JP7720082B2 - Advertising management system, advertising management device, advertising management program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to the provision of affiliate services, and to a technology for confirming the effectiveness of advertising by identifying users guided via advertising displayed on media and grasping the results such as contracts.

Commercial websites that sell products and other items over the Internet, enter into contracts for the provision of other services, or process reservations for services provided at brick-and-mortar stores, often use the technique of posting advertisements on general portal sites, websites managed and operated by others, or promotional sites that specialize in posting advertisements for specific product or service categories in order to attract a wide range of customers. These promotional sites post advertisements provided through advertising agency services known as affiliate services.

Affiliate services, for example, direct users to commercial sites through advertisements posted on promotional sites, and pay advertising fees to the promotional sites when set conditions, such as the conclusion of a product sales contract, are met. This affiliate service requires tracking which promotional site the user used to visit the commercial site, and then tracking the process leading up to the user performing an action that meets the set conditions.

Regarding such affiliate services, there are some that, when a user terminal device accesses advertising material, connect the user PC to an affiliate ASP server, attach a cookie containing affiliate information and advertiser information, and then redirect the user to the advertising material or product on the advertiser site, making it appear as if the user has directly accessed the product on the advertiser site from the affiliate site (for example, Patent Document 1). Also, there are some that, when an advertising banner on an advertising medium site on the Internet is clicked on a PC terminal or mobile terminal, the affiliate server redirects the mobile terminal to the advertiser site and records a unique key associating the terminal with the advertising medium site and the advertiser as a cookie in a database (for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-193613 JP 2010-250752 A

However, in such affiliate services, in order to understand the results of advertising, it is necessary to access the user's terminal device and obtain behavioral information in order to track the user on the network. For this reason, conventional affiliate services use a method in which the terminal device of a user who selected an advertising banner is first connected to the affiliate's server, and after collecting the necessary information from the terminal device, the terminal device is redirected (guided) to the advertiser's side. Since this process from information acquisition to redirection takes only a few seconds, the user is not burdened by waiting, and in some cases the user may not even realize that the redirection process has occurred.
However, in affiliate services, when users move from a promotional site to a commercial site, they unintentionally access the affiliate site and collect information. Although this information collection process is necessary for more detailed analysis of the effectiveness of advertising, there is a risk that excessive information collection may occur, which could pose a problem of user privacy.

Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a trend toward restricting the reading of cookies attached to terminal devices by anyone other than the sender, or the reading of cookies after redirection processing, from the perspective of protecting user privacy when collecting information on the Internet. Affiliate services face the issue of making it difficult to grasp the results of advertising due to such restrictions on the collection of user information on networks.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not disclose or suggest any solution to such problems, and the configurations disclosed in these documents cannot solve such problems.

The inventors of the present invention have discovered that by using information collected by service sites that conduct transactions with users, it is possible to understand the advertising information used by users and whether set conditions have been met.

Based on this knowledge, the present invention aims to realize the understanding of the advertising effectiveness of an advertising site without allowing an affiliate server that does not conduct transactions with the user to directly access the user's terminal.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one aspect of the advertising management system of the present invention comprises a first server that acquires, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify a user and progress information that can identify the access route of the terminal device, notifies a second server of this identification information and progress information , and acquires from the second server new identification information generated in association with the notified identification information and assigns it to the terminal device, and acquires the new identification information from the terminal device when set conditions are met on the website and notifies the second server of this; and a second server that associates and stores the identification information and progress information acquired through the first server, generates new identification information by associating it with the identification information and notifies the first server, compares the identification information with the new identification information when the set conditions are met , and measures the results of the advertisement display contained in the progress information based on the comparison results, wherein the first server and the second server do not perform tracking processing used for affiliate purposes on the terminal device before it accessed the website.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one aspect of the advertising management device of the present invention includes a communication unit that receives, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertising display, identification information including information that can identify the user, which is acquired by the management server of the website, and progress information that can identify the access route of the terminal device, and notifies the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device, and receives from the management server the new identification information that the management server has acquired from the terminal device when set conditions are met on the website; a memory unit that associates and stores the identification information acquired through the management server with the progress information, and stores the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website; and a processing unit that generates the new identification information by associating it with the identification information received from the management server, and measures the results of the advertising display included in the progress information based on the result of comparing the identification information with the new identification information when the set conditions are met, and does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before it accessed the website.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one aspect of the advertising management program of the present invention is an advertising management program to be implemented on a computer, which includes the following functions: receiving, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertising display, identification information including information capable of identifying a user, which is acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information capable of identifying the access route of the terminal device; notifying the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device; and receiving from the management server the new identification information acquired from the terminal device when set conditions are met on the website; associating the identification information acquired through the management server with the progress information and storing them in a memory unit; and storing the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website in the memory unit ; and generating the new identification information by associating it with the identification information received from the management server, and measuring the results of the advertising display included in the progress information based on the result of comparing the identification information with the new identification information when the set conditions are met; and does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on terminal devices before they accessed the website.

