Conditional bids in an auction

A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device and comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• identify, by one or more processors, a placement opportunity for content to be presented on a user device, a user of the user device being characterized as being included in one or more groups in which each group is defined by the user having a respective attribute value for a respective attribute type;
• provide a bid request to a plurality of content sponsors, the bid request including characteristic information, wherein the characteristic information comprises a plurality of attributes types that each identifies a type of information known to a serving system about the user without specifying a known attribute value that is known about the user;
• receive bids from the content sponsors including one or more conditional bids that each establish a price to be used in an auction for the placement opportunity, wherein each of the one or more conditional bids is for presentation to a user who has a particular attribute value for a particular attribute type;
• evaluate the received bids from the content sponsors in view of the known attribute value including using conditional bids that have been received from the content sponsors that have provided a bid for the known attribute value in the auction to determine a winning content item and a winning bid of a winning content sponsor for placement in the placement opportunity;
• provide the winning content item for placement in the placement opportunity based on the evaluating;
• and
• provide, to the winning content sponsor, billing information for auctions in which the winning content sponsor participated without revealing any attribute values received for winning bids.

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory elements including instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to:
• identify, by one or more processors, a placement opportunity for content to be presented on a user device, a user of the user device being characterized as being included in one or more groups in which each group is defined by the user having a respective attribute value for a respective attribute type;
• provide a bid request to a plurality of content sponsors, the bid request including characteristic information, wherein the characteristic information comprises a plurality of attributes types that each identifies a type of information known to a serving system about the user without specifying a known attribute value that is known about the user;
• receive bids from the content sponsors including one or more conditional bids that each establish a price to be used in an auction for the placement opportunity, wherein each of the one or more conditional bids is for presentation to a user who has a particular attribute value for a particular attribute type;
• evaluate the received bids from the content sponsors in view of the known attribute value including using conditional bids that have been received from the content sponsors that have provided a bid for the known attribute value in the auction to determine a winning content item and a winning bid of a winning content sponsor for placement in the placement opportunity;
• provide the winning content item for placement in the placement opportunity based on the evaluating;
• and
• provide, to the winning content sponsor, billing information for auctions in which the winning content sponsor participated without revealing any attribute values received for winning bids.