Dynamic pricing for pay-per-view events

1. A method performed by one or more devices within a subscription television network that offers pay-per-view programming to viewers, the method comprising:

receiving, by the one or more devices, criteria for triggering dynamic pricing discounts for a pay-per-view event;

establishing, by the one or more devices and based on the received criteria, dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event,

the received criteria including viewer profile historical information and real-time behavior of the viewers,

the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event changing based on a number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event,

the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event changing based on an increase or a decrease in the number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event at a first time and a second time, and

the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event changing based on historical information related to one or more other pay-per-view events that are similar to the pay-per-view event; and

offering, by the one or more devices and to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at one of the established dynamic prices.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the criteria for triggering the dynamic pricing discounts includes:

a target take rate; or

a remaining duration of the pay-per-view event.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the establishing the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event comprises:

obtaining a current take rate for the pay-per-view event;

comparing the current take rate to a target take rate; and

applying a discounted price to the pay-per-view event if the current take rate is less than the target take rate.

4. The method of claim 1 , where the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event are determined based on one or more threshold values for the criteria.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the dynamic prices for the pay-per-view event are determined based on a function of one or more of a remaining duration of the pay-per-view event or a take rate.

6. The method of claim 1 , where offering, to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at the one of the established dynamic prices comprises:

sending a current price of the pay-per-view event to one or more video clients associated with the viewers.

7. The method of claim 1 , where offering, to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at the one of the established dynamic prices comprises:

sending a price list of the pay-per-view event to one or more video clients associated with the viewers.

8. The method of claim 1 , where offering, to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at the one of the established dynamic prices comprises:

sending a pricing function for the pay-per-view event to one or more video clients associated with the viewers, the pricing function being based on the received criteria for triggering dynamic pricing discounts and a viewer profile.

9. The method of claim 1 , where offering, to the viewers over the subscription television network, the pay-per-view event at the one of the established dynamic prices comprises:

sending instructions to a video client associated with each of the viewers, where the instructions instruct the video client to indicate discounted pay-per-view event pricing on a dedicated pay-per-view event screen, an electronic program guide, or a start-up screen.

10. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to:

receive criteria for discounting a price of a pay-per-view event,

the received criteria including viewer profile historical information and real-time behavior of the viewers,

the price for the pay-per-view event changing based on a number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event,

the price for the pay-per-view event changing based on an increase or a decrease in the number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event at a first time and a second time, and

the price for the pay-per-view event changing based on historical information related to one or more other pay-per-view events that are similar to the pay-per-view event;

establish, based on the received criteria and viewing data received from one or more video clients, discounted price information for the pay-per-view event, and

send the discounted price information to at least one of the one or more video clients.

11. The system of claim 10 , where the criteria for discounting the price of the pay-per-view event includes:

a target take rate; or

a remaining duration of the pay-per-view event.

12. The system of claim 11 , where the viewer profile information includes:

logical groupings of video clients based on viewing history data; and

viewing tendencies of the logical groupings.

13. The system of claim 10 , where, when establishing, based on the received criteria and the viewing data received from one or more video clients, discounted price information for the pay-per-view event, the processor is further to execute instructions to:

determine a remaining duration for the pay-per-view event;

obtain a current take rate for the pay-per-view event;

compare the current take rate to a target take rate; and

apply a discounted price to the pay-per-view event based on the remaining duration and the comparison of the current take rate to the target take rate.

14. The system of claim 10 , where the criteria for discounting the price of the pay-per-view event is expressed as a threshold value.

15. The system of claim 10 , where the criteria for discounting the price of the pay-per-view event is expressed as a function of a remaining duration of the pay-per-view event.

16. The system of claim 10 , where the processor is further to execute instructions to:

receive an order, from one of the video clients, for the pay-per-view event; and

provide, to the one of the video clients, the pay-per-view event.

17. A method implemented at a video client, the method comprising:

receiving, from a server, discounted pricing information for a pay-per-view event, the discounted pricing information including different prices for the pay-per-view event, the different prices being based on:

viewer profile historical information associated with a viewer and real-time behavior of other viewers,

a number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event,

an increase or a decrease in the number of viewers that currently view the pay-per-view event at a first time and a second time, and

historical information related to one or more other pay-per-view events that are similar to the pay-per-view event;

providing, for presentation and to a display device, one of the different prices based on the viewer profile historical information;

receiving, from the viewer, an order request for the pay-per-view event; and

sending, to the server, the order request for the pay-per-view event.

18. The method of claim 17 , where the providing for presentation includes providing, for presentation, the one of the different prices within a pay-per-view order screen, an electronic program guide, or a start-up screen.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to obtain criteria for dynamic pricing discounts for a pay-per-view event, the criteria including:

viewer profile historical information associated with a video client,

real-time behavior of other video clients,

a number of other video clients that currently view the pay-per-view event,

an increase or a decrease in the number of other video clients that currently view the pay-per-view event at a first time and a second time, and

historical information related to one or more other pay-per-view events that are similar to the pay-per-view event,

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to establish, based on the obtained criteria, at least one discounted price for the pay-per-view event,

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to send, to the video client, an indication of the at least one discounted price for the pay-per-view event, the indication including instructions for presenting the at least one discounted price for the pay-per-view event on a display, and

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive, from the video client, an order for the pay-per-view event.

20. The medium of claim 19 , where the criteria for the dynamic pricing discounts for the pay-per-view event further comprises:

a take rate ratio.