The present invention provides one of the following effects:

(1) The first server managing the service site can confirm the advertising effectiveness of the media site's advertising display by using the identification information and progress information acquired from the user's terminal device, as well as the user identification information assigned to the user's terminal device.

(2) By not allowing the second server that provides affiliate services to directly access the terminal device, information collection by devices unknown to the user is prevented, ensuring the user's privacy.

(3) By generating the discrimination information used to track users on the second server and having this discrimination information provided by the first server that transacts with the users, the setup load when introducing the affiliate service and the monitoring load on the affiliate of users who visit the service site can be reduced.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of functional parts of an advertisement management system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of access and information flow of a terminal device in an advertisement management system. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a tracking DB. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a product affiliate DB. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an affiliate DB. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing state on the terminal device side. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an advertisement management system. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an advertisement management system. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an advertisement management process. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an advertisement management process. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to a fourth embodiment.

First Embodiment
Fig. 1 shows an example of the functional configuration of an advertisement management system according to the first embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 1 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to such a configuration.
This advertisement management system 2 is an example of a functional configuration that advertises products and services offered on a service site operated and managed by a service server 12 through banner advertisements posted on media sites 6 accessed by terminal devices 4 used by users, monitors the results of the advertisements, and calculates advertising fees. In the advertisement management system 2, as shown in Fig. 1, for example, media sites 6 and service sites are located on a public network such as the Internet 8, and multiple users can communicate using terminal devices 4. The terminal devices 4 used by users are computers equipped with communication functions that can connect to the Internet 8, and include PCs (Personal Computers) and mobile communication terminals.

Media site 6 is an example of a first site of the present disclosure, and is managed and operated by a computer such as a media server (not shown). Media site 6 may be, for example, a so-called portal site that searches numerous websites on the Internet, or an advertising site that posts advertisements for service sites that offer products and services related to a specific field. This media site 6 posts banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc., which are advertisements for each product, service, or service site. Banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc. each have link information set to the corresponding product or service site, and the user's selection transfers the terminal device 4 to the set link destination. In this way, media site 6 has the function of introducing products and other items to users and guiding them to those products.

The service server 12 is an example of the first server of the present disclosure, and is composed of a computer that manages and operates the service site, sending and receiving information to and from terminal devices 4 that access it through the media site 6. The service server 12 is also an advertiser that requests advertising for products and services sold on the service site, and tracks all information acquired from the user's terminal device 4 or actions taken by the user within the service site, and transmits information necessary for identifying affiliates to the affiliate server 14 that executes the affiliate processing. This service server 12 includes, for example, an identification information collection unit 16, a user identification function unit 18, a progress information collection unit 20, and a user identification information assignment unit 22.

The identification information collection unit 16 is an example of a means for identifying the terminal device 4 of a user who has accessed a service site and collecting information to be used for tracking the behavior of the terminal device 4 within the service site. The collected identification information includes, for example, part of the information contained in a cookie (HTTP cookie) stored in the browser of the terminal device 4, information that identifies the terminal device 4, or account information that identifies the user using the terminal device 4. The identification information collection unit 16 accesses the browser when the terminal device 4 accesses the service site, for example, and extracts the identification information necessary to identify the user.

The user identification function unit 18 is an example of a function unit that determines whether a user is a target of tracking by referencing the extracted identification information and the user identification information described below. The user identification information is, for example, an example of unique information (UID) assigned to a terminal device 4 that connects to a service site and becomes a target of tracking, and is stored within the identification information collected by the identification information collection unit 16, as well as stored in the browser in association with the identification information. The user identification information is composed of, for example, random numbers generated according to predetermined rules.

The progress information collection unit 20 is an example of a functional unit that acquires progress information such as information about websites that the terminal device 4 passed through before accessing the service site, and banner advertisements. This progress information may be obtained, for example, from referrer (HTTP referrer) information stored in the browser of the terminal device 4.

The user identification information assigning unit 22 is an example of a functional unit that sends user identification information to a terminal device 4 that has accessed the service site and has the browser assign the information. The user identification information is generated by the affiliate server 14 and is obtained from the affiliate server 14 when the terminal device 4 accesses the service site.

Affiliate server 14 is an example of the second server or advertising management device of the present disclosure, and is composed of a computer that selects media sites 6 and issues instructions for placing banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc. at the request of the advertiser's service server 12, as well as monitors terminal devices 4 that access the service site and determines whether an affiliation has been established. Affiliate server 14 receives, for example, the identification information and progress information of terminal devices 4 extracted by service server 12, as well as the determination result of the presence or absence of user identification information (UID) and user identification information. Affiliate server 14 also sends newly generated or partially updated user identification information to service server 12, and may also include instruction information to be assigned to terminal devices 4. Affiliate server 14 includes, for example, a communication unit 24, a processing unit 26, and a storage unit 28, in addition to a processor and memory (not shown).

