PubMatic, which tracks online ad rates, reports that the price of a banner ad on an entertainment Web site fell from 57 cents per thousand viewers at the start of the year to 33 cents by October.

FORBES: Banner Year? Not Quite

In the year to come, security professionals are warning of bank code-stealing exploits that are much slicker and more convincing--hidden in guises as harmless as a banner ad on a reputable Web site or a message from a friend on a social network.

FORBES: Future Phishing

Within days, I noticed wherever I went on the Web, there was a Volvo banner ad waiting for me.

FORBES: Algorithm And Blues

These banner ad companies typically "hide" the recipient's e-mail address in the Web address of the graphic, so that their servers can later match the cookie to the recipient's e-mail address, Smith said.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole

Understanding mobile ad engagement is still developing, which has led to less than successful attempts to apply PC Web banner advertising principles to this nascent medium.

FORBES: Why Marketers May Finally Get on the Mobile Advertising Boat

The episode spotlights the controversial subject of online profiling, whereby Internet ad server companies, such as DoubleClick and Engage, track Web surfers in order to strategically target banner ads and site content, as well as to help sites keep a running count of visitors.

CNN: U.S. antidrug site dealing cookies