Tech History: The First Banner Ad Had a Massive 44% Click-Through Rate

Today, if a digital ad gets a 1% click-through rate, it's considered a win. But in 1994, the very first online ad pulled off something almost unthinkable today: a 44% click-through rate.

A Simpler Time on the Internet

The ad was created by AT&T and ran on HotWired.com, the online version of Wired magazine. It was a simple banner with a bold, strange question:

"Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will."

There were no trackers. No cookies. No pop-ups. Just curiosity—and a whole new frontier of marketing.

A Glimpse of What Was to Come

At the time, most people were just learning what the internet was, let alone how online ads worked. So when that ad showed up on October 27, 1994, nearly half of the people who saw it actually clicked—not because they were being targeted, but because they were intrigued.

It was less about sales and more about introducing the idea that the internet could be interactive, even persuasive.

A Far Cry from Today

Fast-forward to 2025:

• Most banner ads today get 0.1–1% CTR

• Users are saturated with ads across every platform

• Ad blockers are widely used

The novelty is gone—but that first ad opened the door to the multi-billion dollar world of digital advertising we live in today.

Final Thought

That first AT&T banner ad may seem primitive now, but in 1994, it asked a question no one had ever considered—and proved that people would, indeed, click. The rest is internet history.