Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
VIEW-BASED PRICING OF ADVERTISEMENTS IN SCROLLABLE
ADVERTISEMENT UNITS
BACKGROUND
[0001] This invention relates generally to online systems, and in
particular to displaying
advertisements on an online system.
[0002] Presenting advertisements to users of an online system allows an
advertiser to gain
public attention for products or services and to persuade online system users
to take an action
regarding the advertiser's products, services, opinions, or causes. Many
online systems
generate revenue by displaying advertisements to their users. Frequently,
online systems
charge advertisers for each presentation of an advertisement to an online
system user (e.g.,
each "impression" of the advertisement).
[0003] Additionally, as users more frequently use mobile devices or other
devices with
limited display area, online systems may combine multiple advertisements into
a scrollable
advertisement unit. This reduces the display area on which advertisements are
presented to
reduce the likelihood of user alienation, while allowing users to navigate
through the
scrollable advertisement unit to view different advertisements. For example, a
user may
scroll horizontally or vertically through the scrollable advertisement unit to
access different
advertisements included in the scrollable advertisement unit.
[0004] Conventionally, online systems identify an impression of an
advertisement if the
advertisement is included in a scrollable advertisement, even if a user does
not navigate
through the scrollable advertisement unit to view the advertisement. For
example, a user
presented with a scrollable advertisement unit including advertisements does
not interact with
the scrollable advertisement unit, so only a single one of the advertisements
in the scrollable
advertisement unit is presented to the user; however, in conventional systems,
an impression
of each advertisement in the scrollable advertisement unit is credited.
Additionally,
advertisement-specific properties may make certain advertisements less likely
to be viewed or
interacted with by users, so presenting these advertisements in the display
area of a scrollable
advertisement unit may decrease the likelihood of the user viewing other
advertisements in
the scrollable advertisement unit. This decreases the potential revenue to the
online system
from presentation of the scrollable advertisement unit.
SUMMARY
[0005] An online system derives revenue by displaying advertisements to
its users. To
reduce the likelihood of alienating users by presenting a large number of
advertisements, the
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online system generates a scrollable advertisement unit including multiple
advertisements.
The scrollable advertisement unit includes a display area presenting one or
more
advertisements identified from multiple advertisements included in the
scrollable
advertisement unit. By interacting with the scrollable advertisement unit, an
online system
user causes different advertisements from the multiple advertisements included
in the
scrollable advertisement unit to be presented by the display area.
[0006] In various embodiments, the online system users a cost per
impression pricing
system that charges an advertiser when an advertisement associated with the
advertiser is
presented to a user. To maximize revenue while more accurately charging
advertisers for
advertisement impressions, the online system determines an advertisement's
position in a
scrollable advertisement unit based at least in part on the probability that
an advertisement
will be viewed based on the advertisement's position in a scrollable
advertisement unit and
on properties specific to the advertisement.
[0007] To identify a position in a scrollable advertisement unit for
advertisements, the
online system determines the values of positions in the scrollable
advertisement unit for
advertisements. For example, the online system determines a discount factor
for each
position in the scrollable advertisement unit describing a measure of
predicted performance of
an advertisement in each position and subsequently accesses the discount
factors to select
advertisements for inclusion in the scrollable advertisement unit. Based on
the discount
factors, the positions of the scrollable advertisement unit ranked.
Additionally, bid amounts
associated with advertisements are used to rank advertisements. For example,
an expected
value of each advertisement is determined based on the bid amount of each
advertisement and
a probability of a user accessing an advertisement, and the expected values
are used to rank
the advertisements. Based on the ranking of the positions and the ranking of
the
advertisement, a position in the scrollable advertisement unit is determined
for an
advertisement. For example, an advertisement having a location in the ranking
of
advertisements is determined to have a position in the scrollable
advertisement unit having a
corresponding location in the ranking of positions. The scrollable
advertisement unit is
generated where an advertisement is associated with its determined position
and subsequently
sent for presentation to a user.
[0008] In some embodiments, to maximize revenue while more accurately
charging
advertisers for advertisement impressions through a scrollable advertisement
unit, the online
system accounts for the probability that an advertisement will be viewed based
on the
advertisement's position in the scrollable advertisement unit. In some
embodiments, the
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online system also accounts for advertisement-specific properties affecting
the likelihood of
the advertisement being presented to a user. For example, the online system
accounts for
targeting criteria, content associated with a privacy setting of the user,
content associated with
a product or service previously purchased by the user, content associated with
a product or
service previously installed by the user, when determining if an advertisement
is presented to
a user.
[0009] The online system determines identifies positions of the scrollable
advertisement
unit associated with advertisements. A position may indicate a relative
distance between an
advertisement and the display area of the scrollable advertising unit, so
advertisements
associated with a higher position are not presented in the display area until
a larger number of
interactions with the scrollable advertisement unit are received. For example,
advertisements
are ranked and positions in the scrollable advertisement unit are ranked.
Based on the
advertisement ranking and the position ranking, advertisements are associated
with positions.
