nnbn.nn.ru was the address of NNBN (Nizhny Novgorod Banner Network), a Nizhny Novgorod banner exchange network operated as a project of the company "NN.RU"[1][2]. The network linked Nizhny Novgorod websites through a banner exchange system: a member placed the network's code on their site and displayed other members' banners[1]. NNBN described itself as "a Nizhny Novgorod network intended for advertising sites and services to a Nizhny Novgorod audience," and the home page stated the system's goal directly: "to unite the best Nizhny Novgorod sites with a convenient banner exchange system"[1]. The first surviving snapshot of the home page is dated August 24, 2000, and the latest date to December 2003[1][3].

How the network was set up

In 2000 NNBN worked with banners in the 100×100 pixel format — as the home page put it, "the most convenient and modern format, able to fit organically into the design of virtually any site"; the networks of the Russian-language internet listed as working with the same format were RB2, RLE, BannerPoint, F2 and Avtobanner.Ru[1]. The system's core was the BannerBank technology[1].

Terms were stated on the same page. The network's commission was exactly 14 percent, with no extra charge for targeting; transferring impressions was allowed, and all forms of targeting were available, including reverse targeting[1]. A thousand impressions cost two dollars including VAT, and buying impressions directly from the network gave priority and protection against a ban by the site owner[1]. Every Nizhny Novgorod site that joined the network and placed its code received 5,000 impressions as a gift "for promotion"[1]. It was separately stated that the network was independent of internet providers and allowed advertising of internet access services[1].

Rules for members were short: no more than four banners per page (one or two were recommended), banners in GIF and JPEG formats up to 10 kilobytes in size, and member pages must not grossly violate the laws of the Russian Federation[1]. Any means of impression "boosting" were prohibited, as were "playful, incomprehensible and flickering banners" and banners that did not match a site's subject matter; all banners and sites, according to the administration's statement, were checked manually[1]. The network called itself private and reserved the right to refuse admission, inviting "serious business sites and provider sites"[1]. For all questions the page referred visitors to the system administrator, Osipov I.[1]

Who was in the network

The 2000 home page carried a long list of members with the note "over 135 members in total"[1]. The list gives a cross-section of the Nizhny Novgorod business web of those years: "Nizhny Novgorod OnLine," the company "NN.RU," the Nizhny Novgorod TOP100 rating, the Volga television company, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Medical Association, the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Union of Right Forces, Ellips Bank Online, the firm "Kupets," LLC "ELVIS," the publications "Delovoy Nizhny" and "Kompyuterny Nizhny," the real estate firm "Adres," the computer center "TsEK," and the "Microsoft in Nizhny Novgorod" page. Alongside the businesses, the list also held pages of quite another kind: "Nizhny Novgorod Postcards," the site of the village of Rozhdestvensky Maidan, a page about GAZ automobiles titled "Nizhny Novgorod — the Russian Detroit," and Zhanna Aguzarova's site[1].

Format change and growth

By 2002 the network had outgrown a single format. The home page announced the decision to launch a Nizhny Novgorod banner network in the 120×60 format and invited "all members of NNBN 100x100 and NNBN 468x60" — meaning that by this point several networks of different banner sizes were already operating under the NNBN brand[2]. At the same time a reduction of the commission to 8 percent was announced — against the "exactly 14 percent" that had stood on the page in 2000[1][2]. After that the network called itself "not only convenient, but also one of the most economical networks in Russia"[2]. Its reach was stated as: "The Nizhny Novgorod banner network — NNBN has passed the milestone of 550 member servers"[2]. The December 2003 snapshot carries the same text as the May 2002 snapshot: between the two surviving copies the home page did not change[3].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In the nn.ru directory the network was listed under the category "Firms (Enterprises): Advertising: Advertising on the Internet" with the description "NNBN — Nizhny Novgorod Banner Network"[4]. In the directory snapshot from May 14, 2003, sorted by rating, NNBN occupies the third line of the category with a rating of 121, behind only "Avtobanner.ru" (571) and the company "NN.RU" itself (149), and ahead of the advertising agency MC&MA (79) and PromMedia (35)[4]. In the surviving statistics of Counter.nn.ru for 2000, the network is also present — under the name Nizhny Novgorod Banner Network and the description "Nizhny Novgorod banner network," at line 34 of the "Projects" category[5]; on how these samples were built, see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

Disappearance

The last snapshots of the home page in the web archive date to December 2003 and repeat text a year and a half old — with an invitation to the 120×60 format network and the signature "(c), 2000 NN.RU"[3]. There are no later versions of the page in the web archive, and according to our checks the domain nnbn.nn.ru no longer responds. The network left no separate announcement of its closure: the last thing it said about itself was an invitation to register, "there is no reason to doubt it, you must definitely try it"[3]. So, without any announcement, one of the early Nizhny Novgorod Internet own advertising mechanisms disappeared — a system through which local sites showed each other's banners, designed, by its own description, for a Nizhny Novgorod audience[1][2].

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2000 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, «Advertising on the Internet» category, 2003 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — counter.nn.ru statistics page, «Projects» category, archived copy (archive)