Guaranteed delivery of video content items based on received constraints

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• receive, at the online system from a third party system, a video-presentation request, the video-presentation request comprising a video, a video presentation period, a target video view value, and a target audience specification, the video presentation period indicating a range of dates for which the online system is to present the video to users of the online system;
• access a metadata of users of the online system;
• select a plurality of users of the online system as the audience for the video, wherein at least part of the metadata for each selected user matches the target audience specification;
• present the video to the selected users for a duration of time equal to the video presentation period received from the third party system;
• determine a video view value for the video, the video view value indicating a count of a number of times that the video was played by the selected users for at least a threshold duration;
• and
• apply the video view value to modify a pacing of delivery of the video by the online system over a period of time by:
• comparing the video view value with a video view limit, the video view limit computed by dividing the target video view value by the video presentation period;
• in response to the video view value being larger than the video view limit, delivering the video to fewer users of the online system;
• and
• in response to the video view value smaller than the video view limit, delivering the video to more users of the online system.

A computer system comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to perform steps, comprising:
• receiving, at the online system from a third party system, a video-presentation request, the video-presentation request comprising a video, a video presentation period, a target video view value, and a target audience specification, the video presentation period indicating a range of dates for which the online system is to present the video to users of the online system;
• accessing a metadata of users of the online system;
• selecting a plurality of users of the online system as the audience for the video, wherein at least part of the metadata for each selected user matches the target audience specification;
• presenting the video to the selected users for a duration of time equal to the video presentation period received from the third party system;
• determining a video view value for the video, the video view value indicating a count of a number of times that the video was played by the selected users for at least a threshold duration;
• and
• applying the video view value to modify a pacing of delivery of the video by the online system over a period of time by:
• comparing the video view value with a video view limit, the video view limit computed by dividing the target video view value by the video presentation period;
• in response to the video view value being larger than the video view limit, delivering the video to fewer users of the online system;
• and
• in response to the video view value smaller than the video view limit, delivering the video to more users of the online system.