An assessment of the World Wide Web as an advertising medium

This article compares and contrasts the Web with traditional advertising media and identifies five essential dimensions in which it must successfully compete to be considered a viable advertising medium.

Abstract

This article discusses the World Wide Web as an advertising medium. Historically, the advertising industry has embraced new technologies, as evidenced by the growth of radio and television earlier in the 20th century. The World Wide Web, however, has not developed like other media. Traditional media have been based on an entertainment platform: the Web is almost exclusively an information based medium. This article compares and contrasts the Web with traditional advertising media and identifies five essential dimensions in which it must successfully compete to be considered a viable advertising medium.