Banners initially emerged as an online advertising concept in the early 1990s.

The Earliest Banner Ad Campaigns

The original websites to accept web Banner advertising include Prodigy, GNN and HotWired. It is claimed that the very first clickable Banner Ad was sold by GNN (Global Network Navigator) to a now defunct law firm, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe.

Hotwired (now wired.com) was the first website to sell multiple ad spots. Their initial campaign involved Banner Ads being sold to MCI, Volvo, ClubMed, AT&T, Zima and 1-800-Collect. The click through rate was a massive 78 per cent.

The earliest campaigns were undertaken on a “let’s explore this new medium and see what happens” basis, as stated by Frank D’Angelo, an ‘account guy’ as he called it, working for Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer (MVBMS) (a unit of Euro RSCG) at the time.

Ken McCarthy

An internet commercialization pioneer, Ken McCarthy, predicted in 1994 that the only model that was sustainable in the long run would be based on direct response (the ability to measure individual ads’ return on investment). McCarthy helped to commercialize the internet through email advertising, banner ads, pay-per-click and internet video. He mentored Rick Boyce when switching from traditional to online advertising in 1994.

Rick Boyce

HotWired chief executive officer Andrew Anker hired Boyce to sell Banner Advertising for the commercial digital magazine. It was the first campaign to sell online Banner Ads on a widespread scale. Prior to his shift to online advertising, Boyce was a media buyer with Hal Riney & Partners, a San Francisco ad agency.

State of the Internet at that Time

The creation of an online Banner campaign was quite a challenge and much of a risk in 1994, as you could imagine. At the time, the graphical web browser was Mosaic and was less than a year old. It was shortly afterward replaced by Netscape Explorer.

The Banner Ads also took quite a while to load with only dial-up Internet access having been available. The maximum speed was 24.4kps at best. The US online population was less than two million.

The Approach

MCI embraced the idea; their ethos pushing to explore new fields. Conversely, Volvo’s initial campaign started off very conservative. In particular, Volvo was concerned about legal implications, consumer response and how to handle those responses. Their Banner contained merely the logo and a photograph of their product. There was no call to action as Volvo was resistant to push consumer interaction.

The Response

Internet Banner Advertising became a booming industry until the dot com crash in 2000. During the period 1994 to 2000, Banner Ads were largely sold on a cost per impression (CPI) basis.

After 2000, came new advertising models which focused on paid search through search engine sponsored links and ad networks. Despite the gloomy outlook and various skeptics calling then end of online Banner Ads, they continue to be used as an effective way of branding and marketing over the Internet.

Many ad networks such as Yahoo, Google Adwords and AdBrite have again started focusing on display advertising in 2009. They enable automated Banner Advertising placements on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) or pay-per-click (PPC) basis. Many content websites and blogs also sell their advertising space for Banner Ads on a time basis (eg: day/s, week, month) directly to the advertiser consumer.

The success of online Banners continues to be analyzed and tested. Analysts and marketing firms have started to develop new metrics such as the “dwell rate” to truly test a Web Banner’s worth. Many claim their success cannot be tested simply by the click through rate. Studies have found that those exposed to an online Banner, are more likely to interact with the advertiser, even if they didn’t click through to their website.