HK1146135A - Textual and visual interactive advertisements in videos - Google Patents

Description

Text and visual interactive advertisements in video

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application relates to an application entitled "System for the Insertion and control of additives in Videos" (attorney docket No. 12729/283, U.S. application Ser. No.11/830,171, now U.S. Pat. No. ______), filed 30.7.2007; and an application entitled "System for Contextual Matching of Videos with Adaptation" (attorney docket No. 12729/282, U.S. application Ser. No.11/830,164, now U.S. Pat. No. ______), filed 30/7/2007; each of the aforementioned prior applications is incorporated herein by reference.

Background

Online advertising may be an important source of revenue for businesses participating in electronic commerce. Currently, many different types of web-based online advertising are used along with various associated distribution requirements, advertising metrics, and pricing mechanisms. Implementations using technologies such as hypertext markup language (HTML) and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) enable a web page to be configured to contain a location for encompassing an advertisement. A page (page) may not only be a web page, but any other electronically created page or document. The advertisement may be selected for display in the page each time a page is requested, for example, by a browser or server application.

Conventional online advertising includes a static display of text or images on a page. However, content available on the internet and in web pages is increasingly being rendered dynamic. For example, online viewing of video content becomes more common as consumers are able to access higher bandwidths and spend more time online. Traditional online advertising is targeted to users of static web pages. However, the viewing habits for online video are different from conventional online web page text reading. In contrast to viewing scrolling text, the user's attention is focused on the screen on which the video is played, and thus intermittent advertisements that interrupt the video can be disruptive. Therefore, there is a need for advertisers (advertisers) to provide non-intrusive (non-intrusive) advertisements to users who are watching video and other multimedia online.

Drawings

The system and/or method of the present invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described with reference to the following figures. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the figures, corresponding parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an advertising system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary video distribution system;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of video editing options;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment for video editing;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an embodiment of a video display;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of advertisement types;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an embodiment of a video display;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment for interacting with an advertisement;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary advertisement selection system;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an embodiment of manual advertisement selection;

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an embodiment of automatic advertisement selection;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment for selecting an advertisement;

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an interface for advertisement selection; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a computer system for use with the disclosed embodiments.

Detailed Description

By way of introduction, the embodiments described below include systems and methods for advertising in videos. In particular, embodiments relate to advertisements embedded or included in video displayed to a viewer. The advertisements may be interactive and allow the viewer to click on the advertisements in the video. The video may be edited to include advertisements at the editor's discretion. Additionally, advertisements may be selected manually to optimize the revenue potential of the editor. Alternatively, advertisements to be included in a video may be automatically selected from a variety of available advertisements based on a comparison of data related to the video to advertisement data.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. This summary should not be construed to limit the claims. Further aspects and advantages will be discussed below in connection with the embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified advertising network system 100 in which the present invention may be implemented. However, not all of the illustrated components may be required, and some embodiments of the invention may include additional components not shown in the figures. Changes may be made in the arrangement and type of elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims as set forth herein. More, different or fewer components may be provided.

The system 100 may include a viewer 102 and/or editor 103 using a user device 104, the user device 104 coupled to a network 106 and configured to receive, view, and/or edit video from a video server 108. The video server 108 may be coupled to a video database 110. The adflix server 112, coupled with the adflix database 114, may provide advertisements to the video server 108. The adflix server 112 and the adflix database 114 may be referred to as an advertisement server and an advertisement database, respectively. An advertiser 116 coupled with an advertiser database 118 may be coupled with the adflix server 112 to provide advertisements. Here, the term "coupled with …" means directly connected or indirectly connected through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediate components may include both hardware and software components.

The viewer 102 and editor 103 may include any operator of the user device 104. The viewer 102 may include a user viewing a video on a user device 104. As described herein, video may include various forms of multimedia, including video in any format (e.g., NTSC, PAL, SECAM, ATSC, DVB, ISDB, SBTVD, WMV, AVI, MPEG2, MPEG4), slides, image sequences, or any display with or without audio. For example, the viewer 102 may be a consumer who connects to the Internet through the user device 104 and views a video on a web page shown by the user device 104. The editor 103 may include a user who edits the video on the user device 104. Additionally, the editor 103 may create videos that may be provided to or uploaded to a video server, which may then be edited or viewed by others. In one example, the editor 103 may access a video from the video server 108 and edit the video to include an advertisement. In one embodiment, the advertiser 116 may be an editor that edits the video to include the advertisement. In one embodiment, the editor 103 may also be the viewer 102, as the video may be viewed in order to edit the video. As described herein, the viewer 102 and the editor 103 may be described as users.

The user device 104 may be a computing device connected to a network 106 (e.g., the internet). Examples of user devices 104 include, but are not limited to, personal computers, personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), cellular phones, smart phones, blackberries (r) ((r))) A digital video recorder ("DVR"), a personal video recorder ("PVR"), a network television, an automobile, a navigation system, or other electronic device configured to display video. The user device 104 may enable the viewer 102 to view pages on the network 106 or may provide an interface for the editor 103 to access the video for editing. The user device 104 may be configured to access data/information on the network 106 using a web browser, such as INTERNET sold by MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, WashingtonThe data displayed by the browser may include video and/or advertisements. In alternative embodiments, other software programs may also display videos and/or advertisements received over a network or from different sources. The user device 104 may comprise a user device as will be described below with reference to fig. 14.