Based on bid amounts associated with the ranked advertisements, the
probability that
advertisements will be viewed based on the advertisement's position in the
scrollable
advertisement unit and/or advertisement characteristics affecting the
probability of an
advertisement being presented to a user, a price for presenting an
advertisement to a user via
the scrollable advertisement unit is calculated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which an
online system
operates, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an online system, in accordance with
an embodiment
of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 is an example of a scrollable advertisement unit, in
accordance with an
embodiment of the invention.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method for assigning advertisements to
positions in a
scrollable advertisement unit and pricing advertisements in a scrollable
advertisement unit, in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0014] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate a method for assigning advertisements to
positions in a
scrollable advertisement unit, in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention.
[0015] The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for
purposes of
illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the
following discussion
that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein
may be
employed without departing from the principles of the invention described
herein.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0016] An online system presents a scrollable advertisement unit including
multiple
advertisements to a user. The scrollable advertisement unit includes a display
area presenting
one or more advertisements identified from multiple advertisements included in
the scrollable
advertisement unit. To determine a position of an advertisement in the
scrollable
advertisement unit, the online system determines values of various positions
in the scrollable
advertisement unit in which advertisements may be placed. For example, the
online system
determines a discount factor for each position in the scrollable advertisement
unit describing
a measure of the likelihood of a user interacting with an advertisement in
presented in each
position. The discount factors are used to select advertisements for inclusion
in the scrollable
advertisement unit. For purposes of illustration, scrollable advertisement
units are described
herein as including advertisements; however, in some embodiments, a scrollable
advertisement unit may include non-advertising content items, such as user
photographs,
stories describing actions performed by additional users connected to a user
viewing the
scrollable advertisement unit, actions suggested by the social networking
system for the user
viewing the scrollable advertisement unit, or any other suitable information.
[0017] The discount factor for a position is calculated using information
relating to the
likelihood that a user of the online system will interact with an
advertisement in the position.
For example, historical click-through rates (CTRs) of advertisements presented
in a position
are used to determine the position's discount factor. Based on the discount
factors, the
positions of the scrollable advertisement unit ranked.
[0018] Additionally, bid amounts associated with advertisements for
inclusion in the
scrollable advertisement unit are used to rank the advertisements. For
example, an expected
value of each advertisement is determined based on the bid amount of each
advertisement and
a probability of a user accessing an advertisement, and the expected values
are used to rank
the advertisements. Based on the ranking of the positions and the ranking of
the
advertisement, a position in the scrollable advertisement unit is determined
for an
advertisement. For example, an advertisement having a location in the ranking
of
advertisements is determined to have a position in the scrollable
advertisement unit having a
corresponding location in the ranking of positions.
[0019] In one embodiment, advertisements are ranked based on an
advertisement value
("ad value") calculated for various advertisements and based on a bid amount
associated with
an advertisement. To determine an ad value, an advertisement's bid amount bid
amount is
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discounted by a scaling factor, which is based on a probability that the
advertisement will be
presented in the display area based on its position in the scrollable
advertisement unit. The
scaling factor may also include a probability that the advertisement not be
presented based on
one or more characteristics of the advertisement. Ad values are computed for
various
advertisements for potential inclusion in the scrollable advertisement unit
and the
advertisements are ranked based on their corresponding ad values. Based on the
ranking of
the advertisements and the ranking of the positions of the scrollable
advertisement unit,
positions for advertisements in the scrollable advertisement unit are
determined.
[0020] Advertisers associated with advertisements included in the
scrollable
advertisement unit are charged a price that is based on the bid amounts and
scaling factors of
advertisements included in the scrollable advertisement unit. For example, an
advertiser is
assessed a fee that is based on the bid amount of an advertisement with a
lower ranking than
the advertiser's advertisement and a ratio of the scaling factor for the lower
ranked
advertisement's scaling factor and the scaling factor for the advertiser's
advertisement.
Additionally, the discount factor of a position in the scrollable
advertisement in which an
advertisement is presented may be used when determining the price charged to
an associated
advertiser.
System Architecture
[0021] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for an online
system 140.
The system environment 100 shown by FIG. 1 comprises one or more client
devices 110, a
network 120, one or more third-party systems 130, and the online system 140.
In alternative
configurations, different and/or additional components may be included in the
system
environment 100.
[0022] The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable of
receiving
user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data via the network 120.
In one
embodiment, a client device 110 is a conventional computer system, such as a
desktop or a
laptop computer. Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having
computer
functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone,
a smartphone or
another suitable device. A client device 110 is configured to communicate via
the network
120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 executes an application allowing a
user of the
client device 110 to interact with the online system 140. For example, a
client device 110
executes a browser application to enable interaction between the client device
110 and the
online system 140 via the network 120. In another embodiment, a client device
110 interacts
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with the online system 140 through an application programming interface (API)
running on a
native operating system of the client device 110, such as IOS or ANDROIDTM.
