(19) United States
`(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0102947 A1
`(43) Pub. Date:
`May 1, 2008
`Hays et al.
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`US 200801 02947A1
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`DELIVERY OF ADVERTISING INTO
`MULTIPLEVIDEO GAMES
`
`Inventors:
`
`Katherine Hays, New York, NY
`(US); David J. Sturman, Port
`Washington, NY (US); Daniel
`Melfi, Holbrook, NY (US); J.
`Richard Skeen, Montclair, NY
`(US); Claudia I. Batten, New York,
`NY (US)
`Correspondence Address:
`PERKINS COE LLPFMSFT
`P. O. BOX 1247
`SEATTLE, WA 98111-1247
`
`Appl. No.:
`
`PCT Fled:
`
`10/592.296
`
`Mar. 8, 2005
`
`PCT NO.:
`
`PCT/US05/08274
`
`S371 (c)(1),
`(2), (4) Date:
`
`Nov. 19, 2007
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/551,156, filed on Mar.
`8, 2004, provisional application No. 60/638,637, filed
`on Dec. 23, 2004.
`Publication Classification
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`A63F I3/00
`(52) U.S. Cl. .......................................................... 463/31
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`An advertisement delivery scheme and associated facility
`provide targeted advertisements for multiple video games
`without advertisers having to specify specific game titles in
`which they would like their advertisements placed. The tar
`geted advertisements may be provided via a network connec
`tion while the video game applications are executed on gam
`ing devices, or via other means. Advertisements may be
`targeted to groupings of one or more games, and or groupings
`of one or more players. Data about the presentation of adver
`tisements, such as impression data, may be collected and
`reported on, along with other information tracked through a
`game playing device.
`
`Advertiseret
`Recipient Client(s)
`
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`Gale Application
`Client Library
`Functionality
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`N
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`Advertise
`System(s)
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`: Publisher
`System(s)
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`8
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`1CO
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`Advertisement
`Serve
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`Impression
`Sewer
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`134
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`Billing
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`136 Reporting
`Administrative
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`138
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`25
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`Matching
`targeting
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`120
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`Advertisement
`Recipient
`B
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`Demographics
`and
`Frequency Cap
`Data
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`Advertisement
`Serving DB
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`Active
`Session
`DB
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`Campaign imp
`Cycle Counts
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`GameSessions
`PlayerSessions
`Matched rexes
`AdHistory
`ZoneHistory
`Advertisement Management Service System
`
`impression
`Database
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`US 2008/01 02947 A1
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`May 1, 2008
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`DELIVERY OF ADVERTISING INTO
`MULTIPLEVIDEO GAMES
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`0001. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provi
`sional Application No. 60/551,156, filed Mar. 8, 2004, and
`U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/638,637, filed
`Dec. 23, 2004, both of which are herein incorporated in their
`entirety by reference.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`0002 Advertising in video games is becoming increas
`ingly popular with both advertisers (who wish to target spe
`cific markets through the use of particular game titles) and
`game developers (who view advertising as a huge revenue
`opportunity to counterbalance the increasing development
`costs that result from the demands of today's market). For
`example, game players are typically more engaged than
`watchers of television and consumers of other media, result
`ing in a greater likelihood that advertisements in video games
`will be observed. In addition, the amount of time people
`spend playing video games is increasing, while the amount of
`time people spend watching television and using other tradi
`tional media (e.g., print, radio, etc.) is decreasing.
`0003 Various techniques have been described to display
`advertisements in video games. For example, video game
`developers/publishers may place advertisement-related
`images within the scenery of their games (e.g., billboards,
`stadium signs, etc.). In many cases, these advertisements are
`built in to the game code (e.g., hard coded) and displayed
`consistently (e.g., at the same place/time) in the game. Based
`on this hard coding, they can not be changed. In other cases,
`the advertisements may be provided to the game through a
`network connection so that the advertisements can be pro
`vided for display in the game after the game code has been
`developed, thus allowing for more dynamic advertisement
`COntent.
