Ringback advertising

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which an indication of a telephone call being placed from a calling number is received, and a determination is made of an audio advertisement to play based on the calling number. The audio advertisement is played based on the determination.

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving an indication of a telephone call being placed from a calling number;   playing at least a portion of the audio advertisement prior to a called party answering the telephone call; and   updating, using one or more processors, a listen-through rate of the advertisement, wherein the listen-through rate is a measure of a number of times the audio advertisement was played for at least a threshold time period divided by a measure of a number of times the audio advertisement was delivered.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold time period is measured from a beginning of the advertisement to a time when the called party answers. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining an audio advertisement to play comprises:
 receiving a category of audio advertisements from an entity associated with the called party; and   identifying the audio advertisement from one or more audio advertisements associated with the category.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining an audio advertisement to play comprises:
 determining a location associated with a calling party; and   identifying the audio advertisement based on the location.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein playing the audio advertisement prior to a called party answering the telephone call comprises:
 playing the audio advertisement as at least one of a ringback tone, call waiting tone, or hold tone.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a length of time the audio advertisement is played; and   charging an advertiser associated with the audio advertisement an amount based on the length of time.