Pixel advertising
Encyclopedia
Pixel advertising is a form of display advertising
on the web
, in which the cost of each advertisement is calculated dependent on the number of pixel
s it occupies.
Pixel advertising gained popularity in the last quarter of 2005 when British
student Alex Tew created a website named The Million Dollar Homepage
, and solicited advertisers to buy ad space measured in pixels on the homepage. The price was set at $1 USD per pixel, and there were 1 million pixels of space available.
Many web sites which host pixel ads exist in a variety of compositions. A few newer sites have additional features that allows a larger image to appear when visitors hover the cursor over a small pixel ad, while others allow pixel ads to be bought for a temporary period of time.
There also exist various ‘Do it yourself’ pixel scripts such as the Million Pixel Script and GPix Pixel Ad Script
. These scripts made it possible for people with little knowledge or skills to implement a pixel ad system on their website. This has sparked the growth of thousands of pixel websites worldwide.
Display advertising
Display advertising is a type of advertising that typically contains text , logos, photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising can appear on the same page as, or on the page adjacent to, general editorial content...
on the web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, in which the cost of each advertisement is calculated dependent on the number of pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
s it occupies.
Pixel advertising gained popularity in the last quarter of 2005 when British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
student Alex Tew created a website named The Million Dollar Homepage
The Million Dollar Homepage
The Million Dollar Homepage is a website conceived in 2005 by Alex Tew, a student from Wiltshire, England, to raise money for his university education. The home page consists of a million pixels arranged in a pixel grid; the image-based links on it were sold for $1 per pixel in blocks...
, and solicited advertisers to buy ad space measured in pixels on the homepage. The price was set at $1 USD per pixel, and there were 1 million pixels of space available.
Many web sites which host pixel ads exist in a variety of compositions. A few newer sites have additional features that allows a larger image to appear when visitors hover the cursor over a small pixel ad, while others allow pixel ads to be bought for a temporary period of time.
There also exist various ‘Do it yourself’ pixel scripts such as the Million Pixel Script and GPix Pixel Ad Script
GPix Pixel Ad Script
GPix is a open source script use Pixel advertising form of display advertising on the web, in which the cost of each advertisement is calculated dependent on the number of pixels it occupies....
. These scripts made it possible for people with little knowledge or skills to implement a pixel ad system on their website. This has sparked the growth of thousands of pixel websites worldwide.
External links
- "How Selling Pixels May Yield a Million Bucks" Wall Street Journal article on Alex Tew and his Million Dollar Homepage