Push Notifications Today Vs. 30 Years Ago: How This Traffic Format Was Buried But It Came Back Better

[MyBid]

Today, we're going to talk about push notifications. You've probably seen them, but not everyone knows their history. We are going to talk about why some affiliates think they're not effective, and also share the experiences of our partners who use them in the MyBid fully-managed advertising network.

A bit of history​

The first appearance of push notifications in advertising dates back to 1994 when a banner on the HotWired website boldly proclaimed, "Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will." This innovation boasted an incredible click-through rate (CTR), prompting even major international corporations to embrace push notifications for advertising.

However, the technology of the 1990s and 2000s lacked the capability to effectively track advertising return on investment (ROI). The slow internet speeds of the era often left users frustrated as landing pages took forever to load after clicking on push notifications. By the mid-2000s, the emergence of RSS pull technologies took push notifications out of the advertising spotlight, nearly making them obsolete.

A decade later, during the height of affiliate marketing's growth, push notifications made a comeback. Ad networks developed the technical infrastructure for transparent collaboration between website owners, advertisers, and media buyers. Now, advertisers could