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Timeline of online advertising

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

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Super-apps

Overview

[edit]
Decade Description
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

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Year Month and date Event type Advertisement type Description
1978 May 3 Milestone Email marketing The first instance of email spam is sent, the purpose of which is advertising.[1]
1980 Launch N/A Usenet, a popular discussion forum, launches, and is occasionally overwhelmed with advertising spam posts.[4]
1984 Launch 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]
1991 March Milestone N/A The ban on commercial use on the NSFNET is lifted by the National Science Foundation (NSF).[2][5]
1992 July Milestone Sponsorship The online newsletter TidBITS launches a sponsorship program[6] in which companies paid to provide information via an email auto-responder to pre-Web users.
1993 Launch Banner advertising GNN, one of the first web publication and web advertising services, is launched by O'Reilly Media.[7]
1994 Milestone Banner advertising The first ever clickable advertisement is sold to a Silicon Valley law firm by GNN.[8]
1994 Launch N/A HotWired, the first commercial web magazine, launches.[7][4]
1994 October 27 Milestone Banner advertising The first ever banner is sold to AT&T, and is visible on the first issue of HotWired.[9][8][3]
1995 May Acquisition Banner advertising GNN is acquired by AOL for $11 million.[10][4]
1996 Launch Ad serving DoubleClick, an online advertising company, launches.[4][11]
1996 July Launch, Milestone Search advertising Yahoo! launches the very first search ads in their search engine.[12]
1997 Invention Pop-up ads Pop-up ads are invented by Ethan Zuckerman, and considered to be a more aggressive and disliked advertising strategy.[13]
1998 September 4 Launch N/A Google, an online search engine, launches.[14][15]
1998 Invention, Launch, Milestone Ad exchange OpenX, one of the first ad exchanges, launches as an open source project.[16]
1998 Launch Search advertising GoTo (now Yahoo! Search Marketing), a search engine which offers search advertising, launches.[13]
1999 Defunction N/A HotWired is shut down after its domain is re-purposed by Lycos.[17]
2000 October 23 Launch Search advertising Google launches the AdWords service, which allows for advertising based on a user's browsing habits and their search keywords.[18][8]
2002 Invention, milestone Pop-up ads With 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]
2003 October 7 Acquisition Search advertising Overture (formerly GoTo) is acquired by Yahoo! to enrich their search engine.[20]
2004 February Launch Social media advertising Facebook, the most popular social media network, launches.[21]
2005 February 14 Launch Banner advertising YouTube, a popular video sharing website, launches.[22]
2005 Launch Demand-side platform Criteo, one of the first demand-side platforms, launches.[23]
2006 October Acquisition N/A YouTube is acquired by Google for $1.65 billion.[24]
2006 Invention, launch, milestone Ad blocking Adblock, an ad-blocking add-on for web browsers, is released.[25]
2006 Launch Content discovery platform Outbrain, an advertising company that powers external recirculation widgets, launches.[26]
2006 August Launch Native advertising YouTube launches its video advertising platform, which has a giant reach today.[27]
2007 Launch Content discovery platform Taboola, an advertising company that powers external recirculation widgets, launches.[28]
2007 Launch Behavioral targeting, social media advertising Facebook launches Beacon, an intricate advertising platform that tracks Facebook users' activities on websites outside of Facebook.[29]
2007 April 14 Acquisition Ad serving Google acquires DoubleClick, an advertising platform, for $3.1 billion.[30]
2007 May 18 Acquisition Ad serving Microsoft acquires AQuantive, an advertising platform, for $6.5 billion.[31][32]
2007 Launch Demand-side platform MediaMath, a demand-side platform, launches.[33]
2008 March Launch Demand-side platform Rocket Fuel Inc., a demand-side platform, launches.[34]
2008 December Invention/patent Viewable impression RealVu Inc.invents viewable impression 2008 Launch Ad 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.
2009 September 18 Launch Ad exchange Google launches its own ad exchange platform with DoubleClick.[36] 2009
Launch MRC viewable impression accreditation RealVu introduces the viewable impression invention to the MRC 2010 February 22 Launch Ad serving Google launches DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), an advertising software as a service.[37]
2010 April 12 Launch Social media advertising Twitter launches Promoted Tweets, which allows advertisers to pay for tweets to be shown in a user's feed.[38]
2013 April 26 Acquisition Ad serving Facebook acquires Atlas Solutions from Microsoft for $100 million, in order to enrich its already bustling advertising platform.[39][40][32][41]
2013 October Launch Social media advertising Instagram, a popular image sharing platform, releases its feature of having sponsored posts appear on user's feeds.[42]
2014 March 24 Launch Social media advertising Pinterest, a creative image sharing platform, launches its Promoted Pins service which allows for additional advertising in a user's feed.[43]
2014 June 23 Launch Ad blocking UBlock Origin, an ad-blocking extension for web browsers, launches.[44]
2014 November 14 Launch* Ad serving Facebook re-launches Atlas.[45]
2016 June 14 Launch Social media advertising Snapchat, a popular messaging app, begins to include advertisements between user's "stories".[46]
2016 August Major event Ad blocking Facebook 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

