Abstract: A system for displaying promotions on a viewing device associated with a network device. The system includes a display, for example, a full-screen or partial-screen electronic program guide viewable on the viewing device while a person is using the viewing device. The system also includes a selector which when triggered causes a promotion to be shown on the display. When shown, the promotion may cover all or a portion of the viewing area of the display. Multiple promotions may be displayed simultaneously, and each promotion may be individually selectable. The selector may be triggered by the interaction of the person with the network device, for example, when the person changes channels or channel surfs, or a trigger may be embedded in a broadcast stream.

Abstract: A system for generating viewership profiles to facilitate distributing promotions based on the profiles to one or more network devices, such as set top boxes. The system includes a promotion agent associated with each network device which collects viewing activity data of the network device. For example, the viewing activity data may include a channel the network device was tuned to, a time when the network device was tuned to the channel, and a time the network device was tuned away from the channel. The collected viewing activity data is then transmitted, for example, every twenty-four hours, to a life-cycle manager server, which also periodically receives a program schedule. The program schedule typically specifies the channel on which a particular program was displayed, as well as the time the program was shown. The life-cycle manager server correlates the viewing activity data with the program schedule to generate the viewership profile of the network device.

Abstract: A system for targeting promotions to one or more network device, such as set top boxes. The system includes a program manager server or scheduler which generates a promotion schedule for the display of promotions on individual network devices. The scheduler creates the schedule by matching a viewership profile of the network device with membership criteria describing a particular demographic, viewership history, or geographic location, for example. The system also includes a promotion agent which receives the schedule from the scheduler, and then processes the schedule information. The promotion agent may transmit the processed schedule information to a bulk manager agent which may receive the promotions from a bulk manager server. The bulk manager server may actually store the promotions prior to downloading them to the bulk manager agent, or may retrieve the promotions from a database.

Abstract: A system for reporting counted impressions in a network device. The system includes a data warehouse which collects event data pertaining to viewership history on the network device. Through a user interface, such as a web browser, a user can retrieve information about the counted impressions of the network device which displayed specific promotions. The event data may pertain, for example, to channel change events, channel surfing behavior of the viewer, time events, connections to peripherals, network locations of the network device, viewing behavior of the viewer, and subsequent event data after a promotion was displayed. A trigger may be embedded in the promotion such that when the promotion is displayed an impression is counted.