`0004 While such advertising opportunities potentially
`offer an amazing landscape for advertisers to work with,
`current techniques for providing advertisers with opportuni
`ties for advertising in games are quite limited and are often
`difficult to implement, and do not meet the needs of advertis
`ers (especially large advertisers) in the way they buy and use
`mediums for advertising. For example, advertisers who desire
`to advertise in Video games have typically been limited to
`advertisement opportunities in individual games by working
`directly with a video game publisher. This approach is subject
`to many constraints for advertisers including: limited reach—
`as there is no way to aggregate the audience across game titles
`to deliver large audiences or “quick reach over a short time
`frame—e.g., during a single night, or week; inflexible tim
`ing—as there is no ability to start and stop campaigns with
`precision which has kept categories and ad budgets out of
`Video games as an advertising medium, e.g., movies (spend
`up to S1.5 billion to reach 18-34 million annually); and a lack
`of measurement and control—video games are a “hit-driven
`business. Therefore, advertisers have been constrained by a
`lack of certainty around audience reach and timing and have
`had no way to measure campaign effectiveness, imposing a
`reliance on the market performance of the individual video
`game, which may not sell according to publisher forecasts
`
`and which also is typically prone to delay. In a reverse sce
`nario, advertisers are often blocked out of opportunities to
`advertise in a run-away hit.
`0005. Likewise, for game publishers/developers, imple
`menting an effective advertisement campaign typically
`involves extensively working with advertisers to profile game
`players, select appropriate game titles for target advertising,
`manage advertisement delivery, report back to advertisers,
`etc. In addition, current techniques (e.g., hard-coding and
`network delivered advertisements) are typically inflexible
`and force yet another demand on game developers’ sched
`ules. Also, developing an advertisement sales department is
`costly for game developers/publishers and typically depends
`on extensive management.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS
`0006 FIG. 1A is an example of a suitable environment in
`which the advertisement delivery scheme and associated
`facility can be implemented.
`0007 FIGS. 1B and 1C are display diagrams showing
`example screen shots associated with various user/adminis
`trative interfaces of the example suitable environment of FIG.
`1A.
`0008 FIGS. 2-4 are examples of the flow of data through
`various components of the example Suitable environment of
`FIG 1A
`0009 FIG. 5 is an example of a general computing envi
`ronment in which aspects of the advertisement delivery
`scheme and associated facility can be implemented.
`0010 FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a sample inser
`tion order for selling advertisements space in association with
`the advertisement delivery scheme and associated facility.
`0011
`FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing an example of a
`routine used in impression counting.
`0012 FIG. 8 is a display diagram showing an example of
`a report generated by the advertisement delivery scheme and
`associated facility.
`0013 Note: the headings provided herein are for conve
`nience and do not necessarily affect the scope or interpreta
`tion of the invention.
`0014) A portion of this disclosure contains material to
`which a claim for copyright is made. The copyright owner has
`no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the
`patent document or patent disclosure (including the Figures)
`as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or
`records, but the copyright owner reserves all other copyright
`rights whatsoever.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`(0015 The invention will now be described with respect to
`various embodiments. The following description provides
`specific details for a thorough understanding of and enabling
`description for, these embodiments of the invention. How
`ever, one skilled in the art will understand that the invention
`may be practiced without these details. In other instances,
`well-known structures and functions have not been shown or
`described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the
`description of the embodiments of the invention.
`0016. The terminology used in the description presented
`below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable
`manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a
`detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the
`invention. Certain terms may even be emphasized below:
`
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`however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any
`restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as
`such in this Detailed Description section.
`
`I. Overview
`0017. In the past, advertisers who wished to advertise in
`Video games were limited to selecting specific individual
`game titles for presenting their advertisements. An advertise
`ment delivery scheme and associated computerized facility
`allow advertisers to deliver their campaign messages to spe
`cific audiences they wish to target across one or multiple
`game titles played across multiple platforms (e.g., PC, con
`sole, mobile, etc.) without being limited to delivering their
`campaign to only a single specific game title. In some
`embodiments, the advertisement delivery scheme aggregates
`an audience across multiple video games and platforms (PC,
`console, mobile, etc.) and can deliver advertisements to that
`audience by advertiser request. Consequently, advertisers are
`able to go to one place to Substantially simultaneously reach
`a narrowly targeted audience, a widely targeted audience, or
`both across numerous game titles and can broadcast advertis
`ing to this audience based on ad campaign needs (e.g., reach
`1 million men ages 18-34 at 8 p.m. on Thursdays).
