Timeline of online advertising

Last updated

This page is a timeline of online advertising . Major launches, milestones and other major events are included.

Contents

Overview

DecadeDescription
Late 1970s–

1980s

Much of online advertising during this time period is done through Email, in the form of spamming. [1] Such activities have continued to this day, but became much more common after the ban against the commercial use of the internet was lifted in 1991. [2]
1990s–

2000s

With people now having their own websites, banner ads are used as a source of income to pay for these websites and as side money. Companies like Prodigy, Global Network Navigator (GNN), and HotWired are pioneers in the business of online advertising. [3]
2000s–

2010s

As more companies capable of providing advertising services emerge, several major successful companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL begin to dominate the market. [3]

Timeline

YearMonth and dateEvent typeAdvertisement typeDescription
1978May 3Milestone Email marketing The first instance of email spam is sent, the purpose of which is advertising. [1]
1980LaunchN/A Usenet, a popular discussion forum, launches, and is occasionally overwhelmed with advertising spam posts. [4]
1984Launch Banner advertising Prodigy launches, offering one of the first online advertising services; although these ads are always in the same spot on the screen, and are non-clickable. [4]
1991MarchMilestoneN/AThe ban on commercial use on the NSFNET is lifted by the National Science Foundation (NSF). [2] [5]
1992JulyMilestoneSponsorshipThe online newsletter TidBITS launches a sponsorship program [6] in which companies paid to provide information via an email auto-responder to pre-Web users.
1993LaunchBanner advertisingGNN, one of the first web publication and web advertising services, is launched by O'Reilly Media. [7]
1994MilestoneBanner advertisingThe first ever clickable advertisement is sold to a Silicon Valley law firm by GNN. [8]
1994LaunchN/AHotWired, the first commercial web magazine, launches. [7] [4]
1994October 27MilestoneBanner advertisingThe first ever banner is sold to AT&T, and is visible on the first issue of HotWired. [9] [8] [3]
1995MayAcquisitionBanner advertisingGNN is acquired by AOL for $11 million. [10] [4]
1996Launch Ad serving DoubleClick, an online advertising company, launches. [4] [11]
1996JulyLaunch, Milestone Search advertising Yahoo! launches the very first search ads in their search engine. [12]
1997Invention Pop-up ads Pop-up ads are invented by Ethan Zuckerman, and considered to be a more aggressive and disliked advertising strategy. [13]
1998September 4LaunchN/AGoogle, an online search engine, launches. [14] [15]
1998Invention, Launch, Milestone Ad exchange OpenX, one of the first ad exchanges, launches as an open source project. [16]
1998LaunchSearch advertisingGoTo (now Yahoo! Search Marketing), a search engine which offers search advertising, launches. [13]
1999DefunctionN/AHotWired is shut down after its domain is re-purposed by Lycos. [17]
2000October 23LaunchSearch advertisingGoogle launches the AdWords service, which allows for advertising based on a user's browsing habits and their search keywords. [18] [8]
2002Invention, milestonePop-up adsWith the annoyance brought about by pop-up ads, many web browsers such as Firefox, Netscape, and Opera begin to roll out features to block these ads. [19]
2003October 7AcquisitionSearch advertisingOverture (formerly GoTo) is acquired by Yahoo! to enrich their search engine. [20]
2004FebruaryLaunchSocial media advertisingFacebook, the most popular social media network, launches. [21]
2005February 14LaunchBanner advertising YouTube, a popular video sharing website, launches. [22]
2005Launch Demand-side platform Criteo, one of the first demand-side platforms, launches. [23]
2006OctoberAcquisitionN/AYouTube is acquired by Google for $1.65 billion. [24]
2006Invention, launch, milestone Ad blocking Adblock, an ad-blocking add-on for web browsers, is released. [25]
2006Launch Content discovery platform Outbrain, an advertising company that powers external recirculation widgets, launches. [26]
2006AugustLaunch Native advertising YouTube launches its video advertising platform, which has a giant reach today. [27]
2007LaunchContent discovery platform Taboola, an advertising company that powers external recirculation widgets, launches. [28]
2007Launch Behavioral targeting, social media advertising Facebook launches Beacon, an intricate advertising platform that tracks Facebook users' activities on websites outside of Facebook. [29]
2007April 14AcquisitionAd servingGoogle acquires DoubleClick, an advertising platform, for $3.1 billion. [30]
2007May 18AcquisitionAd servingMicrosoft acquires AQuantive, an advertising platform, for $6.5 billion. [31] [32]
2007LaunchDemand-side platformMediaMath, a demand-side platform, launches. [33]
2008MarchLaunchDemand-side platform Rocket Fuel Inc., a demand-side platform, launches. [34]
2008DecemberInvention/patentViewable impressionRealVu Inc.invents viewable impression2008LaunchAd blocking Rick Petnel creates Easylist, one of the most popular filter lists available for ad-blocking web browser add-ons. [35] The filter list Easylist Privacy is also available, and focuses on the blocking of web elements that may invade a user's privacy.
2009September 18LaunchAd exchangeGoogle launches its own ad exchange platform with DoubleClick. [36] 2009
LaunchMRC viewable impression accreditationRealVu introduces the viewable impression invention to the MRC2010February 22LaunchAd servingGoogle launches DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), an advertising software as a service. [37]
2010April 12LaunchSocial media advertising Twitter launches Promoted Tweets, which allows advertisers to pay for tweets to be shown in a user's feed. [38]
2013April 26AcquisitionAd servingFacebook acquires Atlas Solutions from Microsoft for $100 million, in order to enrich its already bustling advertising platform. [39] [40] [32] [41]
2013OctoberLaunchSocial media advertising Instagram, a popular image sharing platform, releases its feature of having sponsored posts appear on user's feeds. [42]
2014March 24LaunchSocial media advertising Pinterest, a creative image sharing platform, launches its Promoted Pins service which allows for additional advertising in a user's feed. [43]
2014June 23LaunchAd blocking UBlock Origin, an ad-blocking extension for web browsers, launches. [44]
2014November 14Launch*Ad servingFacebook re-launches Atlas. [45]
2016June 14LaunchSocial media advertising Snapchat, a popular messaging app, begins to include advertisements between user's "stories". [46]
2016AugustMajor eventAd blockingFacebook states that they will start blocking the use of ad blocking extensions, specifically Adblock Plus and Adblock. In response to this, these ad-blockers begin to block Facebook's blocking in a back-and-forth "war". [47]