[0023] The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network
120, which
may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using
both wired
and/or wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, the network 120 uses
standard
communications technologies and/or protocols. For example, the network 120
includes
communication links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide
interoperability
for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA),
digital
subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples of networking protocols used for
communicating via
the network 120 include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission
control
protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP),
simple mail
transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol (FTP). Data exchanged
over the network
120 may be represented using any suitable format, such as hypertext markup
language
(HTML) or extensible markup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some
of the
communication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using any suitable
technique or
techniques.
[0024] One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network
120 for
communicating with the online system 140, which is further described below in
conjunction
with FIG. 2. For example, the online system 140 is a social networking system.
In one
embodiment, a third party system 130 is an application provider communicating
information
describing applications for execution by a client device 110 or communicating
data to client
devices 110 for use by an application executing on the client device. In other
embodiments, a
third party system 130 provides content or other information for presentation
via a client
device 110. A third party website 130 may also communicate information to the
online
system 140, such as advertisements, content, or information about an
application provided by
the third party website 130.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an architecture of
the online
system 140. The online system 140 shown in FIG. 2 includes a user profile
store 205, a
content store 210, an action logger 215, an action log 220, an edge store 225,
an interface
generator 230, an ad request store 235, a discount factor calculator 240, an
ad value calculator
245, an ad selection module 250, a price calculator 255, and a web server 260.
In other
embodiments, the online system 140 may include additional, fewer, or different
components
for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces,
security
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functions, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations
consoles, and
the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system
architecture.
[0026] Each user of the online system 140 is associated with a user
profile, which is
stored in the user profile store 205. A user profile includes declarative
information about the
user that was explicitly shared by the user and may also include profile
information inferred
by the online system 140. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple
data fields,
each describing one or more attributes of the corresponding social networking
system user.
Examples of information stored in a user profile include biographic,
demographic, and other
types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational
history, gender,
hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A user profile may also store
other information
provided by the user, for example, images or videos. In certain embodiments,
images of users
may be tagged with information identifying the social networking system users
displayed in
an image. A user profile in the user profile store 205 may also maintain
references to actions
by the corresponding user performed on content items in the content store 210
and stored in
the action log 220.
[0027] While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequently
associated with
individuals, allowing individuals to interact with each other via the online
system 140, user
profiles may also be stored for entities such as businesses or organizations.
This allows an
entity to establish a presence on the online system 140 for connecting and
exchanging content
with other online system users. The entity may post information about itself,
about its
products or provide other information to users of the online system using a
brand page
associated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the online system
may connect to the
brand page to receive information posted to the brand page or to receive
information from the
brand page. A user profile associated with the brand page may include
information about the
entity itself, providing users with background or informational data about the
entity.
[0028] The content store 210 stores objects that each represents various
types of content.
Examples of content represented by an object include a page post, a status
update, a
photograph, a video, a link, a shared content item, a gaming application
achievement, a
check-in event at a local business, a brand page, or any other type of
content. Online system
users may create objects stored by the content store 210, such as status
updates, photos tagged
by users to be associated with other objects in the online system 140, events,
groups or
applications. In some embodiments, objects are received from third-party
applications or
third-party applications separate from the online system 140. In one
embodiment, objects in
the content store 210 represent single pieces of content, or content "items."
Hence, social
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networking system users are encouraged to communicate with each other by
posting text and
content items of various types of media to the online system 140 through
various
communication channels. This increases the amount of interaction of users with
each other
and increases the frequency with which users interact within the online system
140.
[0029] The action logger 215 receives communications about user actions
internal to
and/or external to the online system 140, populating the action log 220 with
information
about user actions. Examples of actions include adding a connection to another
user, sending
a message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message from another
user, viewing
content associated with another user, and attending an event posted by another
user. In
addition, a number of actions may involve an object and one or more particular
users, so these
actions are associated with those users as well and stored in the action log
220.
[0030] The action log 220 may be used by the online system 140 to track
user actions on
the online system 140, as well as actions on third party systems 130 that
communicate
information to the online system 140. Users may interact with various objects
on the online
system 140, and information describing these interactions is stored in the
action log 220.
Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting on posts, sharing
links,
checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device, accessing content
items, and any other
suitable interactions. Additional examples of interactions with objects on the
online system
140 that are included in the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo
album,
communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object, joining
an event, joining
a group, creating an event, authorizing an application, using an application,
expressing a
preference for an object ("liking" the object), and engaging in a transaction.
Additionally, the
action log 220 may record a user's interactions with advertisements on the
online system 140
as well as with other applications operating on the online system 140. In some
embodiments,
data from the action log 220 is used to infer interests or preferences of a
user, augmenting the
interests included in the user's user profile and allowing a more complete
understanding of
user preferences.
[0031] The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third
party system 130,
such as an external website, and communicated to the online system 140. For
example, an e-
commerce website may recognize a user of an online system 140 through a social
plug-in
enabling the e-commerce website to identify the user of the online system 140.
Because users
of the online system 140 are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce websites, such
as in the
preceding example, may communicate information about a user's actions outside
of the
online system 140 to the online system 140 for association with the user.
Hence, the action
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log 220 may record information about actions users perform on a third party
system 130,
including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were engaged,
purchases made, and
other patterns from shopping and buying.
