The Million Dollar Homepage: $1 Pixel Advertising Idea (Then and Now)
Remember the Million Dollar Homepage? In August 2005, a British student named Alex Tew had a simple idea to pay for university: sell one million pixels on a single web page at $1 each. Advertisers bought blocks of 10 x 10 pixels, uploaded a tiny logo and a link, and the page became one of the most famous viral websites of its time. We wrote about it in September 2005 with tips for buying pixels. Here is the full story and what the page looks like today.
Quick answer: The Million Dollar Homepage was a 1000 x 1000 pixel web page where Alex Tew sold advertising space at $1 per pixel, in 100-pixel blocks. It sold out in January 2006, earning just over $1 million, with the final 1,000 pixels auctioned on eBay. The page is still online at milliondollarhomepage.com, but many of its links now lead to dead sites.
Table of Contents
How the Million Dollar Homepage worked
- The page was divided into 10,000 blocks of 10 x 10 pixels.
- The minimum purchase was one block for $100, because a single pixel was too small to see.
- Buyers uploaded an image and a link, and could add a hover text. Once submitted, ads could not be changed.
- Tew promised to keep the page online for at least five years, with no recurring fees.
See the page itself at milliondollarhomepage.com.
Our 2005 tips for buying pixels
When the page was still filling up, we suggested ways to get more clicks for your money, and they show how people thought about online ads at the time:
- Buy early, before the best spots were taken.
- Buy big, because larger ads stood out in the crowded grid.
- Pick a good location, such as the top rows and corners visible without scrolling.
- Make a catchy image, since even 500 pixels would not get clicked if the logo was dull.
These ideas still apply to any ad placement. See how to increase AdSense CTR with good placement.
How it sold a million dollars of pixels
Tew bought the first ads from friends and family, then a press release brought coverage from the BBC and newspapers worldwide. Bloggers like us linked to it, traffic exploded, and that traffic made the ads more valuable. Within weeks the page was among the most visited sites on the web. By January 2006 the last 1,000 pixels went on eBay, and the total takings passed $1,000,000. The page was even targeted by a DDoS extortion attack during its peak.
What happened to Alex Tew?
Tew tried several follow-up projects, including a pixel lottery, before co-founding the meditation app Calm, which became one of the most successful wellness apps in the world.
The Million Dollar Homepage today
The page is still online, frozen as it was in 2006. It has become an accidental study of “link rot”: researchers and journalists who check it every few years find a large share of the links now point to closed or changed websites. It is a reminder that even famous parts of the web disappear quickly unless someone preserves them. Projects like the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine help keep that history alive.
Copycats and lessons
Hundreds of copycat pixel pages appeared, but almost none succeeded, because the novelty and media story could only happen once. The lasting lessons are about marketing: a simple, memorable idea, a clear goal and a story journalists want to tell can beat a big advertising budget. Similar viral-launch tricks later helped people get Slashdotted.
FAQ
Who created the Million Dollar Homepage?
Alex Tew, a 21-year-old student from Wiltshire in England, launched it in August 2005.
How much money did the Million Dollar Homepage make?
It made just over $1 million, thanks to the final pixels selling at auction for more than their face value.
Is the Million Dollar Homepage still online?
Yes, but it has not changed since 2006, and many of the links are broken.
Get our free weekly email: new tech guides and tools, no spam.
New and updated tech guides, a free tool worth bookmarking and one useful pick, once a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
We will email you a link to confirm your subscription. See our privacy policy.
Here’s another simular idea, this guy sells stone of his pyramid and the one who bids the most gets the top stone
http://www.bid-pyramid.com
My hat goes off to Alex Tew, he certainly found a unique idea to sell ad space. I actually took his idea one step further… selling ad space by the BYTE! There are so many “pixel pushers” out there now that I needed to put a spin on the pixel advertising concept. Check out http://www.buckabyte.com
Hi,
I’m Andy, moderator at PixelAdsTalk.com.
Together with my team I have created a forum specialized in Pixel Advertising.
You are all invited and welcomed to join and participate to the discussions and we hope that you will have a very enjoyable experience on our forum.
Any suggestions or opinions you might have are most welcome.
Best whishes,
Andy
You can now purchase Pubic Ad Space at PubicAds.com! It’s pixel advertising with a twist! Visit us at today!
I bought a 10×10 block for my site BoxofStars.com and didn’t get anything out of it. Maybe one or two clicks per day.
Very disappointed — as my experience was nothing like the ones listed in the testimonials.
I get more traffic from pixelsusa.com than I do from that site.
Who knows … maybe it will pick up after he does his US tour this week.
This post has been removed by the author.
Please visit my pixel site http://www.featuredbanners.com only 2 pennies per pixels
Why buy pixels when you can buy letters… http://www.TheMillionDollarStory.com/
The website of Canadian Million Charity Pixels, pixel ads to support your chosen charity by selling 1 million pixels of internet ad space for $1 each.
Two months into the “pixel craze” and it’s time for the “next generation”.
Join the zaniest duo on the net as they stage a “takeover” of PixelsAnyone?
Now, the only way to know EXACTLY when this will happen is to be there. Grab an ad on the homepage and you’ll be amazed at what happens next… I’ve been sworn to secrecy, so if I tell you, well… you know the rest of the story.
At any rate, get over there in the next day or so. My sources tell me that the fireworks begin before the end of this week.
Shari Thomas
PixelsAnyone?
Mover and Shaker
I found an awesome (albeit new) pixel site today – http://www.anothermillionpixels.com.