The user device 104 may be configured to allow the viewer 102 or editor 103 to interact with the video server 108 or other components of the system 100. In one embodiment, the user device 104 may receive and display a website or page including video provided by the video server 108. User device 104 may include a keyboard, keypad or cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), joystick, touch screen display, remote control, or any other device configured to allow interaction with pages or videos provided by video server 108. The video server 108 may include a computing device as will be described below with reference to fig. 14.

The video server 108 provides websites or pages over the network 106 (e.g., the internet). The website or page may refer to a web page or series of related web pages that can be viewed or received over a network and include or provide embedded videos or links to videos that can be viewed or edited on the user device 104. The website or page is not limited to a web page and may include video or any other information accessible over a network that may be displayed on the user device 104. As described below, the page may include video as well as video editing functions, such as the ability to add advertisements to the video.

The video database 110 may store any number of video or other multimedia files that may be provided by the video server 108 over the network 106. As described below, the files stored and transmitted by the video server 108 to/from the video database 110 will be described as videos, but other files, including other multimedia, may be transmitted and stored. The video database 110 may store multiple versions of a video, including an original video and an edited video that may include advertisements. The video server 108 may provide the user device 104 with videos stored in the video database 110 for viewing by the viewer 102 or for editing by the editor 103. Additionally, newly created or edited videos from the user device 104 may be uploaded or transmitted by the video server 108 over the network 106 to the video database 110 for storage.

Fig. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the video server 108. The video server 108 may include an interface 202 coupled to an editing interface 204. The interface 202 may include at least one communication port configured to communicate with, for example, the user device 104 or with the video database 110 over the network 106. Additionally, the interface 202 may be coupled with other components in the system 100, such as the adflix server 112, the adflix database 114, and/or the advertiser 116. In one embodiment, the interface 202 sends and receives video to/from the video database 110 and to/from the network 106. The interface 202 may be created by software or may be a physical connection of hardware. The connection to the network 106 or other components may be a physical connection (e.g., a wired ethernet connection) or may be established wirelessly, as will be discussed below with reference to the network 106.

Any of the components in system 100 may be coupled to each other by one or more networks, such as network 106. For example, the video server 108 may be coupled to the adflix server 112, the video database 110, and/or the adflix database 114 via a network. Likewise, the advertiser 116 may be coupled to the adflix server 112, the adflix database 114, and/or the advertiser database 118 via a network. The one or more networks (e.g., network 106) that may connect any of the components in system 100 may include wired networks, wireless networks, or a combination thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, a network operating according to a standardized protocol promulgated by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (e.g., IEEE 802.11, 802.16, 802.20), or a WiMax network. Further, the network(s) may be a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., an intranet), or a combination thereof, and may utilize various networking protocols now available or later developed, including but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

The network(s), including network 106, may include one or more of a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a direct connection such as through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, etc., and may include the collection of multiple interconnected networks that make up the internet. The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions or receives and executes instructions in response to a propagated signal, so that any device connected to a network can transmit voice, video, audio, images, or any other data over the network. For example, the video server 108 may provide the page with the video to the user device 104 over a network (e.g., the network 106). The network(s) described above, including network 106, may be the networks discussed below with reference to fig. 14.

An editing interface 204 of the video server 108 is coupled to the interface 202 and is configured to provide the editor 103 with the ability to edit video. In one embodiment, the interface 202 provides editing options for the page for modifying the video, such as for embedding advertisements in the video. The editor 103 may access the video from the video server 108 on the user device 104. The video server 108 may provide tools for editing videos to include advertisements, which may come from the adflix server 112 as described below.

Fig. 3 shows an example of an edit option 302. In particular, the editing options 302 include various alternative means for including advertisements in the video. The location 304 of the advertisement may change. Location 304 may refer to a point (spot) within the video display screen at which an advertisement appears. For example, the advertisement may be included at a particular location in the video, such as along the bottom of the video. Placement 306 may refer to a period of time during which an advertisement is displayed in a video. In particular, the arrangement 306 may include additional options for frame-by-frame (308) or timeline (310) editing of the video.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating video editing using either the timeline 310 or frame-by-frame 308 editing options. At block 402, a video to be edited is selected. The video may be selected from the video database 110 and transmitted by the video server 108 to the user device 104. In block 404, advertisements are selected for inclusion in the edited video. The selection of the advertisement may be accomplished by the adflix server 112, as will be described below with reference to FIGS. 9-12. The selected advertisement may be inserted into the video along with the advertisement timeline, as indicated in block 406. In particular, the timeline 310 may provide a mechanism for inserting advertisements for a set period of time in a video. For example, an editor 103 editing a video may insert an advertisement into the video that appears for one minute and the advertisement is displayed for one minute and then deleted at a two minute mark. Thus, the arrangement 306 may include options for the duration of advertisement display.

Alternatively, the advertisement may be inserted into the video by selecting certain frames from the video in which the advertisement may appear, as indicated by block 408. In particular, the frame-by-frame editing option 308 allows advertisements to be displayed at certain frames in the video. In one embodiment, an editor 103 editing a video may select a starting or beginning frame of an advertisement occurrence and select a final or last frame of the advertisement occurrence. In other words, all frames in the video before the start frame and all frames after the stop frame do not include advertisements. After the advertisement is inserted into the video, the edited video may then be provided for viewing, as indicated by block 410.

Fig. 5 shows one example of an advertisement in a video 504. The page 500 may be a web page or other page capable of displaying the video 504. Video 504 is displayed on a portion of page 500. Page 500 may include controls for the video, such as play, stop, pause, rewind, fast forward, skip, and edit buttons. The video 504 may be edited and/or selected by the adflix editor 502 as will be described below with reference to FIG. 13. The advertisement 512 may be displayed in the video along with the hyperlink 514. As shown, the ad 512 and hyperlink 514 are two parts of the same ad.

