Buy Pixels, Get Noticed

Pixel advertising is the term given to visual advertisements on the Web,

which have their cost calculated dependent on the number of pixel, which they

occupy. That's the simplest definition of pixel advertising available on the

Web-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia . Pixel advertising, is one of the youngest

concepts in the world of Internet advertising today. In September 2005, a

British student by the name of Alex Tew created a website called 'The Million

Dollar Homepage' (www.milliondollarhomepage.com).

The website allowed advertisers to buy ad space measured in pixels on the

homepage. The space available were 1 mn pixels and were priced at $1 per pixel.

The entire space was sold out in a record time of five months and this grabbed

attention worldwide.

Since the advent of 'The Million Dollar Homepage', pixel advertising has

gained popularity as a cost-effective mode of advertising on the Internet.

Today, websites that host pixel ads exist in various compositions. However, most

of the websites sell pixels on the basis of the principle followed by Tew, which

is in blocks of minimum 100 pixels (10x10 is the block size). The concept of

block made sense, because anything meaningful on the Web page would require at

least that much space. Says Tew on his website, “You can't display anything

meaningful in one pixel-nor click it easily-so visually, it would be

pointless. With thousands of random tiny colored dots all over the place, the

homepage would look ghastly.”

Typically pixel advertising provides a platform that acts like a billboard

for the advertiser and provides a link to the site of the advertiser or the

homepage that could potentially send millions of people to the advertisers

homepage. Says Sunaina Bansal, who has recently launched her website on the

lines of The Million Dollar Homepage, “The concept is of an advertising

billboard, but on the Internet.” Bansal's Crorepatipage.com draws

inspiration from Tew's novel idea and is largely targeted towards the Indian

advertiser. While pixel advertising is less than a year old, it is absolutely, a

new concept in India.

Internet advertising is hot today, not just at a global level, but back home

as well. There are around 26 mn Internet users in India, largely in the age

group of 20 to 40, which is the target-base for India's rapid growth

advertising industry. A study by MSN predicts that Indian advertising in the

online segment is likely to cross the $100 mn mark by 2010. India's

advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry

sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1% of the pie.

"The concept is of an advertising billboard, but on the Internet." -Sunaina Bansal, Crorepatipage.com

The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn and the Indian Online

Association (IOA) predicts that this will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007.

This is the potential for growth as far as online advertising goes and to

a large extent throws up huge potential for pixel advertising as well. Says

Bansal, “The number of Internet users in India has grown enormously, and for

an advertiser this represents an affordable and highly effective medium of

advertising. It helps in reaching out to a wider audience.”

The growth of online advertising is certain, but what about pixel

advertising? Says Subho Ray, president, Internet and Mobile Association of

India, “The online world is the nurturer of many good ideas and if an idea

works in the market, it could become a successful business model for others to

follow.”

Pixel advertising is the latest in the online advertising industry-it

offers a viable option to online Web-masters and businesses, to advertise and

market their websites online, keeping the RoI at the highest. Argues Bansal,

“Consider a classified advertisement in a newspaper, the life of which is a

day or may be two. Other forms of advertisement may bring about an ad life up to

a week or a month, but this option has a life-span of a minimum o five yerars”

However, industry experts do not see pixel advertising gaining too much

popularity. Says Savio Fernandez, VP, Media Sales, Rediff.com, “Pixel

advertising offers advertisers an option to buy just a fixed real estate

(usually a gif/jpeg image) on the website's home page and hence, is limited in

terms of leveraging the Internet as an advertising medium.” Globally, as well

as in India, online advertising has evolved significantly over the years and

today, it offers an advertiser a multitude of options in the form of rich banner

branding, product sampling, customer acquisition, and even sale transactions.

Advertisers are now migrating towards large banner formats (DHTML, Flash, etc)

and are even experimenting with format innovations in a bid to attract eyeballs

and enhance stickiness.

Innovation has become the most operative word for survival. This is what

makes targeted advertising as one of the most popular form of online

advertising. Many advertisers opt for 'targeted' campaigns, which expose the

online communication only to the relevant target audience, thereby optimizing on

the campaign efficacy. Online campaigns can be targeted by demographics,

lifestyle preferences, and geographical (IP based targeting) location. Various

payment options are also being devised with a keen eye on RoI. An advertiser

also has the option to pay based on a fixed pricing model, for example, cost per

thousand impressions (CPM) or even on a variable/performance based model such as

cost per lead (CPL), cost per click (CPC), etc. The objective is to maximize on

flexibility and RoI for the advertiser as compared to traditional mediums such

as print and TV.

Pixel advertising is certainly a viable option for advertisers with small

budgets (read retail segment), who are merely seeking Internet presence. Says

Fernandez of Rediff, “It is yet to be seen if pixel advertising can create any

impact among advertisers.” What is fairly established is that pixel

advertising is not targeted at big time advertisers who would prefer to take the

more established channel to online advertising. In that case, the pertinent

question arising is: Is India, especially the target community, ready for pixel

advertising? And with search-based advertising (content sensing technology)

gaining popularity, it's uncertain whether pixel advertising market can

establish any scalability in the future.

Bhaswati Chakravorty



bhaswatic@cybermedia.co.in