(*) Such launches are not initial launches, but rather re-launches.

See also

Related Research Articles

Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints.

Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advertisements are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google. They can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google beta-tested a cost-per-action service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick offering. In Q1 2014, Google earned US$3.4 billion, or 22% of total revenue, through Google AdSense. In 2021, more than 38 million websites used AdSense. It is a participant in the AdChoices program, so AdSense ads typically include the triangle-shaped AdChoices icon. This program also operates on HTTP cookies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Ads</span> Online advertising platform owned by Google

Google Ads formerly known as Google Adwords is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, and videos to web users. It can place ads in the results of search engines like Google Search, mobile apps, videos, and on non-search websites. Services are offered under a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model, and a cost-per-view (CPV) pricing model.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings and increase the Call to action (CTA) on the website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roku, Inc.</span> American technology company

Roku, Inc. is an American streaming technology company, founded in 2002 by Anthony Wood. It produces streaming players and TVs, licenses its technology to other manufacturers, and distributes streaming services on its platform. Roku leads streaming TV distribution in the U.S., reaching 120 million viewers as of 2024. Outside the U.S., the company operates in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., and Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Advertising</span> Online advertising service

Microsoft Advertising is an online advertising platform developed by Microsoft, where advertisers bid to display brief ads, service offers, product listings and videos to web users. Provides pay per click advertising on search engines Bing, Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo, as well as on other websites, mobile apps, and videos.

In-game advertising (IGA) is advertising in electronic games. IGA differs from advergames, which refers to games specifically made to advertise a product. The IGA industry is large and growing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising or data-driven marketing is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.

Xandr, formerly known as AppNexus, is an American multinational technology company operating a cloud-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising. Headquartered in the Flatiron District of New York City, the company has 23 offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media marketing</span> Promotion of products or services on social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers.

AdBlock is an ad-blocking browser extension for Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Firefox, Samsung Internet, Microsoft Edge and Opera. AdBlock allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being displayed. It is free to download and use, and it includes optional donations to the developers. The AdBlock extension was created on December 8, 2009, which is the day that supports for extensions was added to Google Chrome. It was one of the first Google Chrome extensions that was made.

Chango, Inc. was a Canadian-based, online marketing company was founded in 2008, focusing on search retargeting and programmatic marketing. It was acquired by Rubicon Project in 2015 for $122 million, but it was closed down in 2017.

Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, video, article or editorial piece of content. In some cases, it functions like an advertorial. The word native refers to the coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.

Oracle Advertising, formerly Datalogix, is an American cloud-based consumer data collection, activation, and measurement platform for use by digital advertisers. Datalogix was a consumer data collection company based in Westminster, Colorado that provided offline consumer spending data to marketers that was aquired by Oracle in 2014.

Google Contributor was a program run by Google that allowed users in the Google Network of content sites to view the websites without any advertisements that are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google.

AdChoices is a self-regulatory program for online interest-based advertising that exists in the United States, Canada and across Europe. The program calls for advertising companies to establish and enforce responsible privacy practices for interest-based advertising, aimed to give consumers enhanced transparency and control. Companies adhere to a set of principles that are enforced by accountability programs.

Snap Inc. is an American technology company, founded on September 16, 2011, by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown based in Santa Monica, California. The company developed and maintains technological products and services, namely Snapchat, Spectacles, and Bitmoji. The company was named Snapchat Inc. at its inception, but it was rebranded Snap Inc. on September 24, 2016, in order to include the Spectacles product under the company name.

Taboola, Inc. is a publicly traded advertising and technology company headquartered in New York City. It provides "content recommendation" adverts on its partner websites.

Automate Ads was an American advertising technology company that offered products for running and creating advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook. The company was founded in 2011 and was acquired by AdHawk in October 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privacy Sandbox</span> Google initiative

The Privacy Sandbox is an initiative led by Google to create web standards for websites to access user information without compromising privacy. Its core purpose is to facilitate online advertising by sharing a subset of user private information without the use of third-party cookies. The initiative includes a number of proposals, many of these proposals have bird-themed names which are changed once the corresponding feature reaches general availability. The technology include Topics API, Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting, Private Aggregation, Shared Storage and Fenced Frames as well as other proposed technologies. The project was announced in August 2019.

References

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