`0.018. In accordance with some embodiments, the adver
`tisement delivery scheme and associated facility present
`advertisements as texture maps or other graphical displays
`(e.g., animations, video, etc.) on pre-designated geometry
`within the game, such as billboards, storefront signs, panel
`trucks, Jumbotron screens in a sports stadium, posters on
`walls, T-shirts on a game character, items used by game
`characters (e.g., a brand name soft drink or energy bar), and so
`on. Each of these spaces may be termed an “available ad unit'
`or “inventory element.” Available ad units may also be avail
`able at the beginning of a game, at the end of a game, in
`between levels (e.g., as commercial-like intermissions), as
`parts of menus, on a “pause Screen, etc. Available ad units
`may include audio characteristics as well as visual character
`istics. Other characteristics for available ad units are also
`possible (e.g., scented elements, image projections into three
`dimensional space, actual structures within the game. Such as
`a car).
`0019. When a game is shipped, it may have a fixed set of
`available ad units grouped into Zones (typically delineated by
`game levels or areas of play). However, otheravailable ad unit
`configurations may be possible. Some available ad units may
`be interactive within the game (e.g., a game character eating
`a brand name energy bar to boost her power in the game, a
`brand-related “minigame' presented between levels, a click
`through advertisement, etc.) and may bring aspects of the real
`world into the game (e.g., a player can enter a code from a
`product to provide advantages in the game).
`0020. An example of a representative environment that
`may be used to implement the advertisement delivery scheme
`and associated facility may include an advertisement server
`with various components and services, including client
`library functions that provide an easy way to link game code
`(including previously developed game code) with the adver
`tisement server. The advertisement server may also include
`one or more database components that contain data regarding
`game inventories, media files, impression statistics, report
`ing, etc.
`0021 When a game is played at a player's gaming device
`(e.g., computer or game console) that is connected to an
`advertisement server (e.g., via the Internet or another connec
`
`tion), the client library functions associated with the game
`application may pull media data from the advertisement
`server and pass them on to the game code, so that specific
`advertisements may be presented in the appropriate available
`ad units at the appropriate time during game play. Commu
`nication between the advertisement server and the gaming
`device may be done sporadically, periodically, or by main
`taining a constant connection between the appropriate com
`ponents while the game is being played.
`0022. In some embodiments, components of the advertise
`ment server may be used to track and manage large sets of
`available ad units from multiple game titles, forming a net
`work of available advertisement spaces. Based on informa
`tion associated with each of the available ad units (e.g., cur
`rent game environment, game title genre, predicted player
`demographic information for current available ad unit, player
`geography, time of day, etc.), the advertisement server may
`then (through matching and optimization) distribute and
`deliver targeted advertisements to players' gaming devices,
`where the advertisements may be integrated into the relevant
`game areas in real time. For example, the multiple games that
`comprise the network of available advertisement spaces can
`be divided by genre such as sports titles (and even further by
`specific sport), children's titles, racing titles, etc. Accord
`ingly, advertisers can target the delivery of their advertise
`ment campaign specifically to a sub-channel as that Sub
`channel relates to their campaign. Accordingly, advertisers
`can target the delivery of their advertisement campaign spe
`cifically to a sub-channel as that sub-channel relates to their
`campaign or may subtarget by time of day (e.g., deliver adver
`tising to all gaming devices playing at 8 p.m. on Thursday) or
`by game play date (e.g., once the game has been played for 45
`minutes—air the Domino's ad campaign, or in the fourth
`inning of the sports title, air the XYC campaign). This target
`ing may include the game devices of game players involved in
`multiplayer games (who may all see the same advertisement
`simultaneously).
`0023. Both advertisers and game developers/game pub
`lishers can benefit from various aspects of the advertisement
`delivery scheme and associated facility. For example, from
`the advertisers’ perspective, for the first time, advertisers may
`reach a gaming audience in aggregate—enabling them to
`reach large audience or "quick reach overa short time frame.
