Ad serving with multiple goals using constraint error minimization

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system that attempts to reconcile diverse goals and re-cast the goals into something that is quantifiable and optimizable. One way to reconcile diverse goals is by converting these 'constraints'—with the huge problems of feasibility—into errors that can be minimized. This disclosure also presents solutions for rate constraints which previously have not been dealt with. The resulting system enables advertisers to dynamically adjust their campaign based on the needs of the moment. Such a system can have advantages in terms of controllability, smoothness, as well as avoiding hard stop conditions that plague the constraint-based approach. In order to achieve this result, solutions are presented for problems of pacing, viewability prediction, and most particularly, error minimization.