Fig. 5 shows a frame-by-frame 308 or timeline 310 editing option. In particular, a timeline 508 for the video 504 is shown along with a cursor 506, the cursor 506 showing a current frame or timeline position of the video. The cursor 506 may be adjusted along the timeline 508 to view any portion of the video and to identify individual frames of the video. Thus, the cursor 506 may be used to select frames that are edited frame-by-frame 308, e.g., to include advertisements.

In one embodiment, the timeline may include an edited timeline 510, the edited timeline 510 identifying a portion of the video, such as a portion or a plurality of frames of the timeline 508. The edited timeline 510 may identify edited portions of the video 504, such as portions of the video 504 that include advertisements. The length of the edited timeline 510 may be adjusted to increase or decrease the amount of time the advertisement is displayed. The longer the edited timeline 510, the longer the advertisement display time. The edited timeline 510 may be moved to appear at any portion of the timeline 508, such as the beginning, middle, or end of the timeline 508. There may be multiple edited timelines 510, with each edited timeline 510 corresponding to a different advertisement displayed.

Referring back to fig. 3, the additional editing options include the advertisement type 312. The advertisement may be displayed in various forms, as shown in FIG. 6. In particular, FIG. 6 shows examples of possible advertisement types 602 for advertisements included in videos, such as plain text 604, scrolling text 606, embedded objects 608, video 610, audio 612, and interactive advertisements 614. The plaintext text 604 may include a description that identifies a product or service. For example, the plaintext text 604 may include the name or web address of a website that advertises the product.

Fig. 7 is an illustration of an advertisement in a video. In particular, FIG. 7 illustrates the display of a clear text 604 advertisement in a video 702. The video 702 is displayed and plays the length of the timeline 704. For at least a portion of the timeline 704, an advertisement 706 is embedded in the video 702. In this embodiment, advertisement 706 is text that is shown as part of video 702. As shown, the type of advertisement 706 may be plain text 604.

Alternatively, the text of the advertisement may be scrolling text 606. For example, the advertisement 706 may not be static in the video 702, but may scroll from side to side of the screen. Scrolling text 606 may include additional words or descriptions of the advertised product and/or service. The plaintext text 604 may be limited to a number of words that fit within the box of the video 702, but since the scrolling text 606 may move in and out of the picture, more words may be included to describe the product.

The embedded object 608 may include an arrangement of products in the video. The soft drink advertiser may include the soft drink container on a table in the video. For example, in a video about a birthday party, two liters of bottled soft drink may be embedded in the video to be displayed next to the birthday cake on a table. The embedded object 608 may be designed to fit the video so that the viewer is unaware that the advertisement has been embedded in the video. Instead, the viewer 102 may be aware that the plaintext text 604 and scrolling text 606 advertisement types are added to the video. The embedded object 608 may be seamlessly included in the video. Further examples include posters added on walls, billboards on the street, or advertisements added on clothing. The embedded object 608 may appear in a seamless portion of the video so that the viewer is unaware that an advertisement is present in the video.

Video 610 advertisements may be included in a video. In one embodiment, video 610 may be a form of embedded object. For example, if television is present in a video, a video 610 advertisement (e.g., a television advertisement) may be embedded in the television in the video. A viewer viewing a video of a television displaying a television advertisement may not realize that the television advertisement is embedded in the video.

The audio 612 advertisement may include a verbal description of a product/service that can be included in the video. The audio 612 advertisement may be included during a portion of the video where there are no other sounds. Alternatively, the audio 612 advertisement may be an embedded object in the video, thereby seamlessly incorporating the embedded audio 612 into the video. In one example, a newly released song may be included in a video by placing a portion of the soundtrack or audio in the manner of an advertising song. If the video shows a broadcast or a music player, the audio 612 advertisement may be used to replace the audio in the video that the music player emits.

Any of the ad types 602 may also be interactive 614 ad types. The interactive 614 advertisements are responsive to actions of the viewer 102 of the video. For example, in FIG. 7, the advertisement 706 of "freeemail-www.yahoo.com" may be interactive. In particular, the text of the advertisement 706 may be clickable or selectable (e.g., a hyperlink) to allow the viewer to click on or select the advertisement 706, which advertisement 706 is linked to another page related to the advertisement.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating one example for interacting with an advertisement. In block 802, a video with an inserted interactive 614 advertisement is displayed and the viewer 102 views the video on the user device 104. The video may be stored in a video database 110 and transmitted by the video server 108 to the user device 104. When the video is displayed on the user device 104, at block 804, an interactive advertisement is displayed in the video.

In block 806, a determination is made as to whether the viewer 102 has selected or interacted with an interactive advertisement 614 in the video. The type of interaction of the interactive advertisement 614 varies depending on the media used to view the video. For display on a web site or downloaded and displayed on another viewing software program (e.g. Windows Media)RealOr) The interaction may include moving a cursor over the advertisement and clicking with a mouse or keyboard, for example. Alternatively, the video may be viewed directly on the television, for example, using a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or other set-top box (STB) configured to provide the video. A remote control for a television, DVR, or STB may be used to move a cursor and/or select an advertisement for display in a video. For example, the viewer 102 may click on or select a video displayed in the videoThereby obtaining a relationFor more information, e.g. displayThe web site of (c).

