DYNAMIC SUPPLEMENTAL CONTENT SELECTION

1 . A system, comprising:

a content delivery management system configured to:

generate a supplemental-content bid request for a content receiver based on a request received from the content receiver; and

provide, to the content receiver, supplemental content associated with a selected bid for the supplemental-content request;

a supplemental-content selection system configured to:

provide the supplemental-content bid request to a plurality of supplemental-content sources;

receive bid responses from one or more of the plurality of supplemental-content sources;

identify the selected bid from the bid responses; and

identify a non-selected bid from the bid responses; and

a supplemental-content caching system configured to store supplemental content associated with the non-selected bid identified by the supplemental-content selection system.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content selection system is further configured to:

determine that the supplemental content for the selected bid was previously stored by the supplemental-content caching system in response to previous bid responses that were not selected; and

obtain the supplemental content for the selected bid from the supplemental-content caching system.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content caching system is further configured to:

provide, to the content delivery management system, the supplemental content for the selected bid, the supplemental content being previously stored by the supplemental-content caching system in response to previous bid responses that were not selected.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content selection system is further configured to:

determine that the bid responses do not fulfill the supplemental-content request; and

obtain, from the supplemental-content caching system, supplemental content previously stored by the supplemental-content caching system in response to previous bid responses that were not selected.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the content delivery management system generates the supplemental-content bid request by being configured to:

obtain viewer-specific data for a user of the content receiver;

modify the request based on the viewer specific data; and

generate the supplemental-content bid request based on the modified supplemental-content request.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content selection system identifies the selected bid by being configured to:

obtain statistics regarding the bid responses; and

identify the selected bid from the bid responses based on the statistics.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the statistics include at least one of: how many previous viewers have been presented supplemental content associated with the bid responses, how many viewers skipped supplemental content associated with the bid responses, and how many viewers changed content providers in response to receiving supplemental content associated with the bid responses.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the content delivery management system is further configured to:

provide the supplemental-content bid request to one or more direct supplemental-content sources that directly respond with a bid response and corresponding supplemental content for the bid response.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the content delivery management system is further configured to:

receive, from one or more direct supplemental-content sources, a bid response and corresponding supplemental content for the bid response in response to the content delivery management system providing the supplemental-content bid request directly to the one or more direct supplemental-content sources.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content selection system is further configured to:

identify a plurality of possible supplemental-content sources; and

employ at least one rule or requirement to select the plurality of supplemental-content sources from the plurality of possible supplemental-content sources.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental-content selection system is further configured to:

modify the bid responses to include a supplemental-content identifier that informs the content delivery management system of specific details regarding corresponding supplemental content associated with the bid responses.

12 . A method, comprising:

generating a supplemental-content bid request for a content receiver based on a request received from the content receiver;

providing the supplemental-content bid request to a plurality of supplemental-content sources;

receiving bid responses from one or more of the plurality of supplemental-content sources;

identifying a selected bid from the bid responses;

identifying a non-selected bid from the bid responses;

providing first supplemental content associated with the selected bid to the content receiver; and

storing second supplemental content associated with the non-selected bid.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining that the first supplemental content for the selected bid was previously stored in response to previous bid responses that were not selected; and

obtaining the first supplemental content for the selected bid.

14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

obtaining the first supplemental content for the selected bid from a cache, wherein the first supplemental content was previously stored in response to previous bid responses that were not selected.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining that the bid responses do not fulfill the supplemental-content request; and

obtaining supplemental content previously stored in response to previous bid responses that were not selected.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein generating the supplemental-content bid request comprises:

obtaining viewer-specific data for a user of the content receiver;

modifying the request based on the viewer specific data; and

generating the supplemental-content bid request based on the modified supplemental-content request.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the selected bid comprises:

obtaining statistics regarding the bid responses; and

identifying the selected bid from the bid responses based on the statistics.

18 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from one or more direct supplemental-content sources, a bid response and corresponding supplemental content for the bid response in response to the content delivery management system providing the supplemental-content bid request directly to the one or more direct supplemental-content sources.

19 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

identifying a plurality of possible supplemental-content sources; and

employing at least one rule or requirement to select the plurality of supplemental-content sources from the plurality of possible supplemental-content sources.

20 . A computing system, comprising:

a memory that stores computer instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions to:

generate a supplemental-content bid request for a content receiver based on a request received from the content receiver;

provide the supplemental-content bid request to a plurality of supplemental-content sources;

receive bid responses from one or more of the plurality of supplemental-content sources;

select a bid from the bid responses for the supplemental-content request;

identify a non-selected bid from the bid responses;

provide supplemental content associated with the selected bid to the content receiver; and

cache supplemental content associated with the non-selected bid for future supplemental-content requests.