Method for enhancing digital video recorder television advertising viewership
A method for enhancing digital video recorder television advertising viewership provides a method wherein the first or last number of seconds of a commercial break are carefully authored to provide a “teaser” to entice the viewer to watch multiple commercials during the commercial break instead of skipping the commercial break using the fast forward or jump functions of the DVR. A bookending function displays an advertisement before and/or after a program that has been recorded on the DVR's storage device is played to the viewer. The viewer selects a recorded program from the DVR's storage device to playback. Before the program is played back, an advertisement is retrieved from the storage device and is displayed before the program is run. Another advertisement is retrieved and then played after the program is over.
1. A method for enhancing viewership of advertisements in a digital video recorder (DVR) environment, comprising:
recording, by the DVR, program material onto at least one storage device communicatively coupled to the DVR;
receiving, by the DVR, advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement from an external source;
storing, by the DVR, the advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement on the at least one storage device;
displaying, by the DVR, a list of program materials stored on the at least one storage device;
in response to a viewer selecting a particular program material from the list, playing back, by the DVR, the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer;
upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed before the particular program material is played back, the playing back step displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer before the playing back step begins to play back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer and/or upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed after the particular program material is played back, the playing back step displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer after the playing back step has completed playing back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer, a service provider configuring the playing back step whether to display an advertisement before the particular program material is played back and/or whether to display an advertisement after the particular program material is played back;
prior to the playing back step displaying an advertisement and when the playing step has been configured by the service provider to display an advertisement, selecting, by the DVR, an advertisement from the at least one storage device to display based on characteristics of the advertisement and the viewer's viewing preferences and/or personal data;
charging, by the service provider, advertisers for targeted advertising selected by the DVR that are targeted to the specific audience that the viewer is a part of.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the playing back step selects an advertisement to be displayed after the program material playback to the viewer has been completed that is different than the advertisement displayed before the program material playback to the viewer began.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
requesting advertisements from the external source for the viewer's target audience.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving step further comprises:
recording groups of advertisements from an input source.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the recorded groups of advertisements are selected for the viewer's target audience.
6. An apparatus for enhancing viewership of advertisements in a digital video recorder (DVR) environment, comprising:
a recording subsystem, on the DVR, that records program material onto at least one storage device communicatively coupled to the DVR;
a receiving subsystem, on the DVR, that receives advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement from an external source;
a storage subsystem that stores the advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement on the at least one storage device;
a program listing subsystem, on the DVR, that displays a list of program materials stored on the at least one storage device;
a playback subsystem, on the DVR, that, in response to a viewer selecting a particular program material from the list, plays back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer;
wherein the playback subsystem, upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed before the particular program material is played back, displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer before the playback subsystem begins to play back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer and/or upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed after the particular program material is played back, displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer after the playback subsystem has completed playing back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer, a service provider configuring the playback subsystem whether to display an advertisement before the particular program material is played back and/or whether to display an advertisement after the particular program material is played back;
a selecting subsystem, on the DVR, that, prior to the playing back subsystem displaying an advertisement and when the playback subsystem has been configured by the service provider to display an advertisement, selects an advertisement from the at least one storage device to display based on characteristics of the advertisement and the viewer's viewing preferences and/or personal data;
a charging subsystem, at the service provider, that charges advertisers for targeted advertising selected by the DVR that are targeted to the specific audience that the viewer is a part of.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the playback subsystem selects an advertisement to be displayed after the program material playback to the viewer has been completed that is different than the advertisement displayed before the program material playback to the viewer began.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
a requesting subsystem, wherein the requesting subsystem requests advertisements from the external source for the viewer's target audience.
9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the receiving subsystem further comprises:
an advertisement recording subsystem, wherein the advertisement recording subsystem records groups of advertisements from an input source.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the recorded groups of advertisements are selected for the viewer's target audience.
11. A non-transitory program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for enhancing viewership of advertisements in a digital video recorder (DVR) environment, comprising the steps of:
recording, by the DVR, program material onto at least one storage device communicatively coupled to the DVR;
receiving, by the DVR, advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement from an external source;
storing, by the DVR, the advertisements along with characteristics of each advertisement on the at least one storage device;
displaying, by the DVR, a list of program materials stored on the at least one storage device;
in response to a viewer selecting a particular program material from the list, playing back, by the DVR, the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer;
upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed before the particular program material is played back, the playing back step displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer before the playing back step begins to play back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer and/or upon determining that an advertisement is to be displayed after the particular program material is played back, the playing back step displays an advertisement selected from the at least one storage device to the viewer after the playing back step has completed playing back the particular program material from the at least one storage device to the viewer, a service provider configuring the playing back step whether to display an advertisement before the particular program material is played back and/or whether to display an advertisement after the particular program material is played back;
prior to the playing back step displaying an advertisement and when the playing step has been configured by the service provider to display an advertisement, selecting, by the DVR, an advertisement from the at least one storage device to display based on characteristics of the advertisement and the viewer's viewing preferences and/or personal data;
charging, by the service provider, advertisers for targeted advertising selected by the DVR that are targeted to the specific audience that the viewer is a part of.
12. The non-transitory program storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the playing back step selects an advertisement to be displayed after the program material playback to the viewer has been completed that is different than the advertisement displayed before the program material playback to the viewer began.
13. The non-transitory program storage medium of claim 11 , further comprising:
requesting advertisements from the external source for the viewer's target audience.
14. The non-transitory program storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the receiving step further comprises:
recording groups of advertisements from an input source.
15. The non-transitory program storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the recorded groups of advertisements are selected for the viewer's target audience.