The communications unit 24 has the ability to connect to general networks such as the Internet 8, and also uses socket communications to identify the service server 12 that provides the affiliate service and send and receive data such as identification information and user identification information.

The processing unit 26 is an example of a functional unit for executing affiliate processing such as tracking processing and generation of user identification information, and functions by executing, for example, an advertisement management program stored in the storage unit 28. The processing unit 26 includes, for example, an identification information processing function unit 30, a user identification information generation unit 32, a counting unit 34, and the like.
The identification information processing function unit 30 is an example of a function unit that identifies the terminal device 4 and the user of the terminal device 4 accessing the service site based on the identification information received from the service server 12 .
The user identification information generating unit 32 generates a new UID based on the result of the service server 12 determining whether a UID exists, or updates the access date and the like of an already assigned UID.
The aggregation unit 34 is an example of a functional unit that performs a process of generating a tracking DB 60 (FIG. 4) for the terminal device 4 to be tracked, using identification information, user identification information, progress information, and the like.

The memory unit 28 stores the OS (Operating System) that controls the basic operations of the affiliate server 14, the advertising management program that executes the affiliate functions, the communication processing program, etc., and also functions as a work area for the processor to process the advertising management program. The memory unit 28 also contains a database (DB) 36 used for advertising management processing, which stores information about the terminal device 4, information about service sites that have requested affiliation, and information about media sites 6 that advertise.

<About Advertising Management System 2>
2 and 3 show an example of the configuration of the advertisement management system, the behavior of the terminal device, and the flow of information.
The terminal device 4 operated by the user is equipped with a browser 40 for browsing websites, for example. The browser 40 stores information provided by browsing websites, such as identification information contained in cookies, user identification information provided by the service server 12, and progress information identifying the websites accessed by the terminal device 4.

The service site operated by the service server 12 is composed of, for example, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46.
The main page 42 is the top page of the site, a page listing products, or a page listing each product, and is a page that is guided to and displayed by the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, . . . 10-6 of the media site 6.
The separate page 44 is made up of, for example, one or more pages, and the pages are movably linked to each other and to the main page 42. The separate pages 44 and the separate page 44 and the main page 42 are located, for example, in the same domain.
The conversion page 46 is an example of a page that is displayed when or immediately before a condition set by an affiliate is achieved, and is a page that indicates, for example, that payment for a product or service has been completed or that a reservation has been completed.

The advertisement management system 2 is configured to perform information collection and tracking processing when a terminal device 4 accesses the main page 42. As a result, in the advertisement management system 2, for example, as shown in A of Figure 3, when a user's terminal device 4 accesses a media site 6 and selects a specific banner advertisement 10 posted there, the user is directed to the main page 42 of the service site. At this time, the service site collects specific identification information 50 (Figure 2), progress information 52 (Figure 2), service site ID, etc. from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 and transmits them to the affiliate server 14. The affiliate server 14 stores the acquired information in DB 36. Furthermore, when the service server 12 acquires the user identification information 54 generated by the affiliate server 14, it adds the user identification information 54 to the information that the service server 12 issues to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4.

Affiliate server 14, for example, reads identification information 50, progress information 52, and other information into processing unit 26, generates user discrimination information 54 based on this information, sets terminal device 4 as a tracking target, and stores information about terminal device 4 in DB 36. DB 36 includes, for example, a tracking DB 60 that stores information such as identification of the tracking target, progress information, and results, an affiliate DB 62 for products that specifies targets for advertising and destinations for advertisements, and an affiliate DB 64 that specifies destinations for banner advertisements 10.
The processing unit 26 also causes the communication unit 24 to transmit the user identification information 54 to the service server 12, instruction information instructing the terminal device 4 to assign the user identification information 54, and the like.

When a user achieves a set goal, such as deciding to purchase a product or completing a reservation, the service server 12 displays a conversion page 46 on the browser 40 of the terminal device 4, as shown in Figure 3B. At this time, the service server 12 accesses the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 to obtain the identification information and UID, and transmits specific information and progress information stored in the cookie, a service site ID 56 for identifying the advertiser, product information 58, and other information to the affiliate server 14. The affiliate server 14 compares the information and UID obtained from the browser 40 with the information stored in DB 36, for example, to confirm that the user of the terminal device 4 that achieved the goal is a target for tracking and to determine whether the media site 6 that directed the terminal device 4 to the service site is eligible for affiliation. Based on the determination, the affiliate server 14 then generates advertising performance information 66. The advertising performance information 66 serves as the basis for calculating and paying compensation to the media site.

