Managing bids in a real-time auction for advertisements

Abstract

A method and system conduct an auction for advertising across multiple markets. A first market conducts a first auction for a first advertising impression. A first bid is selected as the auction winner and a ratio is computed as the first bid plus a spread to the second highest bid. The price to be paid is the lower of the first bid or the first bid multiplied by the ratio. The first bid, second bid, and spread are transmitted to a second market for a second advertising impression auction. The second market respects the rules of the first market's auction where such that if the first bid is selected as the winner, a ratio is computed as the first bid plus the spread to the next highest bid. The price to be paid for the second impression is the first bid multiplied by the new ratio.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile device, comprising:
 a processing device;   non-transitory computer readable memory that stores instructions that when executed by the processing device cause the mobile device to:
 request over a wireless network a webpage via a browser of the mobile device; 
 receive over the wireless network from a server the requested webpage and a script embedded in the requested webpage; 
 execute the script embedded in the requested webpage, wherein execution of script causes requests for bids to be transmitted to servers, the request for bids comprising requests to place a video advertisement before, during or after an item of video content to be displayed via a video player of the mobile device, the requests for bids comprising cookie information including context information, the context information comprising one or more of:
 information on ads previously shown by the browser, 
 information regarding a website the user is currently accessing via the browser, 
 user demographic information, 
 user interest information, 
 whether the user clicked on ads previously shown by the browser, 
 whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser, 
 websites the user have previously visited, 
 an IP address associated with the mobile device, 
 a type of operating system being used by the computer, 
 a browser type, or 
 a language preference selected at the mobile device; 
 
 receive from at least a portion of the servers bids to place a video advertisement before, during or after the item of video content; 
 adjust at least a first received bid associated with a first video advertisement based at least in part:
 on an ad category of the first video advertisement associated with the first received bid, 
 a priority associated with the first video advertisement associated with the first received bid, and/or 
 a discrepancy in a value of a past impression delivered to an entity that submitted the first received bid; 
 
   evaluate in real-time at least a portion of the received bids and adjusted bids using a real-time bidding exchange system;   select a video advertisement based at least in part on the evaluation of the received bids;   cause the selected video advertisement to be displayed by the video player before, during or after the item of video content.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the requests for bids to place a video advertisement are provided in the form of HTTP requests. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processing device further cause the mobile device to enable a given server to independently access context information independently of other servers to enable the given server to independently gather information the given server deems relevant to making a bid. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the received bids comprises a prediction on how well an associated advertisement will do if placed. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processing device further cause the mobile device to select a video advertisement associated with a bid lower than a highest bid among the received bids. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the context information comprises a browser type, a language preference selected at the mobile device, and whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile device as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the context information comprises a browser type, a language preference selected at the mobile device, and whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser, and wherein the instructions when executed by the processing device further cause the mobile device to:
 select a video advertisement associated with a bid lower than a highest bid among the received bids;   determine whether bids to place an advertisement have been received within a predetermined time limit, wherein a default ad is placed when bids to place an advertisement have not been received within the predetermined time limit.   
     
     
         8 . A computer implemented method of placing video advertisements, the method comprising:
 transmitting by a computer system over a network to servers requests for bids to place a video advertisement before, during or after an item of video content to be displayed via a video player hosted by a user computer, the requests comprising context information, the context information comprising one or more of:
 information on ads previously shown by a browser hosted by the user computer, 
 information regarding a website the user is currently accessing via the browser, 
 user demographic information, 
 user interest information, 
 whether the user clicked on ads previously shown by the browser, 
 whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser, 
 websites the user have previously visited, 
 an IP address associated with the user computer, 
 a type of operating system being used by the computer, 
 a browser type, or 
 a language preference selected at the user computer; 
   receiving from at least a portion of the servers bids to place a video advertisement before, during or after the item of video content;   adjusting at least a first received bid associated with a first video advertisement based at least in part:
 on an ad category of the first video advertisement associated with the first received bid, 
 a priority associated with the first video advertisement associated with the first received bid, and/or 
 a discrepancy in a value of a past impression delivered to an entity that submitted the first received bid; 
   evaluating at least a portion of the received bids and adjusted bids using a real-time bidding exchange system;   selecting a video advertisement based at least in part on the evaluation of the received bids;   causing the selected video advertisement to be displayed by the video player before, during or after the item of video content.   
     
     
         9 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the requests for bids to place a video advertisement are provided by a script at the browser, the script received by the browser embedded in a webpage requested by the browser. 
     
     
         10 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the requests for bids to place a video advertisement are provided by a script at the browser, the script received by the browser embedded in a webpage requested by the browser, and wherein the script causes information identifying the source of the requests for bids and cookie information to be provided in association with the requests for bids. 
     
     
         11 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the requests for bids to place a video advertisement are provided in the form of HTTP requests by a script at the browser. 
     
     
         12 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , the method further comprising enabling a given server to independently access context information independently of other servers to enable the given server to independently gather information the given server deems relevant to making a bid. 
     
     
         13 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 determining whether bids to place an advertisement exceed a predetermined value;   using a default bid when the bids to place the advertisement do not exceed the predetermined value; and   selecting an advertisement corresponding to the default value for placement.   
     
     
         14 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 determining whether bids to place an advertisement exceed a predetermined value; and   placing a default ad when the bids to place the advertisement do not exceed the predetermined value.   
     
     
         15 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , the method further comprising:
 determining whether bids to place an advertisement have been received within a predetermined time limit; and   placing a default ad when bids to place an advertisement have not been received within the predetermined time limit.   
     
     
         16 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the requests for bids to place a video advertisement are provided by a script at the browser. 
     
     
         17 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the received bids comprises a prediction on how well an associated advertisement will do if placed. 
     
     
         18 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , the method further comprising selecting a video advertisement associated with a bid lower than a highest bid among the received bids. 
     
     
         19 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the context information comprises a browser type, a language preference selected at the user computer, and whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser. 
     
     
         20 . The method as defined in  claim 8 , wherein the context information comprises a browser type, a language preference selected at the user computer, and whether the user completed a sale as a result of being shown ads by the browser, and the method further comprising:
 selecting a video advertisement associated with a bid lower than a highest bid among the received bids;   determining whether bids to place an advertisement have been received within a predetermined time limit, wherein a default ad is placed when bids to place an advertisement have not been received within the predetermined time limit.