[0032] In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describing
connections
between users and other objects on the online system 140 as edges. Some edges
may be
defined by users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other
users. For example,
users may generate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-life
relationships, such
as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges are generated when
users interact
with objects in the online system 140, such as expressing interest in a page
on the online
system 140, sharing a link with other users of the online system 140, and
commenting on
posts made by other users of the online system 140.
[0033] In one embodiment, an edge may include various features each
representing
characteristics of interactions between users, interactions between users and
objects, or
interactions between objects. For example, features included in an edge
describe rate of
interaction between two users, how recently two users have interacted with
each other, the
rate or amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or the
number and types
of comments posted by a user about an object. The features may also represent
information
describing a particular object or user. For example, a feature may represent
the level of
interest that a user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user
logs into the online
system 140, or information describing demographic information about a user.
Each feature
may be associated with a source object or user, a target object or user, and a
feature value. A
feature may be specified as an expression based on values describing the
source object or
user, the target object or user, or interactions between the source object or
user and target
object or user; hence, an edge may be represented as one or more feature
expressions.
[0034] The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as
affinity scores for
objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or "affinities," may be
computed by the
online system 140 over time to approximate a user's interest in an object or
another user in
the online system 140 based on the actions performed by the user. A user's
affinity may be
computed by the online system 140 over time to approximate a user's affinity
for an object,
interest, and other users in the online system 140 based on the actions
performed by the user.
Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. Patent Application No.
12/978,265, filed
on December 23, 2010, U.S. Patent Application No. 13/690,254, filed on
November 30,
2012, U.S. Patent Application No. 13/689,969, filed on November 30, 2012, and
U.S. Patent
Application No. 13/690,088, filed on November 30, 2012, each of which is
hereby
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incorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions between a
user and a specific
object may be stored as a single edge in the edge store 225, in one
embodiment.
Alternatively, each interaction between a user and a specific object is stored
as a separate
edge. In some embodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user
profile
store 205, or the user profile store 205 may access the edge store 225 to
determine
connections between users.
[0035] The interface generator 230 generates one or more interfaces, such
as web pages,
including content from the online system 140. For example, interfaces
generated by the
interface generator 230 include images, video, profile information, or other
data. The
interface generator 230 also generates one or more interfaces allowing the
online system 140
to request information from users and for users to provide information to the
online system
140 via the client device 110 and the network 120. For example, the interface
generator 230
generates a form for a user to provide biographic information, such as the
user's age, for
inclusion in the user's user profile. When other users request a user's
profile page, the
interface generator 230 retrieves data from the profile store 205 and
generates a representation
of the information in the user profile for presentation by the client device
110.
[0036] The interface generator 230 also generates a scrollable
advertisement unit having a
display area and including multiple advertisements. While described here with
reference to
advertisements, in some embodiments, a scrollable advertisement unit includes
additional
types of content items for presentation via the display area. Examples of
content items that
may be presented by a scrollable advertisement unit include user photographs,
stories
describing actions performed by additional users connected to a user viewing
the scrollable
advertisement unit, and actions suggested by the social networking system for
the user
viewing the scrollable advertisement unit. Hence, a scrollable advertisement
unit may present
advertisement, a combination of advertisements and other content items, or
other content
items to a user. The scrollable advertisement unit presents one or more
advertisements
included in the scrollable advertisement unit to a user via the display area.
Additionally, a
user may interact with the scrollable advertisement unit to navigate among the
advertisements
in the scrollable advertisement unit to view different advertisements through
the display unit.
For example, a user may provide horizontal or vertical input to the display
area of the
scrollable advertisement unit to view different advertisements in the display
area of the
scrollable advertisement unit. For example, the scrollable advertisement unit
presents a
single advertisement in the display area and presents additional
advertisements from the
scrollable advertisement unit in the display area with when the user hovers
over or clicks on a
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horizontal scroll tab, swipes a cursor from right to left, or provides another
suitable input.
Additionally, the interface generator 230 may replace at least a subset of the
advertisements in
a scrollable advertisement unit base on received user input. For example, at
least a subset of
advertisements in the scrollable advertisement unit are replaced with
advertisements related
to content in an advertisement with which a user has interacted. Replacing
advertisements in
a scrollable advertisement unit is further described below in conjunction with
FIG. 3.
[0037] One or more advertisement requests ("ad requests") are stored in
the ad request
store 235. An advertisement request includes advertisement content and a bid
amount. The
advertisement content is text data, image data, audio data, video data, or any
other data
suitable for presentation to a user. In various embodiments, the advertisement
content also
includes a network address specifying a landing page to which a user is
directed when the
advertisement is accessed.
[0038] The bid amount is associated with an advertisement by an advertiser
and specifies
an amount of compensation the advertiser provides the online system 140 if the
advertisement
is presented to a user or accessed by a user. In one embodiment, the bid
amount is used by
the online system to determine an expected value, such as monetary
compensation, received
by the online system 140 for presenting the advertisement to a user, if the
advertisement
receives a user interaction, or based on any other suitable condition. For
example, the bid
amount specifies a monetary amount that the online system 140 receives from
the advertiser if
the advertisement is displayed and the expected value is determined based on
the bid amount
and a probability of a user accessing the displayed advertisement.
