Introduction

Whether it’s catching up on the latest presidential election primary results on CNN.com, or sneaking in a round of Addictinggames while your boss isn’t looking, everyone has their own activity of choice on the internet. However, what all of these sites have in common, from Google to the sleaziest of niche market pornography, is that they are able to provide endless entertainment to consumers free of cost. The mechanism that allows for this incredible bargain is, of course, advertising revenues. While most consumers would probably prefer not to be bombarded with solicitations while they surf the web, it is generally understood to be a necessary evil.

Initially, when the internet began to become a part of our every day commercial and entertainment experience, advertisers approached the medium much as they were used to in more passive medium, such as the radio and television. Bombarding users with advertisements, and interrupting content, was the norm, and with the advent of the pop-up ad, things were no different on the internet than they had been on TV. However, internet users were not the passive sponges advertisers were used to dealing with, and soon began to take steps to protect their media experience. The pop-up was largely ignored, and then blocked, and it was clear a more informed understanding of consumers’ behavior in the digital age would be required to formulate effective advertising. The pop-under, which politely appears behind the active web browser, served as a significant improvement to its predecessor. However, in contrast to the highly personalized experience offered by the limitless resources of the internet, this form of advertising also failed to grasp users’ attention as effectively as possible. Eventually, advertisers came to realize that in order for effective marketing to take place online, users would have to willingly engage with advertisements, and process them through the central route. Software programs delivering ads relevant to the context of the webpage based on the use of key words and phrases were able to perform this function to a greater degree than any previous advertising device. This demonstrated advertisers' increased understanding of the active roll of consumers of internet media, and the need to engage them with material specific to the individual.

Our research team plans to explore the evolution of online advertising over time in our upcoming series of posts. We will discuss the choices made by advertisers in the development of a variety of advertising tools, and the implications that the characteristics of these tools have on their effectiveness. Most significantly, we will explore the relationship between the newfound power of consumers to dictate the content of their own media experience in the digital age and the ability of advertisers to adapt to meet these new standards.