The service server 12 requests the terminal device 4 that has accessed the main page 42 to send or collect information, and reads the identification information 50 and progress information 52 from the browser 40. The service server 12 determines, for example, whether or not user identification information 54 is present in the identification information 50 or associated with the identification information 50, and transmits the result, along with the identification information 50 and progress information 52, to the affiliate server 14. The service server 12 also assigns the user identification information 54 received from the affiliate server 14 to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4.

<About Tracking DB60>
Fig. 4 shows an example of a tracking DB. The information stored in the DB shown in Fig. 4, as well as the display items, display names, and order of the information, are examples.
This tracking DB 60 stores information about users who have accessed the service site and become the target of tracking, or information obtained from the user's terminal device 4, and information about operations at the service site, and includes, for example, an index section 601, a user identification information section 602, a media ID section 603, a service site ID section 604, an advertisement number section 605, an issue date section 606, a conversion date section 607, and an end-of-use date and time section 608.

The index section 601 stores information for identifying data generated in the tracking DB 60.

The user identification information unit 602 stores the UID (user identification information 54) generated by the processing unit 26. This UID may be set for each terminal device 4, for example, or multiple UIDs may be set for the same terminal device 4. The UID is information used to determine whether a terminal device 4 directed by a banner advertisement 10, or the user of that terminal device 4, is a tracking target. Therefore, if different banner advertisements 10 are set for multiple different products sold on the same service site, different UIDs can be set because the tracking targets are different.

The media ID section 603 stores information, such as address information, to identify the media site 6 that directed the terminal device 4.

The service site ID section 604 stores information for identifying the advertiser's service site, such as address information, as well as the name and type of the service site.

The advertisement number section 605 stores information for identifying the banner advertisement 10 to which the terminal device 4 is directed in response to a selection operation, for example.

The issue date section 606 stores the date on which new information was created or updated in the tracking DB 60.

The conversion date section 607 stores the date on which the terminal device 4 completed the conversion on the service site.

The used date and time section 608 stores the date and time information used by the processing unit 26 to generate the outcome information 66 after the conversion was completed.

<Product Affiliate DB62>
FIG. 5 shows an example of a product affiliate DB.
The product affiliate DB62 is an example of a database used to manage product information that is the subject of advertising and the destination of that advertising, and includes an index section 621, a service site ID section 622, a media ID section 623, a product number section 624, a product name section 625, an operation flag section 626, a remuneration amount section 627, etc.

The index section 621 stores information for identifying data generated within the affiliate DB 62.

The service site ID section 622 stores information for identifying the service site, such as address information, as well as the name and type of the service site.

The media ID section 623 stores information, such as address information, to identify the media site 6 that directs users to the product page of the advertised product or service site.

The product number section 624 stores information such as numbers set to distinguish product types, etc.

The product name section 625 stores information such as the name and model number of the product being advertised.

The operation flag section 626 stores information indicating whether the product information registered in the product affiliate DB 62 is being advertised using a banner advertisement 10 on any media site 6, or whether it is set as a tracking target on a service site.

The remuneration amount section 627 stores the advertising remuneration amount paid to the operator of media site 6 upon successful conversion.

<Affiliate DB64>
FIG. 6 shows an example of the affiliate DB.
Affiliate DB 64 is an example of a database that manages media sites 6 that are affiliates that advertise by posting banner advertisements 10 for products and services of advertiser service sites. This affiliate DB 64 includes, for example, an affiliate ID section 641, a media registrant name section 642, an account information section 643, an email address section 644, and an affiliate information section 645.

The affiliate ID section 641 stores, for example, the registration order of media sites 6 that have entered into a contract with the affiliate server 14 to display advertisements and pay a fee for the display.

The media registrant name section 642 stores information such as the name of the administrator of the media site 6 .
The account information section 643 stores information such as payment method and payee for advertising fees paid according to the results of advertising.
The email address section 644 is an example of contact information for the administrator of the media site 6. This contact information may include information such as a telephone number in addition to an email address.
The affiliate information section 645 stores information about the media site 6, matters related to the placement of the banner advertisement 10, and other information related to the affiliate contract.

<Regarding Access Status by Terminal Device 4>
FIG. 7 shows an example of the processing state on the terminal device side.
7A, the media site 6 is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4 using a browser 40. The user selects a banner advertisement 10-1 on the terminal device 4 by operating an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse, or a touch panel formed on the display unit.

When banner advertisement 10-1 is selected, the terminal device 4 accesses the service site according to the set link information, and the main page 42 is displayed on the display unit, as shown in Figure 7B, for example. At this time, the terminal device 4 stores, for example, in the browser 40, progress information 52 indicating that the media site 6 has been accessed, as well as identification information 70 and user identification information 54 issued by the service site.

