Method, content ranking system, and computer program product for ranking content based on subscriber information

A content ranking system connected to one or more network gateways of a network operator's telecommunications network and comprising a data processing system and a data storage system, said data storage system containing computer readable instructions executable by said data processing system to:

• receive from one of the one or more network gateways first information indicating that a first subscriber of the telecommunications network has consumed a first content item that was transmitted by a first content server external to the telecommunications network to the first subscriber through the telecommunications network;
• update a subscriber database comprising subscriber content consumption information identifying content items consumed by subscribers of the telecommunications network, wherein the updating the subscriber database comprises adding to the subscriber content consumption information a first subscriber information indicating that the first subscriber has consumed the first content item;
• receive second information indicating that a second subscriber of the telecommunications network has consumed a second content item that was transmitted by a second content server to the second subscriber, wherein the first content server is operated by a content hosting service that is different from a content hosting service that operates the second content server;
• add to the subscriber content consumption information a second subscriber information indicating that the second subscriber has consumed the second content item;
• obtain a search result identifying a set of content items that satisfy a query input by a requesting subscriber of the telecommunications network;
• for a content item included in the set of content items, use the subscriber content consumption information from the subscriber database to determine i) a first total number of subscribers of the telecommunications network who have consumed the content item in the set of content items and ii) a second total number of subscribers of the telecommunications network who a) consumed the content item in the set of content items and b) are determined to be similar to the requesting subscriber based on subscriber network traffic information collected by the telecommunications network;
• calculate a subscriber similarity factor for the content item in the set of content items using the first total number of subscribers and the second total number of subscribers;
• calculate a rank value for the content item in the set of content items using the calculated subscriber similarity factor and assigning the calculated rank value to the content item in the set of content items and reordering the content item in the set of content items based on the calculated rank value;
• and
• present the result to the requesting subscriber as an ordered list.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions, which, when executed by a data processing system connected to one or more network gateways of a telecommunications network, cause the data processing system to:

• receive from one of the one or more network gateways first information indicating that a first subscriber of the telecommunications network has consumed a first content item that was transmitted by a first content server external to the telecommunications network to the first subscriber through the telecommunications network;
• update a subscriber database comprising subscriber content consumption information identifying content items consumed by subscribers of the telecommunications network, wherein the updating the subscriber database comprises adding to the subscriber content consumption information a first subscriber information indicating that the first subscriber has consumed the first content item;
• receive second information indicating that a second subscriber of the telecommunications network has consumed a second content item that was transmitted by a second content server to the second subscriber, wherein the first content server is operated by a content hosting service that is different from a content hosting service that operates the second content server,
• add to the subscriber content consumption information a second subscriber information indicating that the second subscriber has consumed the second content item;
• obtain a search result identifying a set of content items that satisfy a query input by a requesting subscriber of the telecommunications network;
• for a content item included in the set of content items, use the subscriber content consumption information from the subscriber database to determine i) a first total number of subscribers of the telecommunications network who have consumed the content item in the set of content items and ii) a second total number of subscribers of the telecommunications network who a) consumed the content item in the set of content items and b) are determined to be similar to the requesting subscriber based on subscriber network traffic information collected by the telecommunications network;
• calculate a subscriber similarity factor for the content item in the set of content items using the first total number of subscribers and the second total number of subscribers;
• calculate a rank value for the content item in the set of content items using the calculated subscriber similarity factor and assigning the calculated rank value to the content item in the set of content items and reordering the content item in the set of content items based on the calculated rank value;
• and
• present the result to the requesting subscriber as an ordered list.