INTERNET ADVERTISING SYSTEM

A system for providing advertisements from a central server to viewers who access web sites. The central server stores both advertisements which are to be displayed and an information data base. The data base includes information about viewers, information about the characteristics of particular web sites and other information relevant to which advertisements should be displayed for particular viewers. Proposed bids submitted by different advertisers are evaluated in real time in order to determine which particular advertisement will be displayed to a viewer. Each proposed bid can specify a price or amount that the advertiser is willing to pay for the opportunity to display an advertisement (a) to a viewer who has a particular set of characteristics and (b) on a web site and web page that meets a particular set of criteria. The system includes (a) a web server system which has data bases stored therein, (b) bidding agents which compare the characteristics of view-ops to the specifications in proposed bids and which submit bids as appropriate, and (c) bid selection logic which decides which bid to accept for each particular view-op.