This service site is, for example, a restaurant reservation site, and reservation application processing is set as an affiliate setting condition. As shown in, for example, C of FIG. 7, as the reservation application proceeds within the service site, a final confirmation screen 46-I, which is one of the conversion pages, is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4. This final confirmation screen 46-I displays a transmission operation section for confirming the reservation application, and by selecting and operating this transmission operation section, the user confirms agreement with the reservation details and confirms the application to the service site. Then, as shown in, for example, D of FIG. 7, a completion page 46-II is displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4 from the service site, which includes a display indicating that the reservation has been completed and an inquiry number. This completion page 46-II is one of the conversion pages 46.
At this time, the service server 12 reads out the identification information 70 and the user discrimination information 54 from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4, for example, before or when displaying the final confirmation screen 46-I or the completion page 46-II, and uses this information to determine which banner advertisement 10 resulted in the result.

<Regarding the processing of the advertising management system 2>
8 and 9 show an example of sequence processing of the advertisement management system. The processing contents and processing procedures shown in Fig. 8 and 9 are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to such contents.
These sequence processes are an example of the advertisement management program of the present disclosure.
The user's terminal device 4 accesses a specific media site 6 (S101), and when the user selects any of the banner advertisements 10 displayed there (S102), the user is directed to a set service site (S103).

The service server 12, which manages the service site, obtains progress information and the like from the accessing terminal device 4 (S104) and determines that it has been redirected from the service site. The service server 12 then accesses the terminal device 4 (S105) and obtains identification information from the browser 40 (S106). At this time, the service server 12 determines, for example, whether user identification information indicating that the terminal device 4 has previously accessed the service site is stored, and notifies the affiliate server 14 of the result of this determination (S107).

When the affiliate server 14 acquires the identification information for identifying the terminal device 4 and its user, the user identification information 54, the user identification information, and other information from the service server 12 (S108), it stores this information in the tracking DB 60 (S109). If the affiliate server 14 does not have the user identification information, new data regarding the terminal device 4 is registered in the tracking DB 60. If the affiliate server 14 has the user identification information, the processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 extracts the file of the terminal device 4 from the tracking DB 60 and updates the date of access to the service site, etc.
Then, depending on the result of the determination of whether or not user identification information is present, the processing unit 26 generates new user identification information or performs update processing such as date information recorded in the acquired user identification information (S110), and then transmits this user identification information and instruction information to the service server 12 (S111).

When the service server 12 acquires new or updated user identification information (S112), it assigns the user identification information to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 based on the instruction information (S113).

The terminal device 4 performs an operation on the service site that satisfies the set conditions (S201). The operation that satisfies the set conditions may be performed, for example, after the user visits the service site and continues to access the site, or may be performed when the user accesses another site, or when the user accesses the service site again on a different day. In other words, the advertising management system 2 does not need to perform continuous sessions of accessing the service site once user identification information has been assigned to the terminal device 4.

When an operation that satisfies the set conditions occurs, the service server 12 performs a conversion confirmation process (S202). The service server 12 accesses the terminal device 4 (S203), acquires the identification information and user identification information (S204), and transmits this information to the affiliate server 14 (S205).
When the processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 acquires the identification information (S206), it reads the data of the terminal device 4 stored in the tracking DB 60 (S207) and compares the user identification information to determine whether or not it matches (S208). If the processing unit 26 determines that the user identification information matches, it generates performance information 66 resulting from the banner advertisement 10 or advertising on the media site 6 registered in the tracking DB 60 (S209) and performs affiliate aggregation processing (S210). The processing unit 26 also organizes the information stored in the tracking DB 60 (S211).

<About advertising management processing>
Fig. 10 shows an example of advertisement management processing. The processing contents and processing procedures shown in Fig. 10 are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to such a configuration.
This advertisement management process is an example of an advertisement management program of the present disclosure, and is executed by affiliate server 14, which is an advertisement management device.

This advertisement management process includes, for example, a process A that is performed when the terminal device 4 accesses a service site, and a process B that is performed when an operation that satisfies the conditions set in the tracking process is performed.
In process A of the advertisement management process, for example, the service server 12 notifies the processing unit 26 of the access information of the terminal device 4 (S311), and the processing unit 26 acquires the identification information, progress information, user identification information, etc. of the terminal device 4 through the service server 12 (S312). The processing unit 26 accesses the tracking DB 60 and determines whether matching identification information and user identification information are stored (S313). If matching information is found (YES in S313), the processing unit 26 reads the data of the matching terminal device 4, updates the information in the user identification information, such as the access date, to the latest information, and updates the tracking DB 60 (S314, S315).

Furthermore, if there is no matching information in the tracking DB 60 (NO in S313), the processing unit 26 generates user identification information (S316) and stores this user identification information, identification information, progress information, etc. in the tracking DB 60 (S317).

