Method of Delivery of Targeting, and Measuring Advertising Over Networks

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for targeting the delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet are disclosed. Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use of the advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisements of individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, an advertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site an appropriate one of the advertisement based upon profiling of users and networks.

1 . A method for advertising comprising:
 receiving, at an advertising server, a request for an advertisement, with the request being based on at least one message sent from an affiliate content provider to a user in response to a request for content sent from the user to the affiliate content provider; and   responding to the request for the advertisement by selecting an advertisement from among candidate advertisements based on historical information regarding the candidate advertisements and information regarding at least one of the user and a group including the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the group comprises information regarding a network from which the user sent the request for content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the group is based on an IP address of the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising resolving at least one of the user's identity and a group including the user based on the request for the advertisement. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the user comprises geographic information. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the user comprises information regarding a type of advertisement previously selected by the user, the type of advertisement indicating an interest of the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the user comprises a number of times the user has been exposed to a particular advertisement. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the user comprises identification information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises information regarding a location where a candidate advertisement was previously provided. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises information regarding a total number of times a candidate advertisement has been provided to all users. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises a satisfaction index, the satisfaction index being proportional to a number of times a candidate advertisement has been provided to all users, a total amount of time in which the candidate advertisement is to be provided to users, a total number of times that the candidate advertisement is to be provided to all users, and an amount of time that the candidate advertisement has been available for provision to users. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises information regarding a historical selection frequency, and wherein selecting the advertisement from among the candidate advertisements comprises comparing the information regarding the historical selection frequency to a threshold such that a candidate advertisement is not selected if a historical selection frequency associated therewith exceeds the threshold. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises information regarding a click-through rate. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the advertisement from among the candidate advertisements comprises selecting the advertisement based on an expected click-through rate. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the advertisement from among the candidate advertisements comprises selecting the advertisement based on survey information. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising reporting, to an advertiser, historical information regarding previous selections. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the historical information regarding previous selections comprises a click-through rate of a candidate advertisement relative to selection criteria associated with the candidate advertisement. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising compiling information regarding users belonging to a group of users and attributing the compiled information to a user, wherein selecting the advertisement from among the candidate advertisements comprises selecting the advertisement based on the attribution. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the advertisement from among the candidate advertisements comprises targeting the user based on the historical information regarding the candidate advertisements and the information regarding at least one of the user and a group including the user. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information regarding the candidate advertisements comprises a location where a candidate advertisement was displayed when previously selected by a user. 
     
     
         21 . A method of distributing advertisements comprising:
 receiving, at an advertising server, messages regarding historical user responses to historical advertisement selections; and   selecting an advertisement from among candidate advertisements to provide in response to a request for an advertisement based on a prediction of a user response to the candidate advertisements, the prediction of the user response to the candidate advertisements being based on the messages regarding the historical user responses to the historical advertisement selections.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the historical user responses are click throughs, and wherein selecting is based on a historical click through rate. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising identifying a user associated with the request, and wherein selecting an advertisement in response to the request is based on at least one of an identity of a user and a group membership of the user. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein identifying a user comprises resolving identification of an unknown user based on an IP address of the user. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising reporting, to an advertiser, information based on the historical user responses to historical advertisement selections involving an advertisement associated with the advertiser. 
     
     
         26 . A method for distributing advertisements comprising:
 receiving a first advertising request for an advertisement based on a request for a web page, the request originating from a user;   selecting an advertisement, from among candidate advertisements based on targeting information for candidate advertisements, information regarding a likelihood of click through for the candidate advertisements, and at least one of information contained in the request for an advertisement and information about the web page requested by the user, to send to the user in response to the first advertising request; and   storing information regarding the selection of the advertisement.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the targeting information includes interest information and wherein selecting comprises identifying a match between an interest of the user and the interest information for the candidate advertisements, wherein the interest of the user is determined based on at least one of the information contained in the request for an advertisement and the information about the web page requested by the user. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the targeting information includes information regarding groups to which the advertisement should be distributed, and wherein selecting comprises determining a group membership of the user based on at least one of information contained in the request for an advertisement and information about the web page requested by the user.