Advertising plays a critical role in many media, and the Web has not been the exception. Beyond what it might provoke in users, advertising has found ways to adapt to new devices and new technologies. Still, advertising on the Web had a beginning: the first advertising "banner" was placed online in 1994, and the one who paid for it was none other than AT&T.
This is an established rule, and one that probably won't receive any modification in the short term, with the exception (perhaps) of finding a place on new platforms and devices. If the page, service, or app has no cost to the user, the most common thing these days is to receive advertising in return.
But this was not always so on the Web for a simple reason: At one time, only a handful of privileged people had sufficient resources to access the Web, which was also a costly and slow process. Talking about "promote a product on the Web" in those years was not only risky, but there were also plenty of those who considered the idea ridiculous.
The first web banner
It was October 27, 1994. MS-DOS still ruled the world, accompanied by Windows 3.11, and the howls of telephone modems caused pleasure and pain at the same time, providing access to a new digital world that demanded a high price at the end of the month.
That same day the first advertising "banner" was placed online, developed by the digital agency Modern Media. The goal of the ad was to promote seven art museums on the HotWired.com portal, and the sponsor behind the ad was AT&T. Joe McCambley was one of those who helped create that first ad, and he explains that of all the people who saw it, the 44 percent clicked on it.
McCambley also added that while traditional agencies stayed away from the Web, Modern Media did a lot of work for big brands, a period that lasted about four years. It may not be much, nor pretty, but it is history.