[0039] Additionally, an advertisement request may include one or more
targeting criteria
specified by the advertiser. Targeting criteria included in an advertisement
request specify
one or more characteristics of users eligible to be presented with
advertisement content in the
advertisement request. For example, targeting criteria are used to identify
users having user
profile information, edges or actions satisfying at least one of the targeting
criteria. Hence,
targeting criteria allow an advertiser to identify users having specific
characteristics,
simplifying subsequent distribution of content to different users.
[0040] In one embodiment, targeting criteria may specify actions or types
of connections
between a user and another user or object of the online system 140. The
targeting criteria
may also specify interactions between a user and objects performed external to
the online
system 140, such as on a third party system 130. For example, targeting
criteria identifies
users that have taken a particular action, such as sending a message to
another user, using an
application, joining a group, leaving a group, joining an event, generating an
event
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description, purchasing or reviewing a product or service using an online
marketplace,
requesting information from a third-party system 130, or any other suitable
action. Including
actions in targeting criteria allows advertisers to further refine users
eligible to be presented
with content from an advertisement request. As another example, targeting
criteria identifies
users having a connection to another user or object or having a particular
type of connection
to another user or object.
[0041] The discount factor calculator 240 calculates a discount factor
associated with
each position in a scrollable advertisement unit. The discount factor may be
used to apply a
discount to the amount assessed to an advertiser by the online system 140 for
presenting an
advertisement in a particular position of the scrollable advertisement unit.
For example,
different positions in a scrollable advertisement unit have discount factors
of 0.25 and 0.45,
resulting in a discount of 75% and 55%, respectively, for advertisements
presented in the
positions. In the preceding example, the position with the discount factor of
0.45 is more
valuable than the position with the discount factor of 0.25. A position
discount is based on
information associated with each position indicating the likelihood of a user
interacting with
an advertisement presented in a position, such as historical click-through-
rate (CTR) of
advertisements presented in a position. For example, positions with higher
CTRs are more
favorable positions, so discount factors resulting in a higher price for
advertisements in those
positions are determined.
[0042] The ad value calculator 245 calculates an ad value for each
advertisement being
evaluated for inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit. The ad value is
calculated based on
a bid amount from an ad request including an advertisement specifying an
amount an
advertiser will compensate the online system 140 for presentation of the
advertisement (cost
per impression (CPM)), for user interaction with the advertisement (cost per
click (CPC)), or
for any other suitable criteria. In calculating the ad value for an
advertisement, the bid
amount of the advertisement is discounted by a probability of a user viewing
the scrollable
advertisement unit viewing the advertisement if it is associated with a
position in the
scrollable advertisement unit. For example, the ad value calculator 245
calculates an ad value
for presenting an advertisement in various positions of a scrollable
advertisement unit and
uses the ad values for various positions when determining a position of the
advertisement
within the scrollable advertisement unit. The probability of presenting an
advertisement in
the display area of a scrollable advertisement unit decreases as the position
of the
advertisement is farther from the display area. For example, if an
advertisement is not
presented via the display area until a user navigates through five positions
including
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advertisements is less likely to be presented in the display area than an
advertisement that is
presented via the display area when a user navigates through two positions
including
advertisement.
[0043] In some embodiments, the ad value is also based on advertisement-
specific
properties that may affect presentation of an advertisement. For example, the
ad value is
based in part on properties of an advertisement that affect whether the
advertisement is
rejected when being rendered for presentation to a user. Further, a property
specific to an
advertisement, such as targeting criteria, may prevent the advertisement from
being displayed
to a user. For example, an advertisement for an application that can only be
run on an IOS
operating system is not presented to a user viewing an advertisement through a
client device
110 executing an ANDROIDTM operating system. Additionally, privacy settings
selected by a
user may prevent presentation of an advertisement to a user. For example, an
advertisement
that requires access to information to which a user has restricted access will
not be displayed
to the user. Further, advertisements for products or services (e.g.,
applications) a user has
already installed or purchased may not be displayed to the user.
[0044] If content items other than advertisements are included in a
scrollable
advertisement unit, a content item value is determined based on
characteristics of the
advertisement. For example, stories or other data associated with users
connected to the
identified user are retrieved and analyzed to identify stories likely to be
relevant to the user
being presented with a scrollable advertisement unit. Based on various
criteria of the user
viewing a scrollable advertisement unit, characteristics of various stories,
and the probability
of a user viewing the scrollable advertisement unit viewing a story if it is
associated with a
position in the scrollable advertisement unit, scores for presenting stories
are determined and
to select stories for inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit. Similarly,
scores for
presenting suggestions of actions, user photographs, or other content may be
determined by
the ad value calculator 245 based on characteristics of the content item and
the probability of
a user viewing the scrollable advertisement unit viewing a story if it is
associated with a
position in the scrollable advertisement unit. Examples of ranking or
selecting stories for
presentation to a user are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No.
