The Million Dollar Homepage, explained
In 2005 a student sold a 1000×1000 grid of pixels for $1 each and made $1,000,000. What it was, why it worked once, and how the pixel-advertising idea evolved.
By the PixelWall team · Published
The Million Dollar Homepage was a single web page created in 2005 by Alex Tew, a British student raising money for university. It showed a 1000×1000 grid — one million pixels — sold to advertisers at US$1 per pixel, in minimum blocks of 10×10. Each block displayed a tiny image that linked to the advertiser's website. The page sold out, reportedly earning about US$1,037,100.
How it worked
- The canvas was a fixed 1,000 × 1,000 pixel image, divided into a grid.
- The smallest purchase was a 10×10 block (100 pixels) for $100.
- Advertisers supplied a small graphic and a destination URL.
- Buyers were promised the page would stay online “for at least five years”.
- The last 1,000 pixels were sold via an eBay auction in January 2006.
Figures above are widely reported historical details; for primary sources see the page itself and contemporary press coverage.
Why it worked — once
The Million Dollar Homepage succeeded because it was a story, not a media buy. It was novel, it had a clean numeric hook (a million pixels, a million dollars), and the press wrote about it, which drove the traffic that made the pixels worth buying — a feedback loop. Buying a block was cheap, and being part of an internet curiosity was the real product.
That's also why the wave of direct clones mostly failed. Without the originality and the news cycle, a second “million pixels” page was just a grid of dead links.
What it started
The page established pixel advertising as a recognised idea: sell a fixed area of a page as an owned placement, priced by size, linking out to the buyer. Later projects kept the concept and added what a 2005 image map couldn't do — interactivity, per-advertiser pages, analytics, moderation, and modern payments.
How PixelWall relates — and differs
PixelWall is an independent project inspired by the same concept. It is not affiliated with the Million Dollar Homepage. The shared idea is “buy a fixed area, place a linked image.” The differences:
| Million Dollar Homepage (2005) | PixelWall (today) |
|---|---|
| Static image, clickable regions | Zoomable interactive wall |
| No page or metrics per advertiser | Each spot has its own URL, views, clicks, CTR |
| Sold once, then finished | Ongoing; open cells remain purchasable |
| Cheque / PayPal in 2005 | USDT on TRON, verified on-chain server-side |
| No categories or search | Categories, brand directory, leaderboards, search |
For a side-by-side, see PixelWall vs the Million Dollar Homepage.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Million Dollar Homepage?
- A single web page created in 2005 by Alex Tew, a British student, to fund his university studies. It displayed a 1000×1000 grid — one million pixels — sold to advertisers at US$1 per pixel in minimum blocks of 10×10. Each block showed an image that linked to the advertiser's site.
- How much did the Million Dollar Homepage make?
- The page sold effectively all of its pixels. The final 1,000 pixels were auctioned on eBay, and total revenue is commonly reported at around US$1,037,100.
- Is PixelWall the same as the Million Dollar Homepage?
- No. PixelWall is an independent project. It uses the same underlying idea — buy a fixed area, place a linked image — but is a separate, modern, interactive platform with per-spot pages, analytics, categories and on-chain payment.
Ready to claim your spot?
Pick a size, upload your logo, add your link. Live on the wall in minutes.