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Started by Lou Tremblay (@liminal_lou) ·

the guy who wrote the pop-up ad apologized for it

Ethan Zuckerman says he wrote the code at Tripod in the late 90s so ads would open in their own window instead of showing up next to content advertisers didn't want to be near. Later he publicly apologized.

6 sources · 38 min down the hole

How I got here

Started with
“who invented pop up ads”
Ended at
“first banner ad click through rate 44%”

The Trail

  1. “who invented pop up ads” (google.com)
  2. Pop-up ad (en.wikipedia.org)
  3. Ethan Zuckerman (en.wikipedia.org)
  4. Web banner (en.wikipedia.org)

    first one sold by HotWired was AT&T's, October 27, 1994

  5. HotWired (en.wikipedia.org)
  6. “first banner ad click through rate 44%” (google.com)

What I came away with

HotWired coined the term 'banner ad' and sold one to AT&T in October 1994. It asked 'Have you ever clicked your mouse right here?' and supposedly got a click-through rate around 44%, which sounds made up now.

Keep going