Interaction with interactive advertisement 614 may not be limited to selection of an advertisement. Clicking any location on the video while the interactive 614 advertisement is displayed by the mouse may result in additional information about the advertisement. Alternatively, there may be a button or additional selectable tool that may be selected when the advertisement is displayed. For example, buttons near the video controls (play, pause, stop, fast forward, fast reverse, skip) may be labeled "More Info" (More Info), "advertisement Info" (AdInfo) or include different identifications. Interaction with or clicking on the button may cause more information to be displayed about the current advertisement being displayed.

There may be multiple advertisements on any frame or timeline in a video. For example, an object may be embedded in a video along with a plaintext or scrolling text display. The interaction for multiple advertisements displayed simultaneously may distinguish which advertisement the viewer 102 wishes to interact with. Individual advertisements may be clicked on separately. Interaction with a neutral region in the video (not in the vicinity of the advertisement) may result in a menu or option with which the viewer 102 may select the display of a particular advertisement.

When there is no interaction with the interactive advertisement 614, the video continues, as indicated by block 808. When the system detects interaction with the interactive advertisement 614, the selection is recorded, as indicated by block 810. In particular, the type of interaction may determine the response to the interaction. Interaction with the advertisement may elicit various responses. In one embodiment, additional pages (e.g., web pages) may be displayed that include the advertised product/service. For example, clicking on advertisement 706 in FIG. 7 may result in a web page displaying the advertised site www.yahoo.com in video 702. In block 812, based on the interaction or selection with the advertisement, an advertisement topic is displayed, such as a web page of the advertisement.

The result of the interaction with the interactive advertisement 614 may vary depending on the media used to view the video. If the video is viewed on a web page or over the Internet, the interaction may cause an additional web page to be displayed, as described above. For a video displayed on a web page, the interaction may provide an output on the page on which the video is displayed. For example, when a video does not cover the entire area of a web page, interaction with an advertisement in the web page may cause the advertisement to be further displayed outside the video, but on the same page as the video. The additional display of the advertisement may include additional advertisements related to the product/service advertised by the original advertisement in the video. For example, interaction with an advertisement in a video may cause a banner ad on a web page to change to advertise a product/service from the advertisement.

Alternatively, the video may be a stand-alone video viewed on a television or display. Viewer interaction with the advertisement may cause additional information to be displayed. For example, if the viewer clicks on a clear text 604 advertisement displayed in the video, additional information may be displayed, such as scrolling text 606 that provides more detail about the advertised product/service. The information may be displayed within the video, near the video, or on a separate page.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes an adflix server 112 that may be coupled with the video server 108 and configured to provide advertisements for videos provided by the video server 108. In particular, the adflix server 112 may provide a platform for selecting, optimizing, and/or distributing advertisements to be included in videos displayed on pages (e.g., web pages). In an alternative embodiment, the adflix server 112 may include a computing device as will be described below with reference to FIG. 14.

The adflix server 112 may provide advertisements to be included in videos from the video database 110, which may be transmitted over the network 106. The adflix server 112 may be coupled with the user device 104 through the network 106 to allow the editor 103 to select, create, or edit advertisements to be included in the video provided by the video server 108. In one embodiment, the edit options 302 and advertisement types 602 may be available to the editor and may be established by the adflix server 112.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of the adflix server 112. The adflix server 112 may include an interface 902 coupled with a manual selector 904 and an automatic selector 906. The interface 902 may be similar to the interface 202 in the video server 108. The interface 902 may include at least one communication port configured to communicate with, for example, the user device 104 or the video server 108 and/or the adflix database 114 over the network 106. In addition, the interface 902 may be coupled with other components in the system 100, such as the video database 110, the advertisers 116, and/or the advertiser database 118. In one embodiment, the interface 902 transmits/receives advertisements to/from the video server 108, the adflix database 114, or the user device 104 over the network 106. The interface 902 may be created in software or may be a physical connection of hardware. One embodiment of an interface 902 is shown and described with reference to fig. 13.

The interface 902 may be coupled with the adflix database 114 and configured to transmit/receive advertisements to/from the adflix database 114. The adflix database 114 may store advertisements that may be selected for inclusion in videos transmitted by the video server 108. In one embodiment, as described below, the editor 103 may edit the video on the user device 104 and may select advertisements from the adflix database 114 to include in the video that may bring potential revenue to the editor 103. Additionally, advertisements may be generated and stored in the adflix database 114 for access by others. For example, the editor 103 may create or modify an advertisement stored in the adflix database 114. As described below, the advertisements in the adflix database 114 may also be provided by advertisers (e.g., the advertiser 116).

Selection of the advertisement may be performed from either manual selector 904 or automatic selector 906, both manual selector 904 and automatic selector 906 coupled with interface 902. The manual selector 904 may be configured to allow a video editor to select advertisements to be included in a video. In one example, the manual selector 904 may be implemented in software. The manual selector 904 may be coupled with the video server 108 and accessible by the editor 103. Additionally, the manual selector 904 may be coupled with the adflix database 114, the advertiser 116, and/or the advertiser database 118 for receiving information related to the advertisement. The information related to the advertisement may be information related to the selection of the advertisement.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an embodiment for manual selection of advertisements. In particular, FIG. 10 shows an example of a manual selector 904 and possible factors 1001 for manual advertisement selection. The manual advertisement selection factor 1001 is merely an exemplary consideration of the editor 103 in selecting an advertisement to display in a video. In one embodiment, manual advertisement selection factors 1001 may be provided to the editor 103, and the editor 103 may view the factors 1001 for all available advertisements when selecting advertisements to include in a video.