Then, the processing unit 26 transmits either the updated user identification information or the newly created user identification information, along with instruction information to the service server 12 (S318).

In process B of the advertising management process, the processing unit 26 receives a conversion notification from the service server 12 and acquires information such as user identification information (S319). The processing unit 26 reads the tracking DB 60 (S320) and determines whether matching user identification information is available (S321). If matching user identification information is available (YES in S321), the processing unit 26 determines whether it has media information that is eligible for affiliate services (S322). In determining this media information, the processing unit 26 also determines whether it has a contract with the affiliate server 14 regarding advertising using banner advertisements 10 and receiving compensation for that advertising.

If the processing unit 26 has media information (YES in S322), it uses this media information to generate affiliate performance information 66 (S323), and then performs an update process by deleting part of the information in the tracking DB 60, including the product or service for which the conversion was achieved, or the user's identification information and user identification information (S324). When deleting this information, for example, information that matches the same user identification information or the product being tracked in the tracking DB 60 and has matching user identification information is extracted and deleted.

[Effects of the First Embodiment]
According to this configuration, one of the following effects can be obtained.

(1) By not conducting transactions or contracts with the user's terminal device 4 and by not allowing an affiliate server 14 that the user is not aware of to directly access the terminal device 4 and collect identification information 50, user identification information 54, etc., the user's privacy can be ensured.

(2) The service server 12 can confirm the advertising effectiveness of the advertisements displayed on the media site 6 by using the identification information 50 and progress information 52 acquired from the user's terminal device 4, and the user identification information 54 assigned to the user's terminal device 4.

Second Embodiment
Fig. 11 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the second embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 11 is one example. In Fig. 11, the same parts as in Fig. 2 are given the same reference numerals.
11 , for example, in this advertising management system 2, when a terminal device 4 accesses through a banner advertisement 10 on a media site 6, a service server 12 accesses the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 to collect identification information 50 and progress information 52 recorded in the referrer, etc. Then, the service server 12 selects all of the collected information or only information that has been conditioned in advance as information necessary for affiliate processing and transmits it to the affiliate server 14 without determining whether the information collected from the terminal device 4 contains user identification information for determining whether the user has accessed the site before.

The processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 is equipped with, for example, a user identification function unit 80, which performs a process to determine whether user identification information 54 is included in the information received from the service server 12.

In addition, the advertising management system 2 may perform the same advertising management process as shown in the first embodiment, except for the process of determining whether or not user identification information 54 is present.

<About advertising management processing>
12 shows the advertisement management process. The process contents and procedure shown in FIG. 12 are an example.
In process A of the advertisement management process, as shown in FIG. 12, when the service server 12 notifies the processing unit 26 of the access information of the terminal device 4 (S411), the processing unit 26 acquires the identification information and progress information of the terminal device 4 through the service server 12 (S412). The processing unit 26 then uses the user identification function unit 80 to determine whether the acquired identification information and other information contain user identification information (S413). If the processing unit 26 has identified and read the user identification information (YES in S413), it accesses the tracking DB 60 and determines whether matching identification information or user identification information is stored (S414). If matching information is found (YES in S414), the processing unit 26 updates the tracking DB 60 by updating information such as the access date in the user identification information to the latest information (S415, S416).

Furthermore, if the processing unit 26 determines that no user identification information exists in the acquired identification information or other information (NO in S413), or if there is no matching information in the tracking DB 60 (NO in S414), it generates new user identification information (S417) and stores this user identification information, identification information, progress information, etc. in the tracking DB 60 (S418).

Then, the processing unit 26 transmits either the updated user identification information or the newly created user identification information, along with instruction information to the service server 12 (S419).

Note that process B of the advertising management process may be the same as processes S319 to S324 in Figure 10.

[Effects of the second embodiment]
According to this configuration, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) The same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

(2) The presence or absence of user identification information 54 for identification information 50 and progress information 52 collected from the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 is not determined within the service server 12, but rather the determination process is performed by the processing unit 26 of the affiliate server 14 that performs tracking processing, thereby reducing the load on the service server 12 that processes product sales, etc.

(3) Furthermore, by not allowing the service server 12 to perform tracking processing on the terminal device 4, even if an inconvenience such as maintenance on the affiliate server 14, an unintended server downtime, or other processing stagnation occurs, the impact on the product sales processing by the service server 12 can be minimized.

(4) By limiting the service server 12 to sending and receiving information to and from the terminal device 4 and sending information to the affiliate server 14, there is no need to set up advanced and extensive processing programs on the service server 12, thereby reducing the implementation burden of the advertising management system 2.

