Oct. 27, 1994
HotWired, the online version of Wired magazine, runs the first-ever banner ad. "Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE?" the ad asked. "YOU WILL" it answered. It was right. 44% of people who saw the ad clicked on it, according to Joe McCambley, who was a member of the team which built the ad for AT&T.
June 1995
SmartBanner, the first-ever ad server, is released by two Stanford graduates. Saturn and Intel are among the first clients. Dave Zinman, one of the founders, said a request for a $100,000 seed investment was returned by the Mayfield Fund with a voicemail offering $1 million. And so, the first ad-tech investment was made.