Batch-Mode Computational Advertising Based on Modern Portfolio Theory

The research on computational advertising so far has focused on finding the single best ad. However, in many real situations, more than one ad can be presented. Although it is possible to address this problem myopically by using a single-ad optimisation technique in serial-mode, i.e., one at a time, this approach can be ineffective and inefficient because it ignores the correlation between ads. In this paper, we make a leap forward to address the problem of finding the best ads in batch-mode, i.e., assembling the optimal set of ads to be presented altogether. The key idea is to achieve maximum revenue while controlling the level of risk by diversifying the set of ads. We show how the Modern Portfolio Theory can be applied to this problem to provide elegant solutions and deep insights.