Third Embodiment
FIG. 13 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the third embodiment.
In this advertisement management system 2, as shown in FIG. 13, for example, a service site managed and operated by a service server 12 is made up of an affiliate page 90, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46.
The affiliate page 90 is a page for performing tracking processes, including information collection processes from the terminal device 4, transmission of identification information and the like to the affiliate server 14, reception of user identification information 54, and assignment of the user identification information 54 to the browser 40 of the terminal device 4. This affiliate page 90 is configured to be displayed first to a terminal device 4 accessing a service site, for example. Therefore, it is not necessary to set link information for banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 presented on the media site 6 to direct the user to the affiliate page 90. Furthermore, even if a bookmark or the like is set for the main page 42 or another page 44 of the service site, the terminal device 4 may be configured to forcibly display the affiliate page 90 when accessing the service server 12. The affiliate page 90 is formed, for example, in the same domain as the main page 42, the another page 44, and the conversion page 46.

Then, once the service server 12 has completed information collection and the assignment of user identification information 54 on the affiliate page 90 for the terminal device 4 that accessed the service site, it redirects the terminal device 4 to the main page 42. This affiliate page 90 is, for example, a page without text or color, and is displayed for one to several seconds. Therefore, due to the load of the tracking process, a user using the terminal device 4 may only be able to see the affiliate page 90 for a moment, or may not be able to see it at all.

[Effects of the third embodiment]
According to this configuration, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) The same effects as those of the first or second embodiment can be obtained.

(2) The service server 12 executes a system program (not shown) when displaying the main page 42 on the terminal device 4. However, by interposing an affiliate page 90 that only performs tracking processing before displaying the main page 42, the execution timing of the system program and the tracking processing does not overlap, enabling the processing load to be distributed.

(3) By distributing the processing load through the affiliate page 90, it is possible to prevent stagnation of page generation processing when displaying the main page 42 or moving to other pages 44 when access to the service site is concentrated.

Fourth Embodiment
Fig. 14 shows an example of the configuration of an advertisement management system according to the fourth embodiment. The configuration shown in Fig. 14 is just an example.
14, the advertisement management system 2 has a service site managed and operated by the service server 12, which is composed of an affiliate page 90, a main page 42, a separate page 44, and a conversion page 46. In addition, in the advertisement management system 2, banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 posted on the media site 6 are shown as main page 42 to which users are directed by advertisements, with link information set to individual product pages 92A, 92B, ..., 92N, respectively.

In this type of advertising management system 2, regardless of which banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6 is selected, the affiliate page 90 is forcibly displayed when the service server 12 is accessed, and information is collected from the accessing terminal device 4 as a tracking process, transmitted to the affiliate server 14, and user identification information 54 is assigned. Then, once the tracking process on the affiliate page 90 is complete, the service server 12 references the link information set in the selected banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6 and redirects the user to the corresponding product page 92A, 92B, ... 92N.

[Effects of the Fourth Embodiment]
According to this configuration, the same effects as those of the third embodiment can be obtained.

The following are some of the features and variations of the embodiment described above.

(1) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the terminal device 4 accessed the service site through the media site 6, but this is not limited to this. In other words, the advertising management system 2 can perform tracking processing even if, for example, the terminal device 4 first accesses the service site through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6, but does not complete a conversion by purchasing a product or reserving a service, leaves the service server 12, and then accesses the service site directly without passing through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6. For example, the terminal device 4 may set a bookmark (not shown) for the main page 42 or a separate page 44 for each product, and then directly access the specified page from the second time onwards. For example, when the terminal device 4 accesses the service server 12, the advertising management system 2 may forcibly move to the main page 42 or the affiliate page 90 and perform tracking processing.

In addition, the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 stores the user identification information and previous identification information assigned last time, but may store progress information from the previous access, or the progress information may have been deleted due to the passage of time. In this case, the affiliate server 14 reads out user information stored in the tracking DB 60 based on the user identification information. This user information stores previous progress information such as a media ID. Therefore, when this user converts, the affiliate server 14 may generate advertising performance information using the previous or earlier progress information stored in the tracking DB 60 for the progress information of the media site that was not obtained in the current tracking process.

This process allows users to be guided by banner advertisements 10 and understand the effectiveness of advertising for high-priced or time-consuming products or services, even if they leave the website and end their session between their initial viewing and purchase.

(2) In the above embodiment, a pre-set main page 42 is displayed as a landing point for the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 set on the media site 6, leading the user's terminal device 4 to the browser 40. However, this is not limited to this. For example, if different banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-X placed on the same or different media sites 6 are linked to the same main page 42, the service server 12 may change the display content of the main page 42 for each user depending on the banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-X that the user's terminal device 4 has visited.