The popularity 1002 of an advertisement or advertised product/service may be a factor 1001 of manual advertisement selection. Popularity 1002 may be reflected in the number of hits (clicks or interactions) an advertisement already has in other videos or on other media (e.g., web pages). Alternatively, popularity 1002 may be determined by the number of searches on a search engine. The more popular products/services (advertisements) may be searched more frequently. Search results may also reflect trends in popularity to identify items that may be increasingly popular. The popularity of the advertised product/service may also be reflected in the sale of the product/service. The editor 103 selecting the advertisement may want more popular advertisements for more popular products/services because the advertisements are more likely to interact with the viewer of the video, which may result in payment for the advertisement.

The profitability 1004 of an advertisement or advertised product/service may be a factor 1001 of manual advertisement selection. Payment by an advertiser (e.g., advertiser 116) to the editor 103 for an advertisement using the advertiser may be such that payment depends on how the advertisement is incorporated in the video. In one embodiment, advertisement payment may be based on editing options 302, such as the location or placement of the advertisement. The longer the advertisement is displayed, the higher the value may be for the advertiser. The context of the advertisement may also bring additional value to the advertiser. For example, product placement by a negative character in a video may be harmful to the product, while product placement by a positive character in a video may be more valuable to advertisers. Thus, for an editor 103 using a particular advertisement in a video, the profitability 1004 or reward may be a factor in selecting that advertisement.

Cost Per Click (CPC)1006 and cost per thousand people (CPM)1008 for an advertisement or advertised product/service may be factors 1001 for manual advertisement selection. In particular, the CPC1006 and CPM 1008 are advertisement payment methods by which an advertising entity (e.g., advertiser 116) may pay an advertisement provider (video editor). CPC1006 refers to the price paid each time an advertising viewer interacts with an advertisement, for example, by clicking on the advertisement to view a website associated with the advertisement. The price is paid each time the viewer clicks on (interacts with) an advertisement within the video. In one embodiment, the price may be in the range of $0.01 to $ 0.50. CPC1006 may also refer to pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements.

The CPM 1008 may refer to a cost per thousand (cost per mile), a cost per thousand (cost per outstanding), or a cost per impression (cost per impression). The CPM 1008 may pay based on the number of times the advertisement was viewed rather than the number of interactions. The number of views of an advertisement may be referred to as an impression. The CPM 1008 may establish a price paid per thousand impressions. For example, an advertiser may pay $20CPM, i.e., $20 for every thousand views (impressions) of an advertisement in a video. Alternatively, the price may be established for different numbers of impressions, e.g. every 100, 500 or 10000 impressions. The CPM 1008 payment method may be more effective for popular videos where viewers do not click on advertisements. The CPC1006 payment method may be more profitable when the viewer is more likely to click on the advertisement.

The ad cost 1010 of an ad or advertised product/service may be a factor 1001 for manual ad selection. The ad spend 1010 may refer to an ad that the video editor pays for the initial use of the ad. Alternatively, the ad spend 1010 may refer to any cost associated with including an ad in a video. There may be no advertising spend associated with certain advertisements.

The conversion rate (conversion rate)1012 of the advertisement or advertised product/service may be a factor 1001 for manual advertisement selection. The conversion rate 1012 may reflect the rate at which the advertisement viewer interacts with the advertisement. The interaction may be referred to as a translation. Some ads in a video may cause a higher conversion rate than others, and more conversions cause greater payment when the CPC1006 payment is established. Thus, the editor 103 may select an advertisement with a higher conversion rate 1012.

Relevance of the advertisement or advertised product/service (relevance)1014 may be a factor 1001 for manual advertisement selection. Relevance 1014 may reflect the relationship of the advertisement to the video. For example, a video related to baseball may select advertisements related to sports or baseball for inclusion in the video. Viewers of baseball videos are more likely to watch and/or interact with sports-related advertisements. Thus, the editor 103 may consider the relevance 1014 of each advertisement to the video being edited. Relevance 1014 may be reflected by comparing advertisement data 1130 to video data 1110 (as described below with reference to FIG. 11). In particular, in selecting advertisements to include in a video, the advertisement data 1130 and video data 1110 for the available advertisements may be provided to the editor 103 for consideration by the editor 103.

Referring back to FIG. 9, the adflix server 112 includes an auto selector 906 coupled with the interface 904. The auto selector 906 may also be referred to as an adflix analyzer and is configured to analyze and compare available advertisements with a video to select advertisements to be displayed in the video. The automatic selector 906 may be a computing device as will be described with reference to fig. 14, and may include a processor 908, memory 910, and software 912.

The processor 908 is configured to analyze and compare the data to select advertisements. Processor 908 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), or other type of processing device. The processor 908 may be a component in various systems. For example, the processor 908 may be part of a stand-alone personal computer or workstation. The processor 908 may be one or more general processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 908 may operate in conjunction with a software program, such as manually generated (i.e., programmed) code.

The processor 908 may include a memory 910, or the memory 910 may be a separate component. The memory 910 may include an adflix database 114 for storing available advertisements. Memory 910 may include, but is not limited to, computer-readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random access memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, electrically erasable read only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media, and the like. In one embodiment, memory 910 includes random access memory for processor 908. In alternative embodiments, the memory 910 is separate from the processor 908, such as a cache memory of a processor, system memory, or other memory. The memory 910 may be an external storage device or database for storing recorded image data. Examples include a hard disk drive, a compact disc ("CD"), a digital video disc ("DVD"), a memory card, a memory stick, a floppy disk, a universal serial bus ("USB") memory device, or any other device operable to store image data. The memory 910 is operable to store instructions executable by the processor 908. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 908 executing instructions stored in the memory 910. The functions, acts or tasks are independent of the particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, micro code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.

