Integrated inventory management system for media advertising

Abstract

A computer-implemented yield management system and method for media advertising are provided. The system includes demand curve data associated with an availability of advertising time slots. The demand curve data is defined by a function P N =P L *P N and P N =P H *F N . The system also includes and inventory module to create advertising inventory for a plurality of media provides, the advertising inventory containing available advertising time slots, a yield management module to generate pricing information based on the demand curve data, a forecasting module to generate advertising time segments that meet specific criteria in the advertising inventory and a pricing module to create a pricing strategy using the demand curve data where the price of advertising varies for one or more advertising.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented inventory management system for an enterprise that includes a number of member media properties at different geographic locations each having a market area, and having associated advertising inventory for sale, wherein the inventory comprises advertising time associated with future time periods, comprising:
 a master database of advertising inventory data for the member media properties;   inventory management software that uses inventory data from the master database, which inventory management software includes:
 a price forecasting system that generates a display of advertising time segments by accessing inventory information of multiple member media properties; 
 a yield management system that generates and maintains advertising inventory pricing information for use by the price forecasting system in accordance with a pricing strategy, which pricing strategy comprises demand curves applicable to sales of advertising time associated with future time periods for the media properties, wherein:
 the yield management system recalculates the advertising inventory pricing information, based on the pricing strategy, in response to order confirmations; 
 
 a traffic billing system that maintains advertising inventory order information; and 
   a wide area network permitting access to the master database for each of the member media properties.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the price forecasting system allows the criteria to include only media properties within one or more predetermined markets or geographic regions in the display. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wide area network is the Internet, and users at the member media properties access the inventory management' software using a browser program. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the traffic billing system generates the order confirmations and maintains scheduling, processing and accounting information in the data files relating to such orders. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the price forecasting system electronically inputs order information for one or more inventory items shown in the display into the traffic billing system and the yield management system. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein;
 the traffic billing system is configured to accept direct entry of changes to the advertising inventory order information, and to export booked data information to the yield management system; and   the booked data overrides the updated advertising pricing information previously provided by the yield management system to the price forecasting system.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the pricing strategy is altered by changing at least one of a starting value of the demand curves, a point at which the demand curves begin increasing, or a shape of the demand curve. 
     
     
         8 . A computer implemented inventory management system for an enterprise that includes a number of member radio stations at different geographic locations, each having a market area, and having associated advertising inventory for sale, wherein the inventory comprises advertising time associated with future time periods, the system comprising:
 a master database of advertising inventory data for the member radio stations;   inventory management software that uses inventory data from the master database, which inventory management software includes price forecasting program logic that generates a display of advertising time segments by accessing inventory information of multiple member radio stations, yield management program logic that generates and maintains advertising inventory pricing information for use by the price forecasting system in accordance with a pricing strategy, which pricing strategy comprises demand curves applicable to sales of advertising time associated with future time periods for the radio stations and traffic billing program logic that maintains advertising inventory order information in data files;   a wide area network permitting access to the master database from each of the member radio stations; and   a system for automatically inputting information needed for price recalculation associated with firm orders into the yield management system and recalculating pricing data by the yield management system in a manner consistent with the pricing strategy implemented by the yield management system so that price changes caused by a change in available inventory are taken into account.   
     
     
         9 . The inventory management system of  claim 8 , wherein the yield management system sends updated pricing data on a periodic basis to the price forecasting system. 
     
     
         10 . The inventory management system of  claim 8 , wherein the yield management system recalculates the advertising inventory pricing information, based on the pricing strategy, in response to order confirmations. 
     
     
         11 . The inventory management system of  claim 8 , wherein the demand curves are generated from a set of predetermined demand curves. 
     
     
         12 . The inventory management system of  claim 8 , wherein the pricing strategy includes classifying a program or time slot according to one of a plurality of curve templates available. 
     
     
         13 . The inventory management system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one demand curve is shifted by adjusting a starting rate based on a historic rate starting point. 
     
     
         14 . An inventory management system, comprising:
 a price forecasting system for generating a display of inventory items wherein the inventory comprises advertising time associated with future time periods;   a traffic billing system that maintains advertising inventory order information in data files;   a yield management system for generating and maintaining inventory pricing information for use by the price forecasting system in accordance with a pricing strategy that includes demand curves associated with different advertising inventory time slots, and electronically   inputting order information for one or more inventory items shown in the display into the traffic billing system; and   a yield management system configured to recalculate pricing data in response to order confirmations.   
     
     
         15 . The inventory management system of  claim 14 , wherein the member stations are radio stations. 
     
     
         16 . The inventory management system of  claim 14 , wherein the traffic billing system generates the order confirmations and maintains scheduling, processing and accounting information in data files relating to such orders. 
     
     
         17 . The inventory management system of  claim 14 , wherein the price forecasting system electronically inputs order information for one or more inventory items shown in the display into the traffic billing system and the yield management system. 
     
     
         18 . The inventory management system of  claim 17 , wherein;
 the traffic billing system is configured to accept direct entry of changes to the advertising inventory order information, and to export booked data information to the yield management system; and   the booked data overrides the updated advertising pricing information previously provided by the yield management system to the price forecasting system.   
     
     
         19 . The inventory management system of  claim 14 , wherein the pricing strategy includes classifying a program or time slot according to one of a plurality of curve templates available. 
     
     
         20 . The inventory management system of  claim 14 , wherein at least one demand curve is shifted by adjusting a starting rate based on a historic rate starting point.