer-readable medium. In other embodiments, the memory 520 is a volatile memory unit. In yet another embodiment, the memory 520 is a non-volatile memory unit.

  The storage device 530 can provide mass storage to the system 500. In some implementations, the storage device 530 is a computer readable medium. In various different implementations, the storage device 530 may be a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device.

  Input / output device 540 provides input / output operations to system 500. In some implementations, the input / output device 540 includes a keyboard and / or pointing device. In other embodiments, the input / output device 540 has a display unit for displaying a graphical user interface.

  The described functionality can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof. The apparatus can be implemented in the form of a computer program product for execution by a programmable processor, such as a machine-readable storage device or a propagated signal, tangibly embodied in an information carrier. The method steps may be performed by a programmable processor executing a program of instructions to perform the functions of the described embodiments by operating on input data and generating output. The described functionality advantageously includes at least one programmable processor, at least one input device coupled to receive data and instructions from the data storage system and to send data and instructions to the data storage system , And one or more computer programs executable on a programmable system including at least one output device. A computer program is a set of instructions that can be used directly or indirectly in a computer to perform a specific activity or produce a specific result. A computer program may be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages. It may also be deployed in any form, such as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment.

  Examples of suitable processors for executing a program of instructions include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and one of multiple processors consisting of a single processor or any type of computer. . Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memories for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer also includes or is operably coupled to communicate with one or more mass storage devices for storing data files. Such devices include magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical disks, and optical disks. Examples of suitable storage devices for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and data are semiconductor memory devices such as EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory devices, magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks, optical There are all forms of non-volatile memory including magnetic disks and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated within, an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit).

  To prepare for user interaction, functions include display devices such as CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors for displaying information to the user, as well as for the user to input into the computer. It can be implemented in a computer having a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse or trackball that can be used.

  Features include back-end components such as data servers, middleware components such as application servers or Internet servers, front-ends such as client computers having a graphical user interface or Internet browser, or any combination thereof It can be implemented in a computer system that includes components. The components of the system can be connected by digital data communication in any form or medium, such as a communication network. Examples of communication networks include, for example, LANs, WANs, and computers and networks that form the Internet.

  The computer system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a network. The relationship between the client and the server is generated by a computer program that is executed by each computer and has a client / server relationship with each other.

  A number of implementations have been described, but it will be understood that various changes can be made. For example, elements of one or more embodiments can be combined, deleted, modified or supplemented to form further embodiments. As yet another example, the logic flow shown in the drawings need not be in a specific order as shown, i.e., sequential, in order to obtain the desired result. Further, other steps may be performed, steps may be deleted from the described flow, other components may be added to the described system, or configured from the described system. Elements may be removed. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the appended claims.

100 system
102 Advertiser
104 Advertising system manager
106 Publisher
108 users
110 network
112 partners
113 Embedded content
114 content, content repository
116 web pages
117 Browser window
118 Advertising
119 content
120 landing pages
124 Conversion Data Repository
126 Advertising / Content Repository
128 advertising / content repository, index
510 processor
520 memory
530 storage devices
540 I / O device
550 system bus

Claims (40)

