Ad space for a penny per pixel

A broke 36-year-old Branson, Mo., Web designer calling himself “James” has come up with a plan to get himself back on track: He’s created a Web site called The Million Penny Homepage, where he’s trying to sell 1 million pixels of advertising space at 1 cent per pixel, which would net him $10,000. Of course, a pixel is so tiny that it would be pointless to buy just one, or even a handful. So the guy has divided the page into 10,000 blocks, each of which measures 10 pixels by 10 pixels. The blocks sell for $1 each. Three advertisers seem to have signed on so far, perhaps taking pity on James, who does sound pretty down and out. (“With a little help, I can pay off some tax debts and get on top of my life again instead of living in a van down by the river!” he writes.) James doesn’t sound optimistic that he’ll sell the space very quickly. In the FAQ, he writes: “I will keep this site online for at least 5 years. More than likely I will keep this site up forever and pass the torch to future generations.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

September 12, 2005 | Permalink