Method and system for supporting a real-time auction of digital advertising in online media using an embedded script

A method of automatically determining an auction floor for an ad insertion field of a user interface that presents digital content, the method comprising:

• by a processor while an electronic device displays a page comprising digital content, wherein the page includes an ad insertion field:
• receiving an indication that the electronic device is displaying the page and the ad insertion field;
• identifying an auction floor value that is associated with the ad insertion field;
• using the auction floor value to generate and submit to an advertising platform a phantom bid to insert content into the ad insertion field, wherein the phantom bid includes a tag that identifies the phantom bid as the phantom bid;
• after an advertisement has been displayed in the ad insertion field, executing a measurement script that examines the ad insertion field and a data attribute for the ad insertion field, wherein the data attribute indicates whether the advertisement being displayed in the ad insertion field includes the content from the phantom bid;
• and
• if the advertisement being displayed includes the content from the phantom bid, generating a signal to adjust the auction floor value downward, otherwise not generating the signal to adjust the auction floor value downward.

A computer program product for automatically determining an auction floor for an ad insertion field of a user interface that presents digital content, the computer program product comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• programming instructions that are configured to cause a processor to, while an electronic device displays a page comprising digital content, an ad insertion field and a measurement script:
• in response to receiving an indication that the electronic device is displaying the page and the ad insertion field, identify an auction floor value that is associated with the ad insertion field,
• use the auction floor value to generate and submit to an advertising platform a phantom bid to insert content into the ad insertion field, wherein the phantom bid includes a tag that identifies the phantom bid as the phantom bid, and
• after an advertisement has been displayed in the ad insertion field, upon receiving, from the measurement script, a data attribute for the ad insertion field, wherein the data attribute indicates whether the advertisement being displayed in the ad insertion field includes the content from the phantom bid:
• generating a signal to adjust the auction floor value downward when the advertisement being displayed includes the content from the phantom bid, otherwise not generating the signal to adjust the auction floor value downward.

A computer program product for automatically determining an auction floor for an ad insertion field of a user interface that presents digital content, the computer program product comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• programming instructions that are configured to cause a processor to, while an electronic device displays a page comprising digital content and an ad insertion field:
• in response to receiving an indication that the electronic device is displaying the page and the ad insertion field, identify an auction floor value that is associated with the ad insertion field,
• use the auction floor value to generate and submit to an advertising platform a phantom bid to insert content into the ad insertion field, wherein the phantom bid includes a tag that identifies the phantom bid as the phantom bid,
• after an advertisement has been displayed in the ad insertion field, execute a measurement script that examines the ad insertion field and a data attribute for the ad insertion field, wherein the data attribute indicates whether the advertisement being displayed in the ad insertion field includes the content from the phantom bid, and
• if the advertisement being displayed includes the content from the phantom bid, generate a signal to adjust the auction floor value downward, otherwise not generate the signal to adjust the auction floor value downward.

A method of automatically determining an auction floor for an ad insertion field of a user interface that presents digital content, the method comprising:

• by a solution server processor, while an electronic device is displaying digital content having an ad insertion field, executing instructions to:
• determine a category associated with the ad insertion field;
• receive, from a data store, a previously determined floor value associated with the category;
• use the floor value to generate and submit a phantom bid to a real-time auction of the ad insertion field among a plurality of external sources of content, causing one or more of the external sources of content to issue a bid;
• receive, from a measurement script that is running on a page that is displaying the ad insertion field, information about a winning bid for the ad insertion field;
• using the information about the winning bid to determine whether the phantom bid is the winning bid;
• and
• if the phantom bid is the winning bid, generating a signal to adjust the floor value downward, otherwise not generating the signal to adjust the floor value downward.