Method, apparatus, and computer program product for ranking content channels

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for ranking channel pages of a host system. Content channels may comprise content relating to a particular category or having a commonality. Explicit data provided by user input, and/or implicit data derived or received from a user device or third party may be used to generate explicit and/or implicit parameters. Based on the parameters, content channels may be ranked and displayed in an order based on the ranking, and/or a home content channel may be identified. The host system may therefore target a user with relevant content.

That which is claimed: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive an indication of data associated with a user, wherein the data is received from at least one of a user device, a remote third party system, a browser history, or a prior purchase history;   receive a request from the user device to access at least one of a website or mobile application of a host system;   in response to receiving the request from the user device to access at least one of the website or the mobile application of the host system, rank a plurality of content channel pages hosted by the host system for potential display responsive to a request to access the host system, each of the plurality of content channel pages being associated with a respective category of content, wherein the plurality of content channel pages are ranked based on relevancy of the categories of content associated with each content channel page relative to the data associated with the user such that different ranking are determined from the plurality of content channel pages for different users having different associated data; and   transmit an indication of the rankings to the user device, such that at least one of a browser of the user device or a homepage of the mobile application displays indicators associated with the content channel pages in an order based on the ranking, responsive to the request to access the at least one of the website or the mobile application of the host system.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 cause display of detailed content of a first ranked content channel page.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the displayed detailed content is in a map format or a list format dependent on the respective content channel: 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 cause display of detailed content of a respective content channel page other than a defaulted content channel page in response to a user selection of the respective indicator.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 select one of the plurality of content channel pages for suppression based on the ranking.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the data comprises a detected location of the user device, and the relevancy of the categories of content associated with each content channel page is based on the detected location of the user device. 
     
     
         7 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions to:
 cause display of detailed content of a first ranked content channel page.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprising program code instructions to:
 cause display of detailed content of a first ranked content channel page.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the displayed detailed content is in a map format or a list format dependent on the respective content channel: 
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprising program code instructions to:
 cause display of detailed content of a respective content channel page other than a defaulted content channel page in response to a user selection of the respective indicator.   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprising program code instructions to:
 select one of the plurality of content channel pages for suppression based on the ranking.   
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the data comprises a detected location of the user device, and the relevancy of the categories of content associated with each content channel page is based on the detected location of the user device. 
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 receiving an indication of data associated with a user, wherein the data is received from at least one of a user device, a remote third party system, a browser history, or a prior purchase history;   receiving a request from the user device to access at least one of a website or mobile application of a host system;   in response to receiving the request from the user device to access at least one of the website or the mobile application of the host system, ranking a plurality of content channel pages hosted by the host system for potential display responsive to a request to access the host system, each of the plurality of content channel pages being associated with a respective category of content, wherein the plurality of content channel pages are ranked based on relevancy of the categories of content associated with each content channel page relative to the data associated with the user such that different ranking are determined from the plurality of content channel pages for different users having different associated data; and   transmitting an indication of the rankings to the user device, such that at least one of a browser of the user device or a homepage of the mobile application displays indicators associated with the content channel pages in an order based on the ranking, responsive to the request to access the at least one of the website or the mobile application of the host system.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 causing display of detailed content of a first ranked content channel page.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the displayed detailed content is in a map format or a list format dependent on the respective content channel: 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein further comprising:
 causing display of detailed content of a respective content channel page other than a defaulted content channel page in response to a user selection of the respective indicator.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 selecting one of the plurality of content channel pages for suppression based on the ranking.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the data comprises a detected location of the user device, and the relevancy of the categories of content associated with each content channel page is based on the detected location of the user device.