`For example, through the advertisement delivery scheme,
`advertisers can reach millions of game players in a single
`night. In the past, this was not possible and an advertiser
`would be limited to the number of players it could reach in a
`short time frame. Advertisers can also take advantage of the
`dynamic nature of the advertisement delivery scheme to run
`time-based advertisement campaigns based on seasons, spe
`cific days (e.g., only on Sundays), specific dates (e.g., the day
`before Valentine's Day), specific times of day (between 6 and
`9 p.m.), or events (e.g., scheduled multiplayer game tourna
`ments, movie releases, etc.) not known before the game
`release. In addition, the dynamic nature of aspects of the
`advertisement delivery scheme allows a great deal offlexibil
`ity for advertisers, who no longer face the risky task of select
`ing specific game titles in which to display their advertise
`ments. The advertisement delivery scheme may also target
`the delivery of an advertisement to a specific demographic
`regardless of the video game being played. For example, most
`Video games have a relatively low female audience, which
`discourages advertisers wishing to target females from adver
`tising in video games. The advertisement delivery scheme
`
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`enables this audience to be aggregated and targeted as a
`specific audience and creates a viable critical mass of viewers
`for advertisers, thus opening up previously untapped minority
`demographics. In general, the advertisement delivery scheme
`enables an advertiser to deliver advertising across a range of
`electronic mediums including consoles (such as Sony Play
`Station and Microsoft Xbox), PC and Macintosh computers,
`wireless equipment (cellular phones and other wireless gam
`ing devices) and ultimately electronic billboards and televi
`sions.
`0024. From the game developers/game publishers’ per
`spective, game developerS/game publishers no longer need to
`be extensively involved with implementing and managing
`advertisements in their games. In addition, because advertis
`ers are no longer focused on selecting advertisement place
`ment using game titles, even developers of Smaller or lesser
`known games (that may otherwise be denied advertising
`dollars) are provided with the opportunity include advertise
`ments in their games. Also, the advertisement delivery
`scheme may ensure that “reach commitments made to adver
`tisers can be more easily satisfied and verified. Further more,
`due to the viable critical mass of viewers and the ability to
`“quick” reach across large audiences, the advertisement
`delivery scheme unlocks significantly larger advertising bud
`gets than larger advertising budgets. Of course, many other
`benefits to both advertisers and game developers exist.
`0025. The advertisement delivery scheme and associated
`facility may also include components and services that track
`and audit the quality of presentation of the in-game advertise
`ments. For example, components and services of the adver
`tisement delivery scheme and associated facility may track,
`audit, and report on advertisement impressions (which quan
`tify the presentation qualities—e.g., viewing angle, percent
`screen size, time on Screen, etc.—of an advertisement as
`presented in any given instance). This collected information
`(and other information collected by the advertisement server)
`may then be used in billing to ensure that advertisers pay only
`for advertisement presentations that meet specified thresh
`olds. The collected information may also be provided and/or
`sold to advertisers (and possibly developers and other parties)
`to guide future planning decisions.
`0026. In addition to advertisements, other types of infor
`mation may be delivered to games using the advertisement
`server, thereby enhancing the experience of the game player.
`For example, it may be possible to provide real-time content
`in a game, such as NFL scores, weather information, holiday
`decorations in cityscapes, etc.
`II. Representative Environments
`0027. Referring to FIG. 1A, a suitable environment 100 in
`which aspects of the invention may operate includes several
`interconnected systems, each corresponding to various entity
`groups including at least one game developer system 102, at
`least one advertisement recipient client 104 (e.g., gameplayer
`system), at least one advertiser system 106, at least one adver
`tisement management service system 108, and at least one
`game publisher system 110 that publishes a game title and
`holds final approval in the content of the game. In general,
`advertisers, game publishers, and game developers may work
`with the advertisement management service to manage the
`dissemination of advertisements. For example, the publisher
`system 110 may link with various interfaces of the advertise
`ment management service system 108 that allow the pub
`lisher to approve or reject insertion orders, as shown in FIG.
