OR PRACTICE–Scheduling of Dynamic In‐Game Advertising

Dynamic in‐game advertising is a new form of advertising in which ads are served to video game consoles in real time over the Internet. We present a model for the in‐game ad‐scheduling problem faced by Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, and a leading global network provider of in‐game ad space. Our model has two components: (1) a linear program (solved periodically) establishes target service rates, and (2) a real‐time packing heuristic (run whenever a player enters a new level) tracks these service rates. We benchmark our model against Massive's legacy algorithm: When tested on historical data, we observe (1) an 80%–87% reduction in make‐good costs (depending on forecast accuracy), and (2) a shift in the age distribution of served ad space, leaving more premium inventory open for future sales. As a result of our work, Massive has increased the number of unique individuals that see each campaign by, on average, 26% per week and achieved 33% smoother campaign delivery as measured by standard deviation of hourly impressions served.