System and method for offering and billing advertisement opportunities

1. A method comprising:

accessing, using one or more processors of a machine, media to be communicated to a user device of a viewer;

accessing a communicatively coupled database that stores attributes to search for in the media, the attributes to search for in the media comprising attributes of an object of an advertisement opportunity in which an advertisement is to be embedded;

performing pattern recognition, using pattern recognition software, to identify the object in the media that includes the attributes from the database;

retrieving, from a second database, valuation information for the advertisement opportunity, the valuation information indicating a value for the advertisement opportunity based on one or more of the attributes of the advertisement, including at least a plot line attribute and an activity attribute, wherein the plot line attribute is a function of a criticality of an associated scene in a plot line comprising a plurality of scenes, wherein the value is higher for critical scenes compared to non-critical scenes, and wherein the activity attribute is associated with a determined level of activity of the scene;

determining, using one or more processors of the machine, the value for the advertisement opportunity based on the;

offering the advertisement opportunity to a potential advertiser based on the value determined using the attributes of the advertisement opportunity;

in response to the potential advertiser accepting the offering, graphically embedding an advertisement associated with the potential advertiser into a display area of the object based on placement and contour data for the object generated by the pattern recognition software; and

transmitting the media through a media distribution network to the user device of the viewer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attributes comprise a physical location of the advertisement opportunity in a scene of the media, the value assigned to the advertisement opportunity being higher based on the location being a prominent location in the scene.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the prominent location within the scene comprises an area where a level of activity in the scene is higher than other areas of the scene.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the prominent location comprises an area near a center of the scene, the center being displayable at a center of a display screen of the user device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accessing an advertiser database containing attributes associated with potential advertisers; and

determining the potential advertiser having attributes that match the attributes of the advertisement opportunity.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising billing an advertiser that purchases the advertisement opportunity based on the value assigned to the advertisement opportunity.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the billing comprises:

determining a length of time an advertisement is displayed; and

factoring the length of time into a calculation of a final invoice.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the object of the advertisement opportunity and determining the attributes occurs at the user device of the viewer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the object of the advertisement opportunity and determining of the attributes occurs at a server of a central management system.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the value further comprises including a weighted value for a plot line attribute.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphically embedded advertisement comprises an interactive advertisement, the interactive advertisement being selectable by the viewer to provide additional information related to the interactive advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value for the advertisement opportunity is based on both a first level of activity in the scene relative to one or more other scenes, and a second level of activity in a first area of the scene relative to one or more areas of the scene.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plot line attribute indicates a relevance of the scene to a plot line.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plot line attribute indicates an importance of characters in the scene.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plot line attribute indicates a mood of the associated scene as being comedy.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing media to be communicated to a user device of a viewer;

accessing a communicatively coupled database that stores attributes to search for in the media, the attributes to search for in the media comprising attributes of an object of an advertisement opportunity in which an advertisement is to be embedded;

performing pattern recognition, using pattern recognition software, to identify the object in the media that includes the attributes from the database;

retrieving, from a second database, valuation information for the advertisement opportunity, the valuation information indicating a value for the advertisement opportunity based on one or more of the attributes of the advertisement, including at least a plot line attribute and an activity attribute, wherein the plot line attribute is a function of a criticality of an associated scene in a plot line comprising a plurality of scenes, wherein the value is higher for critical scenes compared to non-critical scenes, and wherein the activity attribute is associated with a determined level of activity of the scene;

determining the value for the advertisement opportunity based on the valuation information;

offering the advertisement opportunity to a potential advertiser based on the value determined using the attributes of the advertisement opportunity;

in response to the potential advertiser accepting the offering, graphically embedding an advertisement associated with the potential advertiser into a display area of the object based on placement and contour data for the object generated by the pattern recognition software; and

transmitting the media through a media distribution network to the use device of the viewer.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the attributes comprise a physical location of the advertisement opportunity in a scene of the media, the value assigned to the advertisement opportunity being higher based on the location being a prominent location in the scene.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the value comprises a starting bid price in an auction for the advertisement opportunity or a fixed price in a fixed price offer for the advertisement opportunity, determining the potential advertiser having attributes that match the attributes of the advertisement opportunity.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

accessing an advertiser database containing attributes associated with potential advertisers; and

determining the potential advertiser having attributes that match the attributes of the advertisement opportunity.

20. A system comprising:

one or more processors of a machine; and

a hardware storage device storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing media to be communicated to a user device of a viewer;

accessing a communicatively coupled database that stores attributes to search for in the media, the attributes to search for in the media comprising attributes of an object of an advertisement opportunity in which an advertisement is to be embedded;

performing pattern recognition, using pattern recognition software, to identify the object in the media that includes the attributes from the database;

retrieving, from a second database, valuation information for the advertisement opportunity, the valuation information indicating a value for the advertisement opportunity based on one or more of the attributes of the advertisement, including at least a plot line attribute and an activity attribute, wherein the plot line attribute is a function of a criticality of an associated scene in a plot line comprising a plurality of scenes, wherein the value is higher for critical scenes compared to non-critical scenes, and wherein the activity attribute is associated with a determined level of activity of the scene;

determining the value for the advertisement opportunity based on the valuation information;

offering the advertisement opportunity to a potential advertiser based on the overall value determined using the attributes of the advertisement opportunity;

in response to the potential advertiser accepting the offering, graphically embedding an advertisement associated with the potential advertiser into a display area of the object based on placement and contour data for the object generated by the pattern recognition software; and

transmitting the media through a media distribution network to the use device of the viewer.