Global media exchange marketplace for media contents

1 . A method comprising:

managing media content participants in an on-line global media exchange (GMX) marketplace, the participants including a first party and a second party, the first and second parties including at least one of a content owner, a buyer, an advertiser, and a third-party service provider; and

executing a transaction between the first and second parties via the on-line GMX marketplace, the transaction being customized according to, and negotiated between, the first and second parties.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein managing the participants comprises:

registering the participants having participant profiles, each of the participant profiles including at least one of identification information, geographical information, transaction preferences, and target preferences;

allowing the content owner to manage a content owner inventory; and

maintaining an exchange inventory of media contents, the exchange inventory including at least one of content metadata, rights associated with the media content, and preferred target participants, the exchange inventory being one of a total exchange inventory and an active exchange inventory.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein executing the transaction comprises:

enabling the first party to initiate a deal to the second party; and

enabling a negotiation of the deal between the first and second parties.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein enabling the first party to initiate the deal comprises:

allowing the first party to access the exchange inventory;

creating a deal proposal based on an offer submitted by the first party; and

notifying the second party of the deal proposal.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein enabling the negotiation comprises:

receiving a response from the second party regarding the deal proposal, the response including one of an offer acceptance, an offer rejection, and an offer modification; and

notifying the first party of the response.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein executing the transaction further comprises:

finalizing the deal with transaction terms;

creating a new packaged inventory item if one of the first and second parties is the advertiser; and

updating the exchange inventory.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein executing the transaction further comprises:

generating an entitlement according to the transaction terms.

8 . The method of claim 4 wherein creating the deal proposal comprises:

creating the deal proposal according to the offer being one of a cash offer, an advertising bid, and a revenue share bid; and

incorporating licensing profile into the deal proposal when the offer is the cash offer or the revenue share bid.

9 . The method of claim 4 wherein maintaining the exchange inventory of media contents comprises:

creating the active exchange inventory from the total exchange inventory.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein allowing the first party to access the exchange inventory comprises:

allowing the first party to perform an access action on the active exchange inventory, the access action being one of a search, a preview, and a selection.

11 . An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

managing media content participants in an on-line global media exchange (GMX) marketplace, the participants including a first party and a second party, the first and second parties including at least one of a content owner, a buyer, an advertiser, and a third-party service provider; and

executing a transaction between the first and second parties via the on-line GMX marketplace, the transaction being customized according to, and negotiated between, the first and second parties.

12 . The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein the data causing the machine to perform managing the participants comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

registering the participants having participant profiles, each of the participant profiles including at least one of participant identification information, geographical information, transaction preferences, and target preferences;

allowing the content owner to manage a content owner inventory; and

maintaining an exchange inventory of media contents, the exchange inventory including at least one of content metadata, rights associated with the media content, and preferred target participants, the exchange inventory being one of a total exchange inventory and an active exchange inventory.

13 . The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein the data causing the machine to perform executing the transaction comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

enabling the first party to initiate a deal to the second party; and

enabling a negotiation of the deal between the first and second parties.

14 . The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the data causing the machine to perform enabling the first party to initiate a deal to the second party comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

allowing the first party to access the exchange inventory;

creating a deal proposal based on an offer submitted by the first party; and

notifying the second party of the deal proposal.

15 . The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein the data causing the machine to perform enabling the negotiation of the deal comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a response from the second party regarding the deal proposal, the response including one of an offer acceptance, an offer rejection, and an offer modification; and

notifying the first party of the response.

16 . The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the data causing the machine to perform executing the transaction further comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

finalizing the deal with transaction terms;

creating a new packaged inventory item if one of the first and second parties is the advertiser; and

updating the exchange inventory.

17 . The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the data causing the machine to perform executing the transaction further comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

generating an entitlement according to the transaction terms.

18 . The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the data causing the machine to perform creating the deal proposal comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

creating the deal proposal according to the offer being one of a cash offer, an advertising bid, and a revenue share bid; and

incorporating licensing profile into the deal proposal when the offer is the cash offer or the revenue share bid.

19 . The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the data causing the machine to perform maintaining the exchange inventory comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

creating the active exchange inventory from the total exchange inventory.

20 . The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the data causing the machine to perform allowing the first party to access the exchange inventory comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

allowing the first party to perform an access action on the active exchange inventory, the access action being one of a search, a preview, and a selection.

21 . A marketplace comprising:

a user interface module to interface with media content participants in an on-line global media exchange (GMX) marketplace, the participants including a first party and a second party, the first and second parties including at least one of a content owner, a buyer, an advertiser, and a third-party service provider;

a participant manager coupled to the user interface module to manage the media content participants; and

a transaction manager coupled to the user interface module and the participant manager to execute a transaction between the first and second parties.

22 . The marketplace of claim 21 wherein the user interface module comprises:

an administration front end module to administer interactions between the GMX marketplace and the participants; and

a services module to provide on-line services to the participants, the services module including at least one of an application programming interface (API), an inventory access module, a participant configuration module, and a transaction tool module.

23 . The marketplace of claim 21 wherein the participant manager comprises:

a business intelligence (BI) repository to store business information regarding the participants;

an inventory manager to manage inventories of media contents, the inventories including at least one of a content owner inventory, a total exchange inventory, and an active exchange inventory;

a participant registry to maintain registration information on the participants; and

an interoperability manager to maintain interoperability among the participants.

24 . The marketplace of claim 21 wherein the transaction manager comprises:

a component manager to manage a component of the GMX marketplace, the component including at least one of a business-to-business (B2B) information gateway, a content management application, an electronic commerce (e-Commerce) application, a customer relationship management (CRM) application, a BI engine, a back office application, a services fulfillment application, an asset licensing application, and a rights management application; and

an execution engine coupled to the component manager to enable and fulfill the transaction.

25 . The marketplace of claim 24 wherein the execution engine enables the first party to initiate a deal to the second party and enables a negotiation of the deal between the first and second parties.

26 . The marketplace of claim 25 wherein the execution engine comprises:

a proposal creator to create a deal proposal based on an offer submitted by the first party, the offer being one of a cash offer, an advertising bid, and a revenue share bid, the proposal creator incorporating licensing profile into the deal proposal when the offer is the cash offer or the revenue share bid; and

a communication unit to forward the deal proposal to the second party and to forward a response from the second party to the first party, the response including one of an offer acceptance, an offer rejection, and an offer modification; and

a deal finalizer to finalize the deal with transaction terms.

27 . The marketplace of claim 25 wherein inventory manager comprises:

a content owner inventory manager to manage the content owner inventory; and

an exchange inventory manager to manage the exchange inventory, the exchange inventory manager updating the exchange inventory after the deal is finalized.

28 . The marketplace of claim 21 further comprising:

a portal engine to provide a centralized access point for the GMX marketplace.

29 . The marketplace of claim 26 wherein the deal finalizer generates an entitlement according to the transaction terms.

30 . The marketplace of claim 22 wherein the inventory access module allows the first party to perform an access action on the active exchange inventory, the access action being one of a search, a preview, and a selection.