Looks pretty neat and the graduate seems pretty genuine.
Check out http://www.PixelAds4All.com – they offer a FREE 100 by 100 pixel “tool tip image” with the purchase of your ad, which acts like a billboard for your site! They are also currently offering their pixels for 50% off, or $50 USD for a 100 pixel block.
Forget the pixel hype!
Now you can purchase small blocks of time at TimeThis.com and have your large ad displayed at the same time, every day, for seven consecutive days! No more tiny ads getting lost in a sea of other tiny ads! Web site owners can also compete for text link placement via monetary donations.
TimeThis.com
Since the first milliondollarhomepage, http://the-power-couple.blogspot.com/ is by far the LAMEST of them all!
Everyone is having a go at the milliondollarhomepage buzz. See it for yourself and say what you think.
Here is another British site offering pixels at only 25p each!!
http://www.1millionpixels.co.uk
Advertising that is a bit more affordable I think…!
Most of these are just trash.
http://www.milliondollarsweethearts.com seems to be a nice, unique twist on the original idea.
Why not try Million Dollar Ad Site
for all your advertising needs!
this is just for classifieds,
PixelsAnyone.com is now ranked 8th among all the pixel advertising sites according to “Million Dollar Home Page Ranked Sites“.
When it comes to long-range staying power, you’ve got to have a plan… and we do!
Sales are now over $22K. We’ve had over 400 media pickups (press release requests) in the last 72 hours.
Pixel advertising is as old as the Internet. What we’ve all got here is natural evolution in advertising. The delivery method is unique… but the future generations of this are what will make the serious money.
We’ve got a plan, and the experience.
Be there and get “squared”!
Shari Thomas
PixelsAnyone.com
I think this one has one of the best chances of success, he’s creating the Internets most expensive refrigerator, the ads being refrigerator magnets! Very ingenious..
http://www.themilliondollarfridge.com
http://www.millionpixeladverts.com i just paid $2400 to him for my add and i got thousands of hits already, he just started up yesterday!
http://www.theadgrid.com the original and best
for your naughty adverts!
Not just a million dollar homepage, but a BETTER MILLION DOLLAR HOMEPAGE! :)
http://www.bettermilliondollarhomepage.com
Not just a million dollar homepage, but a BETTER MILLION DOLLAR HOMEPAGE! :)
This one is for charity to the kids, buy some space early on and make some kids happy.
Boyan
Million Pixels 4 Kids
How bout this one?
lol
PixelsAnyone.com is driving the Alexa ranking service bonkers!
In the first few hours the ranking has opened at 114,169. Watch for that to sky rocket as more advertisers flock to the site.
Sales are very brisk, $18,300 in just 4 days!
All I can say is… are we having fun yet?
Shari Thomas
PixelsAnyone.com
Thanks for creating a well organized article about pixel advertising.
JPEAdvertising.com, an 8-year old online advertising agency is now partnering with AskShari.com to bring PixelsAnyone.com a fresh new way of delivering pixel advertising.
While this initial site strongly resembles the original milliondollarhomepage.com concept, it is simply the first of several creative ideas for delivering pixel advertising.
Research indicates a strong trend towards smaller more creative image advertising, and much like the transistor first revolutionized electronics and then the Intergrated Circuit (chip) set forth miniaturization… pixel advertising opens the door for a whole new delivery method in “web advertising media”.
Pixel advertising at the micro-ad level is just ramping up, and PixelsAnyone.com is the first heavyweight player.
Shari Thomas
JV Partner
JPEAdvertising.com/pixelsanyone/
I see the UK are having a piece here:
catchy name though I like it
Wow! Super sites! Yeah! Really wow! Great!
Alex’d got a great idea. But what are the others? Yuuuuh!
Copy-sites-parody-page:
Here is another dude who is trying to achieve the American Way – the Pixel Way. He sells little houses so he can buy his own house.
http://fnhomepage.com
The Net Hobo… wandering the web in search of meaning and offering “pixel ads” in the meantime.
This post has been removed by the author.
Lets blow up a car.
I Found This One
The Million Pound Webpage
I found 4 new pixel sites, they are all using the same script. These give away the pixels for FREE, but you can buy the script
for less than you pay for one block of pixels on the other sites and set it up on your own website.
This is the main one here
PixelYourPage.com
Then a copy of that one is here
AlotMoreTraffic.com
The next two are for members of MySpace.com and Xanga.com, you must be a member of those sites to get pixels
PixelsForMySpace.com
PixelsForXanga.com
Looking for even more :), what a great idea!
The best one that I have seen is at http://www.topdollarhomepage.com
i am not sure i agree with “buy big”, i would say buy medium or small, they are far more interesting.
one more for the mix
http://www.amillionquid.com
This one lets you resell pixels:
the million pixel webpage
Here’s a site thats trying to collect the links to all the million pixel sites:
milpixel.com
this one gives to Hurricane Katrina victims:
Now its starting to be categorised!
http://www.choicedirectory.co.uk
When will the madness end?
Hmmm this one is only for ebay sellers to advertise… take a look if you want
http://www.ebaypixels.com
This onw pays you to refer pixel advertisers…
Check it
Here’s another one: http://www.thepeoplesvehicle.com
This one is free: Million Pixel Page is like milliondollarhomepage, but free!
Check out http://www.globalnetworld.com/puzzle/ soon to be http://www.millionbuckspuzzle.com
See a list of more of these similar million pixels pages
Corrected link for the Million Euro Homepage:
Million Euro Homepage