In one embodiment, the software 912 may be stored in the memory 910. ToThe processor 908 is configured to execute software 912. The software 912 may include a browser or other video editing program. The browser may be a web browser configured to display information and data obtained from the internet or other network. For example, the browser may be the InternetOr some other web browser. The browser may be configured to receive, display, and edit video.

One embodiment of the automatic selector 906 is shown in FIG. 11. In particular, FIG. 11 shows video data 1110 and ad data 1130 that may be analyzed and compared when selecting an ad. The automatic selector 906 may include a video analyzer 1104 coupled to a comparator 1102, the comparator 1102 also being coupled to an advertisement analyzer 1106. The video analyzer 1104 may edit and analyze video data 1110 from a video in which advertisements are to be included. The ad analyzer 1106 may compile and analyze ad data 1130 from available ads that may be included in a video. The comparator 1102 receives analysis results from both the video analyzer 1104 and the advertisement analyzer 1106 to determine similarities between particular advertisements and videos. The comparator 1102 may determine the relevance 1014 of an advertisement to a particular video.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of advertisement selection. In particular, FIG. 12 illustrates an example of advertisement selection by the automatic selector 906. In block 1202, a video is selected that can be edited to include an advertisement. In block 1204, video data 1110 is extracted from the video.

The video data 1110 may include any pertinent information related to the video in which the advertisement may be included. The title 1112 and/or file name 1114 of the video may be related to the content of the video. The title 1112 and/or the file name 1114 may be named based on the video content. Likewise, a description 1116 of the video may be generated to describe a particular video.

The video may be tagged with information relating to the subject matter of the video. For example, meta tags 1118 and user tags 1120 may be associated with videos. The tag may describe the video as "baseball" or "sports" and the tag may be used to select advertisements related to baseball or sports. The meta tags 1118 may include any information related to the target user targeted from the video service provider associated with the video. User tags 1120 may be created by viewers 102 of the video, and viewers 102 create user tags 1120 as a form of classifying the video. In one embodiment, the title 1112, filename 1114, and/or description 1116 may be analyzed for keywords or items, such as tags 1118, 1120, that may be compared to the ad data 1130.

The category of video 1122 may also be related to the video data 1110. At some video sharing sites (e.g., video sharing sites)Or) The videos available on the website may all be categorized. The category of the video may provide relevant information about the video. Similar to the other video data 1110, videos may be categorized under a "sports" category or a "baseball" category, and the comparator 1102 may then select advertisements related to these categories. Likewise, the commentary 1124 on the video and/or the opinion 1126 on the video may also be used to determine the subject matter of the video. The video site may allow viewers to post comments or opinions about the video. The comments 1124 and the comments 1126 may be analyzed by the video analyzer 1104 to identify keywords that may be used by the comparator 1102. In one embodiment, the category 1122 or sub-category may be keywords for a video.

After the video data is determined (block 1204), the video data may be analyzed by the video analyzer 1104 in block 1206. The video analyzer 1104 may analyze the video data 1110 for keywords reflecting the content of the video. The keywords may be individual words (e.g., "baseball") or phrases (e.g., "item level baseball team") that describe the video. The identified keywords may be compared to keywords associated with available advertisements.

In block 1208, ad data 1130 is extracted from the available ads. The ad data 1130 may include the type 1132 of ad. Type 1132 may refer to the advertisement type 602 shown in FIG. 6. In particular, the type 1132 may include plain text, scrolling text, embedded objects, video, audio, images, or interactive advertisements. The type 1132 of advertisement may determine whether it is appropriate for a particular video. For example, music videos may not be desirable to include audio advertisements because they may be annoying to the viewer.

Available advertisements may have a title 1134. The title 1134 of the advertisement may be similar to the title 1112 of the video. The title may be a simple description of the advertisement. Likewise, each advertisement may include a description 1136. The advertisements may be organized into multiple categories 1138. The categories 1138 may reflect the subject matter of the advertisement or may be organized based on the advertisement type. For example, an audio advertisement may be in one category and a subcategory may be used to reflect the type of audio in the advertisement. Product 1140 is the subject of the advertisement and may also include services. Product 1140 represents the item being advertised. Any examples of ad data 1130 may be related to each other. For example, the title 1132 of the advertisement may be the name of the product 1140. The ad data 1130 shown in FIG. 11 is merely exemplary, and available ads may include more examples of ad data 1130.

The ad data 1130 may include information relating to the content and subject matter of the ad. Each available ad may include its own ad data 1130 that is analyzed by the ad analyzer 1106. The ad data 1130 extracted in block 1208 may be analyzed by the ad analyzer 1106 in block 1210. The ad analyzer 1106 may identify relevant keywords from the ad data 1130 for each available ad. The related keywords may be related to the subject matter of the video. In one embodiment, the category 1138 or subcategory may be keywords for an advertisement. Likewise, the video analyzer 1104 may identify keywords from the video data 1110 of the video.

In block 1212, the comparator 1102 may compare the analyzed video data 1110 from the video analyzer 1104 with the analyzed advertisement data 1130 from the advertisement analyzer 1106. The ad analyzer 1106 may determine keywords from the ad data 1130. The comparator 1102 may compare the video keywords with keywords from each of the available advertisements. Based on the comparison, the comparator 1102 may select a relevant advertisement to be displayed in the video. The comparator 1102 determines which of the available advertisements is similar to the video based on a comparison of the keywords. In one embodiment, the comparator 1102 may compare titles, descriptions, and categories to determine similarity without determining keywords. Alternatively, the video analyzer 1104 may determine a most relevant topic from the video data 1110 and then select the available advertisements based on that topic.

FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of an interface for selecting and inserting advertisements in a video. In particular, the interface 902 may include an adflix editor 502. The adflix editor 502 may be an interface that the editor 103 may utilize to select advertisements to be included in a video. The editor 103 may be provided with a list 1304 of available advertisements. If NO advertisements are to be added to the video, the editor 103 may select NO advertisements 1306(NO ADS).

In selecting advertisements, the editor 103 may choose either an automatic selection 1308(AUTO) or a MANUAL selection 1310 (MANUAL). If manual selection 1310 is selected, the editor 103 may select from the list of available advertisements 1304. In one embodiment, the editor is able to view relevant information for each available advertisement, such as any of the factors 1001 for manual advertisement selection. As described above, the manual selection 1310 may be performed by the manual selector 904. The editor 103 may add 1312 an advertisement to the list 1304 or may select an advertisement from the list 1304 to be added to the video. Editor 103 may also delete (1314) advertisements from list 1304 or delete advertisements from the video.

If auto-selection 1308 is selected, auto-selector 906 may select a relevant advertisement for the video. In one embodiment, when auto-select 1308 is selected, auto-selector 906 populates list 1304 with advertisements related to or similar to video. The editor may then select which advertisement to add to the video based in part on the manual advertisement selection factor 1001. Alternatively, selection of the automatic selection 1308 may cause selection of a relevant advertisement to be included in the video as determined by the automatic selector 906.

The adflix editor 502 may include various tabs (tabs) 1316 that may be used to perform various video editing tasks. The adflix tab is selected, which provides the editor 103 with the ability to add advertisements to the video. Alternatively, the video may be edited by adding clips or audio, or the effect or style of the video may be modified. Alternatively, editing options may be applied to advertisements added to the video. For example, the font or color of the clear text advertisement may be modified. One of the options bars 1316 may include video editing options 302.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the adflix server 112 may be coupled with an advertiser 116, and the advertiser 116 may be coupled with an advertiser database 118. The advertiser 116 may be a company or person that advertises products or services or conveys other information. The advertiser 116 may create an advertisement that is stored in the advertiser database 118 and may be obtained by the adflix server 112 for inclusion in the video. The advertisers 116 may also be referred to as information providers that not only provide advertisements, but also convey various information, such as text, graphics, icons, or images. The advertiser 116 may include a server that provides advertisements to the adflix server 112, the video server 108, and/or the user device 104. The advertiser 116 may include a general purpose computer system or any of the components described below with reference to FIG. 14.

In one embodiment, the advertiser 116 pays each time the advertiser's advertisement is displayed in the video, or each time the advertisement is interacted with (as described with reference to FIG. 10). The fee may be paid to the editor of the video that includes the advertisement into the video. In one embodiment, the adflix server 112 is coupled with and receives a plurality of advertisements from a plurality of advertisers for display. Multiple advertisers may each have an advertiser database or may share a database, such as advertiser database 118. The adflix server 112 may compile and store advertisements from advertisers and provide advertisements through the video server 108. The advertisements created and stored in the advertiser database 118 may have any of a variety of forms, including any of the advertisement types 602.

The advertiser database 118 may include available advertisements that are available to the adflix server 112. The advertiser database 118 may also include available advertisements as well as information regarding the size, content, price, and location specificity of the advertisements. In one embodiment, the advertiser database 118 may include any of data regarding advertisement type 602 and factors 1001 for manual advertisement selection that may be used to select advertisements to be included in a video. In addition, the ad data 1130 for each advertisement may also be stored in the advertiser database 118 for automatic selection of advertisements.

Referring to FIG. 14, an exemplary embodiment 1400 of a general purpose computer system is shown. Any of the components of the system 100 may include a computer system 1400, such as the video server 108 or the adflix server 112. The computer system 1400 may include a set of instructions that can be executed to cause the computer system 1400 to perform any one or more of the methods or computer functions disclosed herein. Computer system 1400 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., using a network, to other computer systems or peripheral devices.

In a networked deployment, the computer system may perform the function of a server or act as a client user computer in a server-client user network environment, or may act as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The computer system 1400 may also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices: such as a Personal Computer (PC), desktop PC, set-top box (STB), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), mobile device, palmtop computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, communication device, wireless telephone, landline telephone, control system, camera, scanner, facsimile machine, printer, pager, personal trusted device, web appliance, network router, switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In particular embodiments, computer system 1400 may be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video, or data communication. Moreover, while a single computer system 1400 is illustrated, the term "system" shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or subsystems that individually or jointly execute a set or multiple sets of instructions to perform one or more computer functions.

As shown in fig. 14, computer system 1400 may include a processor 1402, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or both. The processor 1402 may be a component in various systems. For example, the processor 1402 may be part of a stand-alone personal computer or workstation. The processor 1402 may be one or more general processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 1402 may operate in conjunction with a software program, such as manually generated (i.e., programmed) code.

Computer system 1400 can include a memory 1404 that can communicate via a bus 1408. The memory 1404 may be a main memory, a static memory, or a dynamic memory. The memory 1404 may include, but is not limited to, computer-readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random access memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, electrically erasable read only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media, and the like. In one embodiment, memory 1404 includes a cache or random access memory for processor 1402. In alternative embodiments, memory 1404 is separate from processor 1402, such as a cache memory of a processor, a system memory, or other memory. The memory 1404 may be an external storage device or database for storing data. Examples include a hard disk drive, a compact disc ("CD"), a digital video disc ("DVD"), a memory card, a memory stick, a floppy disk, a universal serial bus ("USB") memory device, or any other device operable to store data. The memory 1404 is operable to store instructions executable by the processor 1402. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 1402 executing the instructions stored in the memory 1404. The functions, acts or tasks are independent of the particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, micro code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.

