The idea of targeting websites financially goes back as far as there has been money changing hands on the Internet. However, the more recent history of it began when director Ellen Seidler launched the site PopUpPirates.com in 2010 (previous coverage), where she began to highlight many of the companies whose ads ran next to pirate downloads of her content.
(Note: Seidler now does most of her blogging at Vox Indie.)
Though Seidler began to receive some significant media attention, it wouldn’t be until December 2011 that the idea would take the national stage.