13/194,770, filed on July
29, 2011, and U.S. Patent Application No. 13/194,773, filed on July 29, 2011,
each of which
is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. An example of determining
a value for
presenting recommendations of actions to a social networking system is
disclosed by U.S.
Patent Application No. 13/549,080, filed on July 13, 2012, which is hereby
incorporated by
reference in its entirety. As described above, a value for a content item are
modified by the
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probability of a user viewing the scrollable advertisement unit viewing a
content item if it is
associated with a position in the scrollable advertisement unit to determine a
score for
presenting the content item in various positions of the scrollable
advertisement unit.
[0045] The ad selection module 250 accesses ad values from the ad value
calculator and
selects advertisements for inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit. For
example, the ad
selection module 250 ranks advertisements based on their corresponding ad
values and selects
advertisements based on the ranking (e.g., through an advertisement auction).
In one
embodiment, the ad selection module 250 selects advertisements having at least
a threshold
ad value or having at least a threshold ranking. The number of selected
advertisements may
be based on the number of positions available in the scrollable advertisement
unit. For
example, if a scrollable advertisement unit includes positions for ten
advertisements, the ten
highest ranked advertisements are selected for inclusion in the scrollable
advertisement unit.
Additionally, criteria in addition to the advertisement ranking may be used to
select
advertisements for inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit. Examples of
criteria of an
advertisement affecting advertisement selection include: the advertisement
content, the
identity of the entity requesting the advertisements, and the pricing scheme
for the
advertisements (e.g., CPC or CPM).
[0046] The price calculator 255 calculates the price of advertisements
selected for
inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit. In various embodiments, the
price of an
advertisement included in the scrollable advertisement unit is based on the
bid amounts and
scaling factors of other advertisements included in the scrollable
advertisement unit. For
example, an advertisement's fee is based on the bid amount of an advertisement
with a lower
ranking than the advertiser's advertisement and a ratio of the scaling factor
for the lower
ranked advertisement's scaling factor and the scaling factor for the
advertiser's advertisement.
Additionally, the discount factor of a position in the scrollable
advertisement in which an
advertisement is presented may be used when determining the price charged to
an associated
advertiser. Pricing of advertisements in a scrollable advertisement unit is
further described
below in conjunction with FIGS. 4-5B.
[0047] The web server 260 links the online system 140 via the network 120
to the one or
more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more third party systems
130. The web
server 260 serves web pages, as well as other web-related content, such as
JAVA ,
FLASH , XML and so forth. The web server 260 may receive and route messages
between
the online system 140 and the client device 110, for example, instant
messages, queued
messages (e.g., email), text messages, short message service (SMS) messages,
or messages
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sent using any other suitable messaging technique. A user may send a request
to the web
server 260 to upload information (e.g., images or videos) that is stored in
the content store
210. Additionally, the web server 260 may provide application programming
interface (API)
functionality to send data directly to native client device operating systems,
such as 10S ,
ANDROIDTM, WEBOS or RIM .
Scrollable Advertisement Unit
[0048] FIG. 3 is an example of one embodiment of a scrollable
advertisement unit. As
described above, a scrollable advertisement unit 300 presents an advertisement
330a in a
display area 320 when the scrollable advertisement unit 400 is rendered by a
client device
110. A user may interact with the scrollable advertisement unit 300 to
navigate among the
advertisements 330b, 330c included in the scroll in the scrollable
advertisement unit so one or
more different advertisements 330b, 330c are presented in the display area
320. For example,
a user may provide horizontal or vertical input to the display area 320 of the
scrollable
advertisement unit 300 to view different advertisements 330a, 330b in the
display area 320 of
the scrollable advertisement 300. In the example of FIG. 3, a user may
navigate vertically or
horizontally through advertisements in the scrollable advertisement unit 300
to modify what
is presented via the display are 320. In one embodiment, a user may provide
horizontal or
vertical input to the display area of the scrollable advertisement unit to
view different
advertisements in the display area of the scrollable advertisement unit. For
example, the
scrollable advertisement unit presents a single advertisement in the display
area and presents
additional advertisements from the scrollable advertisement unit in the
display area with
when the user hovers over or clicks on a horizontal scroll tab, swipes a
cursor from right to
left, or provides another suitable input. To modify the advertisement included
in the
scrollable advertisement unit presented by the display area 320 in the example
of FIG. 3, a
user interacts with a scroll bar 310 in the display area 330, provides a
gesture via the display
area 320, moves a cursor in the display area 320, or performs any suitable
interaction.
[0049] A scrollable advertisement unit 300 may have one or more features
for increasing
the likelihood of advertisements 330 in the scrollable advertisement unit 300
being credited
with impressions. For example, one or more scrollable advertisement units 300
displayed to a
user of a social networking system user in a newsfeed describing actions of
additional users,
advertisements 330 in the scrollable advertisement units 300 may include
stories describing
actions of social networking system users that an advertiser compensates the
social
networking system for presenting stories describing actions of users connected
to the user via
the social networking system. Advertisements in a scrollable advertisement
unit may also be
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selected based on information associated with the user by the online system
(e.g., user profile
information, actions performed by the user, connections between the user and
objects or other
users).
