Internet advertising is growing at a rapid pace and it is the fastest growing form of advertising than any other form of traditional advertising. Even though Internet advertising has been around since 1994, which is only 18 years old, it has gained immense popularity, and today it has become a necessity for every business owner to use it as a means of advertising, promoting and selling products and services online.
Imagining life without Internet advertising would be hard. So, lets take a look at the history of Internet advertising and the developments that took place in these 18 years.
Developments that took place between 1994 – 2000
- Internet advertising or online advertising was started almost a decade ago in the year 1994.
- In mid 1990s when Internet was new to the people, there was a misconception among the people that Internet is only useful to the scientists and students who are pursuing computer related academics.
- Internet had become very common and easily available to the people during 1996 and 1997. Then, slowly people started understanding that, the Internet can also be used in various ways.
- In 1994, HotWired first sold spaces on its website for advertisements to many businesses. This was the start of the Internet advertising.
- Advertisers began buying spaces on the popular websites where their company’s brand would get noticed by the visitors.
- Number of websites started growing in thousands and millions, and advertisers felt that it was not good to stick to one popular website. Then the advertisers started buying spaces from many popular websites and made it visible to many audiences.
Developments that took place from 2000 – Present
- During early 2000, Internet users started identifying the benefits of commercial services on the Internet. This lead to the craze of having a website for businesses/organization, so that the presence of their company is felt in the Internet.
- Since the start of Internet advertising, there was a constant growth till 1998 ($1.9 billion in annual revenue). But there was huge growth of Internet advertising market in 1999($7.6 billion in annual revenue) and the momentum is still continuing. The revenue is increasing every after year.
- But the companies were not sure whether the user would visit the company’s website directly. Then came the concept of “banners” or “banner ads”.
- Banner is a small note located at one side of the website with some information and link to the company’s website. When clicked on that link, user goes directly to the company’s website.
- Internet advertising actually got noticed by the common people in 2007 with the help of Google. Google in 2007, brought the revolution of Internet advertising.
- As years passed on, developments in technology and animation advertisements increased, where the use of technologies like flash player etc. came into existence.
- Animation advertisements are small videos or a movie that attracts the user easily.
- Animation advertisements make banner ads more lively and attractive.
- After 2010, with the introduction of smart phones and advanced mobile phones in the market, it became easier for businesses to promote their products/services to the people. These high end phones provided access to the Internet and this is how Internet advertising market grew further.
- Social networking sites made targeted audiences closer to the companies and the interaction between them has become more simple.
Online advertising has made a global phenomenon, and in the coming years there are lots of surprises in store that will make the online advertising platform easier to use and navigate.