Cross-media distribution of advertisements

A method of providing an advertisement to a user over a television media channel, wherein the user accesses content over the television media channel using first user equipment, and accesses content over an Internet media channel using second user equipment, the method comprising:

• providing, with a first back-end system of the television media channel, the content to the first user equipment over the television media channel, wherein the first back-end system includes a first ad selection controller for tracking first activity of the user in the television media channel, and identifying candidate advertisements for the user for the television media channel based on the first activity;
• transmitting a query from the first back-end system of the television media channel to a second back-end system of the Internet media channel to determine that a second ad selection controller of the second back-end system previously provided a target advertisement to the user over the Internet media channel based on the second activity, wherein the first back-end system and the second back-end system are operated by different service providers;
• receiving a response in the first back-end system from the second back-end system that includes an advertisement identifier for the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel by the second ad selection controller, wherein the advertisement identifier is globally defined for the first back-end system and the second back-end system which are operated by the different service providers to uniformly refer to the target advertisement in the television media channel and the Internet media channel;
• modifying, with the first ad selection controller, the candidate advertisements identified for the user for the television media channel to include the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel by the second ad selection controller;
• selecting, at the first ad selection controller, the advertisement for the user for the television media channel from the modified candidate advertisements based at least in part on the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel;
• and
• providing the advertisement from the first back-end system to the first user equipment of the user over the television media channel using the advertisement identifier.

A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions in a first back-end system of a television media channel for providing an advertisement to a user over the television media channel through a first ad selection controller, the instructions, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to:

• track, with the first ad selection controller, first activity of the user in the television media channel;
• identify candidate advertisements for the user for the television media channel based on the first activity;
• communicate with a second back-end system of an Internet media channel that provides content to the user over the Internet media channel through second user equipment, wherein the second back-end system includes a second ad selection controller that tracks second activity of the user in the Internet media channel, and identifies candidate advertisements for the user over for the Internet media channel based on the second activity, wherein the first back-end system and the second back-end system are operated by different service providers;
• transmit a query from the first back-end system to a second back-end system of the second media channel to determine that the second ad selection controller previously provided a target advertisement to the user over the Internet media channel based on the second activity;
• receive a response in the first back-end system from the second back-end system that includes an advertisement identifier for the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel by the second ad selection controller, wherein the advertisement identifier is globally defined for the first back-end system and the second back-end system which are operated by the different service providers to uniformly refer to the target advertisement in the television media channel and the Internet media channel;
• responsive to the response from the second back-end system, implement the first ad selection controller to modify the candidate advertisements identified for the user for the television media channel to include the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel by the second ad selection controller, and select an advertisement for the user for the television media channel from the modified candidate advertisements based at least in part on the target advertisement previously provided to the user over the Internet media channel;
• and
• provide the advertisement from the first back-end system to the first user equipment of the user over the television media channel using the advertisement identifier.