[0050] Additionally, when a user views or interacts with an advertisement
330a presented
in the display area 320, the scrollable advertisement unit 300 may
automatically present an
additional advertisement 330b in the display area 320. For example, if a user
accesses the
advertisement 330a in the display area 320, the online system 140 determines
that the user has
viewed the advertisement 330a. Accordingly, the online system 140 loads a
tracking
mechanism associated with the advertisement 330a, credits an impression to the
advertisement 330a, and presents an additional advertisement 330b from the
scrollable
advertisement unit 300 in the display area 320. Similarly, another
advertisement 330c may be
presented in the display area 320 if the additional advertisement 330b is
credited with an
impression. Further, at least a subset of the advertisements 330 in a
scrollable advertisement
unit 300 may be replaced with alternative advertisements for content related
to an
advertisement 330 in the scrollable advertisement unit 300 with which a user
has interacted.
For example, if a user indicates it likes an advertisement 330a for a page
presented in the
display area 320, the online system 140 may replace one or more advertisements
330 in the
scrollable advertisement unit 300 with other advertisements related to the
page, such as
advertisements for posts on the page.
Advertisement Position Assignment and Pricing
[0051] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method for
determining positions of
advertisements in a scrollable advertisement unit 300 and pricing
advertisements included in
a scrollable advertisement unit 300. The online system 140 receives 400
information about
advertisements, such as ad requests, from one or more advertisers 400. As
described above in
conjunction with FIG. 2, ad requests include bid amounts, advertisement
content, targeting
criteria, display times, or any other suitable data describing an
advertisement. When the
online system 140 identifies an opportunity to serve one or more
advertisements to a user of
an online system using a scrollable advertisement unit, the online system 140
retrieves 410
information describing user interaction with advertisements presented in
positions of a
scrollable advertisement unit 300. For example, historical click-through-rates
for
advertisements presented in various positions of a scrollable advertisement
unit 300 is
retrieved 410.
[0052] Based on the position value information, the discount factor
calculator 240
calculates 420 discount factors for various the positions in the scrollable
advertisement unit
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300. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 2, a discount factor
associated with a
position provides a measure of the predicted performance of an advertisement
in the position.
Positions in the scrollable advertisement unit 300 less likely to result in
presentation of an
advertisement to a user are given larger discounts. For example, if a
scrollable advertisement
unit 300 allows a user to navigate through advertisements in a single axis,
the first position
receives no discount (e.g., a discount factor of 1.0) because of the high
likelihood of a user
viewing the advertisement while the last position (i.e., the position
requiring the user to
navigate the furthest to view) receives the largest discount (e.g., a discount
factor of 0.05).
Discount factors for positions may be stored by the online system 140 and
subsequently
accessed to prevent recalculation of the discount factors for various
presentation of the
scrollable advertisement unit 300. For example, discount factors associated
with positions in
a scrollable advertisement unit 300 with 10 positions for which a user
navigates horizontally
through advertisements remains constant for similar scrollable advertisement
units 300.
[0053] Based on the discount factors, the online system 140 ranks 430 the
positions in the
scrollable advertisement unit 300. In one embodiment, the positions are ranked
430 so the
position providing the smallest discount (i.e., the highest discount factor)
has the highest
ranking. In the example of FIG. 5A, the discount factor associated with
position 1.1 (i.e., row
1, column 1 in a scrollable advertisement unit 300 allowing a user to scroll
horizontally and
vertically) is 1.0, so position 1.1 has the highest ranking, and the discount
factor associated
with position 2.1 is 0.45, so position 2.1 has the second-highest ranking. As
shown in the
example of FIG. 5B, the positions are ranked in descending order by discount
factor.
[0054] When the online system 140 receives a request to present a
scrollable
advertisement unit 300 to a user, the online system 140 selects candidate
advertisements
stored in the ad request store 235. For example, the online system 140
identifies candidate
advertisements associated with ad requests having at least one targeting
criteria satisfied by
characteristics of the user to be presented with the scrollable advertisement
unit. The ad
value calculator 245 may modify an advertisement's bid amount by a scaling
factor to
calculate 440 an ad value for the advertisement. For example, the scaling
factor is bases on a
probability of the advertisement being presented to the user if associated
with a particular
position of the scrollable advertisement unit 300. For example, an
advertisement's ad value
is the product of the advertisement's bid amount and its scaling factor. In
some
embodiments, an advertisement's scaling factor is also based on the
probability of the
advertisement being presented to the user based on advertisement
characteristics (e.g.,
characteristics that prevent presentation of the advertisement) may be used
when calculating
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440 an ad's ad value. For example, an ad value of an advertisement may be the
product of the
advertisement's bid amount, probability of being presented to the user based
on advertisement
characteristics, and probability of being presented to the user if associated
with a particular
position in the scrollable advertisement unit 300. In one embodiment, if an
advertisement's
bid amount is specified using a cost-per-click basis, the bid amount is
converted into a cost-
per-impression value; for example, a cost-per-click bid amount is multiplied
by the click-
through rate for the advertisement to determine a cost-per-impression bid
amount.
