The serving of advertisements with (e.g., on) video documents may be improved in a number of ways. For example, a system may (a) accept information defining at least one ad spot associated with at least one instance of an video document, (b) accept offers to have advertisements served in the ad spot(s), and (c) arbitrate among competing advertisements, using at least the offers, to determine at least one advertisement to be served in that ad spot(s). As another example, a system may (a) accept relevance information for an advertisement, (b) determine at least one video document using the accepted relevance information, (c) present information about the video document(s) to an advertiser associated with the advertisement, and (d) accept, from the advertiser, an offer to have its advertisement served with at least one of the video document(s) accepted. As yet another example, a system may (a) accept relevance information for an video document, (b) determine a plurality of advertisements relevant to the video document using the relevance information and serving constraints of the advertisements, and (c) select at least one of the determined relevant advertisements to be served with the video document. Examples of video documents include video files published on the Internet, television programs, live or recorded talk shows, video-voice mail, segments of an video conversation, etc.

A digital content recording network controller device determines a first content of a set of content to be more likely to be requested by a user of a content access device than a second content of the set of content based on monitored behavior of the user. The device stores the first content in a first storage device of a tiered group of storage devices and stores the second content in a second storage device of the tiered group of storage devices wherein the content access device is located closer to the first storage device than the second storage device. This balances storage load with accessibility, resulting in a faster responding system that does not require as much storage.

Disclosed embodiments include a content consumption monitor (CCM) determines surges in content consumption based on changes in content consumptions scores. The CCM determines the content consumptions scores for domains and/or organizations (orgs) based on session events generated by different devices/users from the org and/or domain, a number of events generated by the org/domain, content and/or user interactions with the content indicated by the events, relevancy scores of the content to one or more topics, and/or other criteria. The CCM detects surges in consumption or interest in a topic for the domain/org when the consumption score reaches a threshold and/or within a period of time. The CCM may adjust the consumption score based on the changes in the relevancy, number of events and/or the number of users over different time periods. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Disclosed embodiments include a content consumption monitor (CCM) determines surges in content consumption based on changes in content consumptions scores. The CCM determines the content consumptions scores for domains and/or organizations (orgs) based on session events generated by different devices/users from the org and/or domain, a number of events generated by the org/domain, content and/or user interactions with the content indicated by the events, relevancy scores of the content to one or more topics, and/or other criteria. The CCM detects surges in consumption or interest in a topic for the domain/org when the consumption score reaches a threshold and/or within a period of time. The CCM may adjust the consumption score based on the changes in the relevancy, number of events and/or the number of users over different time periods. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

A method for a media environment driven content distribution platform includes obtaining synchronization data derived from the content and ancillary data pegged to instants in the synchronization data derived from the content, and communicating the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content such that subsequent alignment of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content synchronizes the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content to the content.

A method for a media environment driven content distribution platform includes obtaining synchronization data derived from the content and ancillary data pegged to instants in the synchronization data derived from the content, and communicating the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content such that subsequent alignment of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content synchronizes the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content to the content.

A method of playing video is provided. The method includes: obtaining a video loading instruction and sending a loading request to a cache server, wherein the loading request is configured to request loading data, and the loading data includes at least one segment of the video corresponding to the video loading instruction; receiving the loading data from the cache server; and playing the at least one segment according to the loading data.

A computer-implemented method/system of providing video clip playback, including: (i) receiving a video feed; (ii) converting the video feed into a compressed format structure; (iii) uploading the compressed format structure to a first server; (iv) receiving an electronic edit decision list defining how to manipulate the compressed format structure; (v) saving the electronic edit decision list to a server; (vi) receiving a request to provide to a user terminal a video clip playback corresponding to a video clip defined by the compressed format structure and the electronic edit decision list; (vii) sending to the user code executable to provide the video clip defined by the compressed format structure and the electronic edit decision list, and (viii) responding to requests from the code when executed, to provide content corresponding to the compressed format structure stored, in accordance with the electronic edit decision list, to provide the decision list video clip playback.

A computer-implemented method/system of providing video clip playback, including: (i) receiving a video feed; (ii) converting the video feed into a compressed format structure; (iii) uploading the compressed format structure to a first server; (iv) receiving an electronic edit decision list defining how to manipulate the compressed format structure; (v) saving the electronic edit decision list to a server; (vi) receiving a request to provide to a user terminal a video clip playback corresponding to a video clip defined by the compressed format structure and the electronic edit decision list; (vii) sending to the user code executable to provide the video clip defined by the compressed format structure and the electronic edit decision list, and (viii) responding to requests from the code when executed, to provide content corresponding to the compressed format structure stored, in accordance with the electronic edit decision list, to provide the decision list video clip playback.

In some embodiments, a method receives a first set of video files at a node that delivers video files to client devices and receives a second set of video files. The second set of video files are predicted to be delivered by the node to a client device during a time period. The node receives a request for a video file from a client device and determines whether the video file is stored in the first set of video files and the second set of video files. When the video file is stored at the node, the node sends the video file from the first set of video files and the second set of video files. When the video file is not stored in the first set of video files and the second set of video files, the node sends a request for the video file to another node.