Method and System for Addressable and Program Independent Advertising during Recorded Programs

Abstract

A system and method for delivering addressable or targeted advertising to subscribers during programming that the subscribers have recorded identifies the timing and characterization of programs to be recorded and the probable subscriber of those programs. Using the subscriber profiles of those subscribers, either already developed or generated on-the-fly based on program selection, and ad characterizations/profiles, the system generates a schedule of advertisements to be inserted into the avails (advertising opportunities) of the programming as it is recorded. The schedule generated can depend on correlations or matching between the ad profiles and the subscribers' profile, scheduling requirements (i.e., contracts and sales with advertisers) and timing. This system allows for targeted advertising to be delivered to subscribers during recorded programming and thus provides for additional opportunities for advertisers to reach subscribers in a highly addressable fashion.

1 . A method of a video recording device inserting a targeted advertisement into a video program, the method comprising:
 (a) receiving, at the video recording device, at least one uninterrupted video program;   (b) recording, at the video recording device, the at least one video program;   (c) receiving, at the video recording device, at least one advertisement;   (d) creating an avail within the at least one video program at a customized break in the video program; and   (e) inserting the at least one advertisement into the avail.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (f) selecting at least one of the advertisements to insert into the avail based at least in part on a characterization of the at least one video program.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the characterization of the at least one video program is based on at least one of the timing information of the video program, the duration of the video program, the content of the video program, the title of the video program and the program description. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (f) creating a profile for the video recording device; and   (g) updating the profile in response to the recording of step (b).   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the at least one advertisement received in step (c) is selected to be received by the video recording device based at least in part on the profile. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one uninterrupted video program includes pay-per-view content. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one uninterrupted video program is received via the Internet. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one uninterrupted video program is received via a cable television network. 
   
   
       9 . A video recording system for inserting a targeted advertisement into a video program, the system comprising:
 a video receiving module for receiving at least one uninterrupted video program and for receiving at least one video advertisement;   a storage device for recording the received video program and the at least one video advertisement;   a video altering module for creating an avail within at least one video program at a customized break in the video program and for inserting at least one of the video advertisements into the avail.   
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a video selection module for selecting advertisements for insertion into the avail, wherein the selection is based at least in part on a characterization of the at least one video program.   
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the characterization of the at least one video program is based on at least one of the timing information of the video program, the duration of the video program, the content of the video program, the title of the video program and the program description. 
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a profiling module for creating a profile of the video recording device and updating the profile in response to recordings recorded on the storage device.   
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the video selection module utilizes the profile to select advertisements for insertion into the avail. 
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the video receiving module receives videos via the Internet. 
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the video receiving module receives videos via a cable television network.