The service server 12 stores, for example, configuration information for the main page 42, such as background color, multiple products, and format information for fitting these products, as well as linked banner advertisement information. Furthermore, the service server 12 stores combination information that associates different format information and background color information for each piece of banner advertisement information linked to the main page 42. This allows the browser 40 of the terminal device 4 to display a main page 42 with a different configuration depending on whether, for example, banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, and 10-3 in media 1 are selected or banner advertisements 10-4, 10-5, and 10-6 in media 2 are selected.

With this configuration, the user's impression of the landing main page 42 can be changed depending on conditions such as the background color of the media site 6 and the number and placement state of the banner ads 10. For example, if the media site 6 has a light background color, adjusting the background color of the main page 42 to a light color scheme of the same color scheme, or conversely, to a dark color scheme, can give users viewing the service site an impression of increased purchasing motivation and a calm atmosphere for browsing products. Furthermore, if the media site 6 gives the impression of being cluttered with banner ads and other explanations, reducing the number of products displayed on the service site can create a calm impression for users due to factors such as the gap in the display configuration, leading to increased interest in products and increased purchasing motivation. Furthermore, the service server 12 or affiliate server 14 may count the number of user visits and the success of conversions for each banner advertisement 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, ..., and may offer product discounts, bonuses, or change the page display content to users who visit through banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 that exceed a predetermined threshold. By offering bonuses to banner advertisements 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-6 with such effective advertising effects, it is possible to invigorate the advertising activities of the media site 6 and to expect an increase in the number of user visits and conversions.

As explained above, the most preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above description. Various modifications and changes are possible for those skilled in the art based on the gist of the invention as set forth in the claims or disclosed in the description for carrying out the invention. It goes without saying that such modifications and changes are included within the scope of the present invention.

2 Advertising management system 4 Terminal device 6 Media site 8 Internet 10, 10-1, 10-2, ... 10-6 Banner advertisement 12 Service server 14 Affiliate server 16 Identification information collection unit 18 User discrimination function unit 20 Progress information collection unit 22 User discrimination information assignment unit 24 Communication unit 26 Processing unit 28 Storage unit 30 Identification information processing function unit 32 User discrimination information generation unit 34 Aggregation unit 36 DB
40 Browser 42 Main page 44 Other page 46 Conversion page 46-I, 46-II Completion page 50, 70 Identification information 52 Progress information 54 User identification information 56 Advertiser ID
58 Product information 60 Tracking DB
601, 621 Index section 602 User identification information section 603 Media ID section 604 Service site ID section 605 Advertisement No. section 606 Issue date section 607 Conversion date section 608 Used date and time section 62 Product affiliate DB
622 Service site ID section 623 Media ID section 624 Product No. section 625 Product name section 626 Operation flag section 627 Remuneration amount section 64 Affiliate DB
641 Affiliate ID section 642 Media registrant name section 643 Account information section 644 Email address section 645 Affiliate information section 66 Performance information 80 User identification function section 90 Affiliate page 92A, 92B, ... 92N Product page

Claims (3)

a first server that acquires, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information that can identify a user and progress information that can identify an access route of the terminal device, notifies a second server of the identification information and progress information, acquires new identification information generated in association with the notified identification information from the second server and assigns it to the terminal device, and acquires the new identification information from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website and notifies the second server of the new identification information;
a second server that associates and stores the identification information and the progress information acquired through the first server , generates new identification information by associating it with the identification information, notifies the first server of the new identification information, compares the identification information with the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied , and measures the results of the advertisement display included in the progress information based on the comparison result;
wherein the first server and the second server do not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before the terminal device accesses the website. a communication unit that receives, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information capable of identifying a user and that has been acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information capable of identifying an access route of the terminal device, and that notifies the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device, and that receives from the management server the new identification information that the management server has acquired from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website;
a storage unit that stores the identification information and the progress information acquired through the management server in association with each other, and stores the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website;
a processing unit that generates new identification information in association with the identification information received from the management server, and measures the results of advertisement display included in the progress information based on a comparison result between the identification information and the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied ;
and wherein the advertising management device does not perform a tracking process used for affiliate marketing on the terminal device before the terminal device accesses the website. An advertisement management program to be realized by a computer, the program having a function of receiving, from a terminal device that has accessed a website via an advertisement display, identification information including information capable of identifying a user, which is acquired by a management server of the website, and progress information capable of identifying the access route of the terminal device, notifying the management server of new identification information to be assigned to the terminal device, and receiving from the management server the new identification information acquired from the terminal device when a set condition is satisfied on the website;
a function of storing the identification information and the progress information acquired through the management server in a storage unit in association with each other, and storing the new identification information associated with the identification information assigned to the terminal device that accessed the website in the storage unit;
a function of generating new identification information in association with the identification information received from the management server, and measuring the results of advertisement display included in the progress information based on a comparison result between the identification information and the new identification information when the set condition is satisfied ;
and wherein the advertising management program does not perform tracking processing used for affiliate marketing on a terminal device before the terminal device accesses a website.