SELECTING A COST-EFFECTIVE BANDWIDTH FOR TRANSMITTING INFORMATION TO AN END USER IN A COMPUTER NETWORK

A cost effective method for generating and delivering scalable multimedia content targeted at specific end user(s) via client computers coupled to servers by a diverse computer network which includes local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs) such as the internet. In one embodiment in which the server is billed for network bandwidth consumed, upon receiving an end user request for multimedia content, the server computes the likelihood of patronage. Indicators useful for estimating the likelihood of patronage include regularity of patronage, income history, credit worthiness, age, hobbies, occupation and marital status. A cost effective bandwidth is selected for delivering the requested content. Such an arrangement is advantageous because the content is delivered to end user at a bandwidth corresponding to the probability of consummating a sale.