[0055] Based on the ad values, the candidate advertisements are ranked
450, and
advertisements are selected 460 from the candidate advertisements based at
least in part on
the ranking. For example, the highest ranked advertisements are selected 460
for presentation
460 via a scrollable advertisement unit 300. As another example,
advertisements having at
least a threshold location in the ranking are selected 460 for inclusion in
the scrollable
advertisement unit.
[0056] The positions of the selected advertisements in the scrollable
advertisement unit
are determined 470 based on the ranking of the positions of the scrollable
advertisement unit
300 based on their discount factors and the ranking of the one or more
advertisements in the
plurality of advertisements based on their ad values. In the example of FIGS.
5A and 5B, the
online system 140 determines 470 the position of advertisements in a
scrollable advertisement
unit by associating an advertisement with a position having a location in the
ranking of
positions matching the location of the advertisement in the ranking of
advertisements. In the
example of FIGS. 5A and 5B, the advertisement with the highest ad value is
assigned to
position 1.1, which is the highest ranking position because it has the highest
discount factor
of 1Ø Similarly in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the advertisement with the second
highest ad value is
assigned to position 2.1 because position 2.1 has the second highest discount
factor of 0.45,
etc. In one embodiment, advertisements are mapped to positions until an
advertisement is
associated with each position in the scrollable advertisement unit 300.
Alternatively, the
advertisement ranking determines the order in which advertisements are
displayed to a user
regardless of which direction a user navigates through the scrollable
advertisement unit. For
example, in a scrollable advertisement unit 300 that allows a user to scroll
horizontally and
vertically, the advertisements may be presented to the user in the order they
are ranked
regardless of the direction in which the user scrolls.
[0057] Advertisements having bid amounts specified using a cost-per-click
amount may
be placed in positions with lower discount factors (e.g., areas outside the
display area 320 of a
scrollable advertisement unit 300). The probability that a user accesses an
advertisement
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increases in proportion to the amount of navigation needed to present the
advertisement in the
display area 320 due to a self-selecting bias (i.e., users willing to scroll
to view additional
advertisements are more likely to be interested in those additional
advertisements and access
the additional advertisements). Because of the cost-per-click pricing, the
lower likelihood of
the advertisement being presented is offset by the increased likelihood of the
user accessing
the advertisement once it is presented.
[0058] Based in part on the bid amounts of the advertisements selected for
inclusion in
the scrollable advertisement unit, the price for each advertisement included
in the scrollable
advertisement unit 300 is determined 480 by the price calculator 255. The
price of an
advertisement may be based on the bid amount of an additional advertisement
having a lower
ranking in the advertisement ranking and scaling factors associated with the
advertisement
and with the additional advertisement. For example, if advertisement B1 is the
selected
advertisement and advertisement B2 has the next-highest location in the
ranking of
advertisements than advertisement B1, the price for presenting advertisement
B1 is:
(BidB2)[(Scaling Factor)B2/(Scaling Factor)Bi]
where BidB2 is the bid amount for advertisement B2 (specified on a cost-per-
impression
basis); Scaling FactorB2 is the scaling factor for advertisement B2, which may
be based on the
probability of advertisement B2 being presented to the user based on
characteristics of
advertisement B2 as well as the probability of advertisement B2 being
presented to the user if
associated with a particular position in the scrollable advertisement unit
300; Scaling FactorBi
is the scaling factor for advertisement B1, which may be based on the
probability of
advertisement B1 being presented to the user based on characteristics of
advertisement B1 as
well as the probability of advertisement B1 being presented to the user if
associated with a
particular position in the scrollable advertisement unit 300. In one
embodiment, the price for
presenting advertisement B1 may also be modified by the discount factor for
advertisement
Bl, given its position in the scrollable advertisement unit. For example, the
discount factor
for presenting advertisement B1 based on its position in the scrollable
advertisement unit 300
is multiplied by the price calculated above. As described above, if an
advertisement's bid
amount is specified in a cost-per-click value, the bid amount is converted to
a cost-per-
impression value.
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Summary
[0059] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has
been presented
for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to
limit the invention to
the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can
appreciate that many
modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
[0060] Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the
invention in
terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.
These
algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those
skilled in the data
processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others
skilled in the art.
These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically,
are understood
to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,
microcode, or the
like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these
arrangements of
operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations
and their
associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any
combinations
thereof.
[0061] Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be
performed or
implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in
combination with
other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a
computer
program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer
program
code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all
of the steps,
operations, or processes described.
[0062] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for
performing the
operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the
required purposes,
and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively
activated or
reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer
program may
be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or
any type of
media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a
computer system
bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may
include a
single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs
for increased
computing capability.
[0063] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that is
produced by a
computing process described herein. Such a product may comprise information
resulting
from a computing process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory,
tangible
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computer readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer
program
product or other data combination described herein.
[0064] Finally, the language used in the specification has been
principally selected for
readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to
delineate or
circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the
scope of the
invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any
claims that issue on an
application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of
the invention is
intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention,
which is set forth in
the following claims.
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