A method of sharing revenue with an online advertising system,
Receiving from said web property host input specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the owner or operator and one or more publishers listed on the web property hosted by the web property host;
Receiving a request from a publisher to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
Activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement.   The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the revenue sharing arrangement by the web property host.   The method of claim 1, wherein activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher comprises activating the modified revenue sharing arrangement after a predetermined period of time. Receiving requests from a plurality of publishers to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating automated revenue sharing between the host and the plurality of publishers based on the revenue sharing arrangement. Receiving requests from a plurality of publishers to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
Specifying a revenue sharing arrangement between the host and each publisher;
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: initiating automated revenue sharing between the host and each publisher based on a respective revenue sharing arrangement.   The method of claim 1, wherein the revenue sharing arrangement comprises a percentage of revenue distributed between the host and the publisher.   The method of claim 1, wherein the revenue sharing arrangement includes one of information describing a quantitative measure or criterion of monetary compensation for proposing the revenue sharing arrangement. Receiving from the web property host input specifying a revenue sharing arrangement from the web property host; receiving input specifying the revenue sharing arrangement between the host and the one or more publishers and an advertising manager; A method comprising the steps of:
Receiving input from the advertising manager specifying total revenue;
Distributing the total revenue between the host and the one or more publishers and the advertising manager based on the revenue sharing arrangement, including automated revenue sharing with the host and the one or more publishers. The method of claim 1, further comprising: initiating between and an advertising manager. Receiving from the web property host a request to change a previously specified revenue sharing arrangement;
Invoking automated revenue sharing between the host, the one or more publishers, and the advertising manager is configured to enable automated revenue sharing based on the modified revenue sharing agreement with the host and the one or more 9. The method of claim 8, comprising starting between a publisher and the advertisement manager.   Activating automated revenue sharing between the host, the one or more publishers and the advertising manager is such that the number of requests to change the revenue sharing arrangement is within a predetermined threshold within a given period of time. 10. The method of claim 9, comprising only initiating automated revenue sharing between the host, the one or more publishers, and the advertising manager. Receiving from the web property host input specifying a revenue sharing arrangement between the host and the one or more publishers and an ad manager;
Designating a revenue share between the host and the advertising manager;
Specifying the revenue share between the one or more publishers and the advertising manager; and specifying the revenue share between the host and the one or more publishers. 8. The method according to 8.   12. The method of claim 11, wherein the revenue sharing rate specified between the host and the advertising manager is different from the revenue sharing rate specified between the host and the advertising manager.   12. The method of claim 11, wherein the revenue sharing rate specified between the host and the advertising manager is the same as the revenue sharing rate specified between the host and the advertising manager. Designating a revenue share between the host and the one or more publishers includes a first revenue share for the host and a second revenue share for the one or more publishers; Including steps to specify,
12. The method of claim 11, wherein specifying a first revenue share rate includes limiting the first revenue share rate to a predetermined threshold.   15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined threshold is set by the advertising manager. Receiving from the web property host input specifying a revenue sharing arrangement includes modifying a previously invoked revenue sharing arrangement;
The step of activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher comprises activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher based on the modified revenue sharing arrangement. The method according to 1. Further comprising confirming the revenue sharing agreement with the host and the one or more publishers;
The method of claim 1, wherein activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher comprises activating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher after confirming the revenue sharing agreement. The method described. Further comprising posting content on the web property by the publisher;
The method of claim 1, wherein invoking automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher comprises invoking automated revenue sharing prior to posting the content on the web property by the publisher. . A method of sharing revenue with an online advertising system,
Receiving from the advertising system manager input specifying an revenue sharing arrangement between the advertising system manager and one or more publishers that post user-generated content on a web property hosted by the web property host; ,
Receiving from a publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager;
Activating automated revenue sharing between the advertising system manager and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement without the web property host participating. A method of providing a reference bounty in an online advertising system,
Determining a current revenue share and a revenue threshold;
Distributing the revenue distributed between the web property host and a publisher listed on the web property hosted by the web property host based on the current revenue share rate;
Determining a reward based on the distributed revenue and the revenue threshold.   21. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining the revenue threshold based on revenue distributed to each publisher after subtracting revenue distributed to the web property host. Further comprising allocating the bounty to the web property host;
21. The method of claim 20, wherein allocating the bounty includes allocating bounty to the property host each time the revenue threshold is reached. A processor;
A computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor and including instructions, the instructions being executed by the processor, the processor
Receiving from the web property host input specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the owner or operator and one or more publishers listed on the web property hosted by the web property host;
Receiving from the publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
A computer-readable medium that executes a process that includes a process for starting automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement. A processor;
A computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor and including instructions, the instructions being executed by the processor, the processor
