Overview

The Million Dollar Homepage was created in 2005 by British student Alex Tew as an Internet-based fundraising project intended to contribute toward the cost of his university education.

The website presented a fixed advertising grid comprising one million pixels. Advertising space was sold in blocks at a price equivalent to one US dollar per pixel, with purchasers supplying small images and links to websites that were displayed within the grid.

The unusual concept attracted substantial online and media attention. Increasing publicity generated further advertising sales and transformed the project into a widely recognized example of viral Internet marketing.

The resulting page also became a visual record of commercial web culture during the mid-2000s. Its advertising grid contains contributions from a large number of independent purchasers representing businesses, websites, online services, personal projects, and other contemporary Internet activity.

Object Scope

For catalogue purposes, the Bureau treats The Million Dollar Homepage as the website and advertising grid created and operated by Alex Tew.

The external websites linked from individual advertisements are not considered constituent Digital Objects of this record. Their continued availability may vary independently from the preservation state of The Million Dollar Homepage itself.

This distinction is significant because the historical website may remain accessible even where individual destinations represented within its advertising grid have subsequently changed or disappeared.

Preservation Note

The Million Dollar Homepage remains publicly accessible at its historical domain and retains the characteristic presentation of the original advertising grid.

The Bureau records the website as an active legacy site preserved in situ. This designation describes the continued public availability and legacy presentation of the Digital Object and does not imply that every external resource linked from the page remains operational or unchanged.

The object is maintained under routine observation by the Office of Digital Preservation.