A milestone in the short life of the internet is upon us.
According to industry sources, this week marks the tenth anniversary of the UK's first ever online advertisement.
Details are hazy, but it appears that in late October 1994, US telecoms firm AT&T became the first company to start promoting its services to the UK's then tiny community of internet users.
At the time, online advertising seemed like a distinctly outlandish notion.
The internet - then known as the 'information super-highway' - was in its infancy, and there was no guarantee that it would ever attract a big enough audience to make it an effective advertising medium.
Faster download speeds and an ever-expanding range of online services have transformed the internet into a mass media phenomenon, with half the UK population now regularly trawling the web.
This has naturally encouraged other companies to follow where AT&T led, opening up lucrative new business opportunities for advertising agencies.
Sales uplift
According to recent figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), online promotions are now the fastest growing segment of the UK advertising industry, with revenues on track to reach £500m in 2004, a 40% increase on last year.