Receiving from the advertising system manager input specifying an revenue sharing arrangement between the advertising system manager and one or more publishers that post user-generated content on the web property hosted by the web property host; ,
Receiving from the publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager;
A computer readable medium for executing automated revenue sharing, including processing that is initiated between the advertising system manager and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement without participation of the web property host. system. A processor;
A computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor and including instructions, the instructions being executed by the processor, the processor
Processing to determine the current revenue share and revenue threshold;
Distributing revenue distributed between a web property host and a publisher listed on a web property hosted by the web property host based on the current revenue share rate;
And a computer readable medium for executing a process comprising: determining a reward based on the distributed revenue and the revenue threshold. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor
Receiving from the web property host input specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the owner or operator and one or more publishers listed on the web property hosted by the web property host;
Receiving from the publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
A computer-readable medium that executes processing including: starting automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor
Receiving from the advertising system manager input specifying an revenue sharing arrangement between the advertising system manager and one or more publishers that post user-generated content on the web property hosted by the web property host; ,
Receiving from the publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager;
A computer-readable medium for executing automated revenue sharing, including processing for starting between the advertising system manager and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement without participation of the web property host. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor
Processing to determine the current revenue share and revenue threshold;
Distributing revenue distributed between a web property host and a publisher listed on a web property hosted by the web property host based on the current revenue share rate;
A computer readable medium for executing a process including: determining a reward based on the distributed revenue and the revenue threshold. Means for receiving from said web property host input specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the owner or operator and one or more publishers listed on the web property hosted by the web property host;
Means for receiving a request from a publisher to participate in revenue sharing with the host;
Means for initiating automated revenue sharing between the host and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement. For receiving from the advertising system manager input specifying an revenue sharing arrangement between the advertising system manager and one or more publishers posting user-generated content on the web property hosted by the web property host. Means,
Means for receiving a request from a publisher to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager;
Means for initiating automated revenue sharing between the advertising system manager and the publisher based on the revenue sharing arrangement without the web property host participating. Means for determining current revenue share and revenue threshold;
Means for distributing revenue distributed between a web property host and a publisher listed on a web property hosted by the web property host based on the current revenue share rate;
And means for determining a reward based on the distributed revenue and the revenue threshold. A method of sharing revenue with an online advertising system,
Receiving from the content partner input specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the content partner and one or more publishers via an ad manager system;
Receiving from a publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the content provider via the advertising manager system;
Activating automated revenue sharing between the content provider, the publisher, and the advertising manager system based on the revenue sharing arrangement. Receiving from the partner an input specifying a revenue sharing arrangement between the content partner and the one or more publishers and an ad manager;
Designating a revenue share between the partner and the advertising manager;
Designating a revenue share between the one or more publishers and the advertising manager;
35. The method of claim 32, comprising: specifying a revenue sharing rate between the partner and the one or more publishers. Further comprising embedding content from the partner on the web property by the publisher;
35. The method of claim 32, wherein initiating automated revenue sharing between the partner and the publisher comprises providing an advertisement from the advertisement manager to the publisher along with the embedded content. A processor;
A computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor and including instructions, the instructions being executed by the processor, the processor
Receiving input from the partner at the ad manager specifying revenue sharing arrangements between the partner and one or more publishers listed on the web property,
Receiving from the publisher a request to participate via the advertising manager in revenue sharing with the partner;
A computer-readable medium for executing a process including: an automated revenue sharing process based on the revenue sharing arrangement, wherein the process is initiated between the partner, the advertisement manager, and the publisher.   36. The system of claim 35, wherein the request from a publisher to participate in revenue sharing further comprises a request for embedded content from the partner.   36. The system of claim 35, further comprising an embedded link provided from the advertisement manager to the publisher for embedding content from the partner and an advertisement from the advertisement manager in the web property of the publisher. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor
Receiving from the advertising system manager input specifying an revenue sharing arrangement between the advertising system manager and one or more publishers that post user-generated content on the web property hosted by the web property host; ,
Receiving from a publisher a request to participate in revenue sharing with the advertising system manager, including a request for at least one piece of embedded content from a partner of the advertising manager;
A computer-readable medium that executes processing including: starting automated revenue sharing between the advertising system manager and the publisher based on revenue sharing between the advertising system manager, the publisher, and the partner.   40. The computer readable medium of claim 38, wherein the request for at least one piece of embedded content comprises a request for a playlist of subjects associated with at least one topic.   40. The computer readable medium of claim 38, wherein the initiating step and the receiving step are performed without requiring any further action by the partner.

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