`
`1B, and to view associated reports (described in more detail
`with respect to FIG. 8). Other systems may also be included,
`Such as at least one partner system 112 that provides real time
`content (e.g., weather reports, sports scores, news headlines,
`etc.) or other information that may be delivered real-time into
`gameS.
`0028. The advertisement management service system 108
`may include various components and services that facilitate
`the management and dissemination of advertisements into
`games. In some embodiments, the advertisement manage
`ment service system 108 includes an advertisement server
`114, an impression server 116, and a media server 118 (which
`stores and serves specific media files containing advertise
`ment display/audio information—e.g., image files, audio
`files, video files, executables, etc.—to the advertisement
`recipient client 104 upon request). In addition to the various
`servers, the advertisement management service system 108
`may include various databases, including an advertisement
`recipient database 120, an advertisement serving database
`122, an active session database 124, and an impression data
`base 125. The advertisement management service system
`may also include an administrative component 132, with
`interfaces and access to billing 134, reporting 136, matching
`and targeting administrative access 138, and general system
`maintenance.
`0029. In some embodiments, the advertisement server 114
`may fulfill requests received from the advertisement recipient
`client 104 for advertisements and associated media, including
`supporting advertisement requests from the advertisement
`recipient client 104. This may include handling initial con
`nections, providing requested lists of advertisements for spe
`cific available ad units, serving media, etc.
`0030. In general, the advertisement server 114 may select
`advertisements based upon a variety of factors, including
`location, time of day, game player demographics, game play
`data, etc. The advertisement server 114 may use information
`retrieved from the advertisement serving database 122, such
`as “flight' information that describes the time frame in which
`any particular advertisement or advertisement campaign is set
`to be presented in games played during that time frame. For
`example, an advertisement campaign may include one or
`more advertisements, along with related targeting or presen
`tation parameters specified for flight during a specified date
`range. Advertisement campaigns may be grouped for logical
`structure and aggregate reporting. The advertisement server
`114 may also retrieve records from the advertisement recipi
`ent database 120 (e.g., demographic and login information for
`specific players) to select appropriate advertisements to serve
`to current available ad units that the game player will see in
`the video game. Game player demographic information may
`be extracted from the advertisement recipient database 120
`upon starting a gaming session. Game play data may also be
`relayed to the advertisement server 114 and may be used to
`determine ad delivery (e.g. a Domino's campaign that runs
`once garners have played a single game session for over 45
`minutes—research has shown that this leads to more pizza
`purchases). This process facilitates selection of the advertise
`ments that the game player will see. In some embodiments,
`the publisher system 110 may request specific demographic
`information from the advertisement recipient database 120,
`including information specific to their game products/titles.
`0031. In some embodiments, the impression server 116 of
`the advertisement management service system 108 may
`record impression information related auditing information
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`and other reporting data (e.g., ads or text viewed but not
`counted as an impression) and gaming data (e.g., average
`game session in minutes, number of live game sessions by
`day-part, geography, etc.). The impression server 116 may
`then write this information to the impression database 125.
`The impression server 116 may also update information
`about impression counts for specific flights within the adver
`tisement serving database 122.
`0032. The advertisement recipient client 104 may include
`a game playing device 126 (e.g., a console, computer, por
`table game device, etc.) on which a game application 128
`executes. The game playing device 126 may request and
`receive advertisements from the advertisement management
`service system 108 and may be configured to establish com
`munication via a communication link, such as the Internet
`129. To facilitate communication with the advertisement
`management service system 108, the game application may
`include integrated functionality associated with a client
`library 130 that handles connections and data exchange with
`the publisher system 110. In some embodiments, the client
`library functionality 130 is initially incorporated into the
`game application via exchanges of information between the
`game developer system and the advertisement management
`service system 108. During this process, the game developer
`may specify memory management and file access parameters
`for use by the client library functionality 130. Accordingly, in
`terms of memory and processing resources, the functionality
`associated with the client library functionality 130 may main
`tain a low profile in the game playing device 126.
