The first online ads

27/10/1994

HotWired was the first website to sell banner ads in large quantities to corporate advertisers. It was also the first commercial web magazine, launched on October 27, 1994. HotWired coined the term "banner ad" and was the first company to provide click-through rate reports to its customers.

On the first day of its launch, HotWired sold the first banner ads for AT&T. Four people are responsible in running the ad: G.M. O’Connell who founded Modem Median, the agency that ran the ad, Bill Clausen from AT&T who purchased the ad, Joe McCambley who served as the creative director for the ad, and Andrew Anker, the publisher of HotWired who first published the ad.