As shown, the computer system 1400 may also include a display unit 1414, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), flat panel display, solid state display, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), projector, printer, or other now known or later developed display device for outputting the determined information. The display 1414 may serve as an interface through which a user views the functionality of the processor 1402, or may serve exclusively as an interface with software stored in the memory 1404 or in the drive unit 1406.

Additionally, the computer system 1400 may include an input device 1416, the input device 1416 configured to allow a user to interact with any of the components of the system 1400. The input device 1416 may be a number pad, a keyboard or cursor control device (e.g., a mouse or joystick), a touch screen display, a remote control, or any other device operable to interact with the system 1400.

In certain embodiments, as shown in FIG. 14, the computer system 1400 may also include a disk or optical drive unit 1406. The disk drive unit 1406 may include a computer-readable medium 1410 in which one or more sets of instructions 1412, such as software, may be embedded in the computer-readable medium 1410. Further, the instructions 1412 may embody one or more of the methods or logic described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions 1412 may reside, completely or at least partially, within the memory 1404 and/or within the processor 1402 during execution thereof by the computer system 1400. The memory 1404 and the processor 1402 may also include computer-readable media as described above.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions 1412 or that receives and executes instructions 1412 in response to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to the network 1420 can transmit voice, video, audio, images, or any other data over the network 1420. Further, the instructions 1412 may be transmitted or received over the network 1420 via the communication port 1418. The communication port 1418 may be part of the processor 1402 or may be a separate component. The communication port 1418 may be created in software or may be a physical connection of hardware. The communication port 1418 is configured for connection to a network 1420, external media, the display 1414, or any other component or combination of components in the system 1400. The connection to the network 1420 may be a physical connection (e.g., a wired ethernet connection) or may be established wirelessly as described below. Likewise, additional connections to other components of the system 1400 may be physical connections or may be established wirelessly.

The network 1420 may include a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network. Further, network 1420 may be a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., an intranet), or a combination thereof, and may utilize various networking protocols now available or later developed, including but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

While the computer-readable medium is shown to be a single medium, the term "computer-readable medium" includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methodologies or operations disclosed herein.

In certain non-limiting, exemplary embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include a solid-state memory, such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. Further, the computer readable medium may be a random access memory or other volatile rewritable memory. Additionally, the computer readable medium may include a magneto-optical medium or an optical medium, such as a disk or tape or other storage device for capturing a carrier wave signal (e.g., a signal transmitted over a transmission medium). A digital file attachment to an email or other self-contained information document or set of documents may be considered a distribution medium that is a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the present disclosure is contemplated to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored.

In alternative embodiments, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments may broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that may be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing may be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functions described herein.

Although the present description describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the present invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet-switched network transmissions (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. These standards are continually being superseded by faster or more effective equivalents having essentially the same function. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functionality as disclosed herein are considered equivalents of the present invention.

The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Numerous other embodiments will occur to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations herein are merely representative and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Some portions of the illustrations may be exaggerated while other portions may be minimized. The present disclosure and the figures are accordingly to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

The term "invention" is used herein to refer, individually and/or collectively, to one or more embodiments of the disclosure for convenience only and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description.

The abstract of the disclosure is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims to comply with 37c.f.r. § 1.72 (b). In addition, in the foregoing detailed description, various features are grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be applied to less than all features of any disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter.

The above-disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description. While various embodiments of the invention have been described, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims (21)

1. A method for providing interactive advertising in a video, comprising:

identifying a video to be played;

including the interactive advertisement into the video;

displaying the interactive advertisement in the video while the video is being played;

receiving an indication when there is an interaction with the interactive advertisement during playing of the video; and is

Upon receiving the indication of the interaction, displaying additional information associated with the interactive advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the video is displayed in a web page.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interactive advertisement is a hyperlink.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the interacting comprises selecting the hyperlink by mouse clicking on the interactive advertisement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises a web page for the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information relates to the interactive advertisement and includes an additional advertisement in the video.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertisement is an object embedded in the video.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the object is a product included in the video.

9. A method for interacting with advertisements in a video, comprising:

providing the advertisement during the playing of the video;

displaying the advertisement during at least a portion of the video;

detecting an interaction with the advertisement while the advertisement is displayed during the playing of the video; and

providing additional information associated with the advertisement in response to detecting the interaction with the advertisement.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is a hyperlink.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interaction is selecting the hyperlink by clicking on the advertisement.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the video is played in a web page.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of providing additional information comprises displaying a web page related to the advertisement in addition to a web page on which the video is played.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of providing additional information comprises displaying additional advertisements.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is an embedded object in the video.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is text displayed in the video.

17. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for providing selectable advertisements in a video, the storage medium comprising instructions operable to:

providing an advertisement including a selectable object;

displaying the selectable object during playback of the video, wherein the selectable object is embedded in the video; and

displaying a page associated with the advertisement upon selection of the selectable object during playback of the video.

18. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the video is played on a web page.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein the selectable object is a link to a page associated with the advertisement.

20. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein the selection comprises a mouse click.

21. The storage medium of claim 17 wherein the page associated with the advertisement is a web page of an advertiser of the advertisement.