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of Spam". www.templetons.com. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  2. ^ a b "NSFNET - The Internet Launching Pad". www.livinginternet.com. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  3. ^ a b c "History of Online Display Advertising | Vantage Local". www.vantagelocal.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-15. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e "The History of Online Advertising". AdPushup Blog. 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  5. ^ "Nifty 50: THE INTERNET". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  6. ^ "TidBITS Sponsorship Program". tidbits.com.
  7. ^ a b "Electronic Commerce - CHM Revolution". www.computerhistory.org. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  8. ^ a b c "Online advertising: A history from 1993 to the present day [infographic]". Marketing Tech News. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  9. ^ Wasserman, Todd (9 August 2013). "This Is the World's First Banner Ad". Mashable. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  10. ^ "AOL Buys Everyone". tidbits.com. 5 June 1995. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  11. ^ "DoubleClick Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  12. ^ Heine, Christopher (27 October 2014). "20 Years of Digital Advertising: From Banner Ads to Sponsored Snapchats". Adweek. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  13. ^ a b Cook, Karla (12 September 2016). "A Brief History of Online AdvertisingA Brief History of Online Advertising". HubSpot. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  14. ^ "Company – Google". www.google.com. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  15. ^ "Google Founded By Sergey Brin, Larry Page... And Hubert Chang?!? -- InformationWeek". 2011-06-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2017-02-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  16. ^ "Company Facts - OpenX". OpenX. Archived from the original on 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  17. ^ "20 Years Of Web Publishing: Former HotWired And Pathfinder Execs Look Back On 1994". International Business Times. 2014-12-31. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  18. ^ "Google AdWords Turns 15: A Look Back At The Origins Of A $60 Billion Business". Search Engine Land. 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  19. ^ "Pop-up ads: now even worse - Geek.com". Geek.com. 2002-12-24. Archived from the original on 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  20. ^ "Yahoo! Inc. - Press Release". 2008-03-31. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2017-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  21. ^ Phillips, Sarah (2007-07-25). "A brief history of Facebook". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  22. ^ "YouTube Grows Up: A Visual History of How the Video-Sharing Site Has Changed Over The Past 8 Years - New Media Rockstars". New Media Rockstars. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  23. ^ "Performance Marketing That Drives More Sales | Criteo". www.criteo.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  24. ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Peters, Jeremy W. (2006-10-09). "Google to Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  25. ^ "About Adblock Plus". adblockplus.org. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  26. ^ "EP 43: Ori Lahav / OutBrain - Startup Camel Podcast". Startup Camel Podcast. 2014-10-05. Archived from the original on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  27. ^ "YouTube Launches Video Ad Platform". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  28. ^ "Our Story | World's Largest Discovery Platform | Taboola". www.taboola.com. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  29. ^ "Facebook's Beacon More Intrusive Than Previously Thought". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  30. ^ Story, Louise; Helft, Miguel (2007-04-14). "Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  31. ^ "Microsoft to Acquire aQuantive, Inc. | News Center". news.microsoft.com. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  32. ^ a b "What Facebook's Atlas Means for Brands and Agencies". Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  33. ^ "About MediaMath – MediaMath". www.mediamath.com. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  34. ^ "Programmatic Marketing Company | Rocket Fuel". Rocket Fuel. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  35. ^ Whoriskey, Peter (2008-06-25). "One Man, One Long List, No More Web Ads". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  36. ^ "Google Launches DoubleClick Ad Exchange". Bloomberg.com. 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  37. ^ "The next generation of ad serving for online publishers". Official Google Blog. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  38. ^ "Twitter launches 'promoted tweets' in a bid to make money". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  39. ^ Kern, Eliza (2013-02-28). "Facebook purchases Microsoft's Atlas Solutions for reported $100 million". gigaom.com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  40. ^ "About Atlas | Atlas Solutions". atlassolutions.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-25. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  41. ^ "Facebook to Acquire Atlas from Microsoft | Facebook Newsroom". Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  42. ^ Constine, Josh; Crook, Jordan (24 October 2013). "This Is What Instagram Ads Look Like". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  43. ^ "Pinterest gets serious about ad revenue with new 'promoted pins'". VentureBeat. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  44. ^ "gorhill/uBlock". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
  45. ^ Marshall, Jack (2016-11-18). "Shrugging off 'Atlas,' Facebook Continues Pivot from Ad Tech". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  46. ^ Vincent, James (2016-06-14). "Snapchat will start showing ads between your friends' stories". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  47. ^ "Here's Why Facebook Is Always Going to Win the Ad-Blocking War". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
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