Pop-ups Annoy, But Generate Business According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, reported by David Hallerman for eMarketer, interstitial ads gained only a 5.0% share of US online ad spending in 2002 and pop-ad ads, a type of interstitial, made up just 3.5% of all US online ads in Q4 2002, based on impressions. But, relative to their dollar impact on Internet ad spending and their impression count, pop-ups get a disproportionate amount of attention from both the media and consumers. A recent PlanetFeedback survey that found pop-ups lead all ad forms in levels of annoyance and distrust-even more so than spam. US Consumer Ad Attitudes (% respondents; Index Norm=100) % TrustTrust Index% Annoyed Annoyance Index Word-of-mouth Recommendations 61% 251 9% 27 Print ads 47 194 5 15 TV ads 42 173 12 39 E-Mail subs 39 161 13 39 Radio ads 35 144 11 33 Direct mail 21 86 31 93 Outdoor ads 20 82 11 33 Paid search eng 14 58 29 87 Infomercials 9 37 39 117 Web banner ads 8 33 53 160 Door-to-door 4 16 78 235 Spam 3 12 77 232 Pop-up ads 2 8 83 250 Source: PlanetFeedback, April 2003 But, says Will Tifft, Senior Vice President and General Manager, 24/7 Real Media, in Target Marketing, May 2002, "People see pop-ups the way they see blow-in cards in magazines. Everyone says they hate them, but they still perform at three to four times the rate of a standard ad." Many online publishers like how they receive at least twice as much for pop-ups than they do for banners. "Pop-up ads can cost between $15 and $35 per thousand impressions, according to Gartner, while the average banner ad costs between $3 and $7 per thousand impressions," reports Dow Jones Business News. And, average click-through rates for pop-ups surpass those for banner ads. Recent research released by Advertising.com shows how both the click-through and conversion rates for pop-up ads are 13 and 14 times higher, respectively, than for standard banner ads. Click-Through Index (to full banner 468x60) by Format, 2003 Click-Through RateConversion Rate Full banner 100 100 Large banner (728x90) 110 70 Skyscraper (120x600) 160 120 Pop-up 1320 1420 Source: Advertising.com, May 2003 Based on 168 million ads to 15 million users in one week period Nielsen//NetRatings says, "As pop-up share increases in the market, consumers will speak with their site visits... with eventual consumer acceptance of pop-ups, advertisers (will continue) use of the medium as an effective marketing platform." You can find out more at http://www.emarketer.com.