`0033 For “offline play” the advertisement recipient client
`104 is not constantly communicating with the advertisement
`management service system 108. In Such a scenario, the
`advertisement recipient client 104 connects to the advertise
`ment management service system 108, starts a session,
`requests and retrieves flights and media, and caches this infor
`mation locally. As the game is played, the advertisement
`recipient client 104 may record and cache view and impres
`sion information. Later, when the advertisement recipient
`client 104 reconnects to the advertisement management Ser
`vice system 108, it contacts the impression server 116, flushes
`all cached view and impression data, and then ends the ses
`S1O.
`0034. With an offline play scenario, advertisements may
`be downloaded “in the background during times when the
`advertisement recipient client 104 is connected to the adver
`tisement management service system 108, including when
`the gaming device is performing other tasks, such as execut
`ing a different game, operating a web browser, etc. Various
`applications that run quietly on the advertisement recipient
`client 104 may be responsible for downloading the advertise
`ments during Such times without requiring active user
`involvement. In another scenario, player incentives for
`actively downloading advertisements during non-play time
`may also be provided. For example, a player may accept to
`actively download advertisements in exchange for receiving a
`desirable upgrade to the game (e.g. a new weapon, game
`hints, new game levels, new game characters, etc.). Alterna
`tively, the advertisement management service system 108
`may provide advertisement data by alternative means/media,
`such as CD-ROM, cable connections, satellite, telephone
`line, etc.
`0035. In some embodiments, the game developer system
`102 and the advertisement management service system 108
`may communicate to incorporate at least a portion of the
`
`client library functionality 130 into a game title, which may
`include having the developer specify the availability of avail
`able ad units within specific game titles.
`0036. For example, as shown in the example “developer
`view' screen shot of FIG. 1C, the specific information may
`include an inventory element/available ad unit name 152, a
`short description 154, a screen shot showing the inventory
`element/available ad unit as it appears in the game (not
`shown), information about the genre of the game title (not
`shown), the descriptive information about the specific game
`level, Zone, or scene in which the inventory element/available
`ad unit exists (not shown), known or predicted demographic
`information about the players of the game (not shown), etc.
`The specific information may also include information about
`technical features (e.g., size 156, shape (not shown), media
`type (not shown), bit depth 158, etc.) of such inventory ele
`ments/available ad units.
`0037 Referring to FIG.2, various flows of data may occur
`in association with the advertisement server 114 delivering
`advertising to one or more advertisement recipient systems,
`such as the advertisement recipient client 104 of FIG. 1A. For
`example, an advertisement recipient client (not shown in FIG.
`2) may communicate with an advertising request handler 210
`associated with the advertisement server 114. This may
`enable the matching of advertisement campaigns to appropri
`ate various video game titles.
`0038. In some embodiments, the advertisement recipient
`client 104 begins by establishing or joining a session with the
`advertisement server 114. Establishing this session may cre
`ate a record in the active session database 124, which registers
`the game player as the first member of the new session and is
`used to track and record all communications and data sent to
`and received from the advertisement recipient client 104. In
`response to establishing this session, the advertisement server
`may 114 may assign the advertisement recipient client a
`session ID, which the advertisement recipient client 104 may
`use for all communications with the advertising server 114
`and an impression server, such as the impression server 116 of
`FIG. 1A, which is described in more detail with respect to
`FIG. 3.
`0039. If the advertisement recipient client 104 is joining
`an existing session, the advertisement server 114 may not
`generate a new record in the active session database 124.
`However it may record the joining game player as a member
`of the session, provided the session exists and is active in the
`active session database 124. When a game player specifically
`and actively leaves a session, the advertisement recipient
`client sends a message indicating the game player left, or
`when a specified time of inactivity passes between the adver
`tisement recipient client and the advertisement server 114
`passing messages, that game player is removed as a member
`of the game player's current session. When the session has no
`game players as members that session is ended and marked as
`inactive in the active session database 124.
`0040. In some embodiments, the advertisement recipient
`client 104 requests advertisements for delivery to one or more
`available ad units within the client software application. This
`request contains a data structure that includes a unique iden
`tifier to indicate the client type, another unique identifier for
`the specific game player, the session ID and the list of adver
`tising units for which advertisements are being requ