This page is a timeline of online advertising. Major launches, milestones and other major events are included.
E-commerce |
---|
![]() |
Digital content |
Retail goods and services |
Online shopping |
Mobile commerce |
Customer service |
E-procurement |
Purchase-to-pay |
Super-apps |
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] |
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.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
This page is a timeline of online advertising. Major launches, milestones and other major events are included.
E-commerce |
---|
![]() |
Digital content |
Retail goods and services |
Online shopping |
Mobile commerce |
Customer service |
E-procurement |
Purchase-to-pay |
Super-apps |
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] |
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.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)