Millennial Media started selling ads on phones in Baltimore in 2006, before the iPhone existed. It connected advertisers with apps and mobile websites and used data to reach the right users. Smartphones were spreading fast, but advertisers had only begun to move their budgets to mobile. When it filed to go public in 2012, Millennial was one of the largest independent mobile ad networks. Its rivals were Google and Apple.

Betting on the Phone Early

Paul Palmieri co-founded Millennial Media in Baltimore in 2006, before the iPhone. The company bet that the phone would become a major ad medium, and that an independent network could gather enough apps to matter. It built tools that let app developers place ads inside their apps. Millennial grew as smartphones spread and app makers looked for ways to earn money.

Folded Into AOL

Millennial Media priced at $13 a share in March 2012 and jumped on its first day. Competition from Facebook and Google soon squeezed its business. It bought Jumptap in 2013 to add scale. In 2015 AOL bought Millennial Media for about $238 million. AOL, then owned by Verizon, folded it into its own advertising business, and the Millennial Media name faded soon after.

Cover: Aristide Bruant, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a café poster (advertising).