Commentary

(Too) Much Ado About Pop-Ups?

(Too) Much Ado About Pop-Ups?

David Hallerman, reporting for eMarketer, notes that some web advertising creates problems for both publishers and advertisers, and most visible among these formats are pop-up ads

  • In July 2002, the website iVillage said it would cut pop-up ads from its network by the end of the third quarter in reaction to complaints from its predominantly female audience. A survey done for iVillage by Vividence discovered that 92.5% of the website’s audience finds pop-up advertising to be the web’s most frustrating feature.
  • In August 2002, EarthLink began to provide its customers with free software to prevent pop-up ads from appearing.
  • Then, in October 2002, America Online announced it will no longer sell more pop-up ads to outside companies. However, the world’s largest ISP will still allow house-ad pop-ups to appear.

    Surveys such as one by Valentine Radford indicate that 74% of US consumers find pop-ups far more annoying than any other type of ad. Even other interactive ads, such as banners and e-mail, barely hit the annoyance radar screen.

    Most Annoying Advertising, 2002 (% of respondents)

  • Pop-Up ads 74%
  • Banner ads 9%
  • Television ads 6%
  • EMail 5%
  • Direct mail ads 3%
  • Radio 2%
  • Billboards 1%
  • Magazine 1%
  • Newspaper 0%
    Source: Valentine Radford, August 2002

    Will Tifft, senior vice president and general manager, 24/7 Real Media says, "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."

    For all the attention they get though, pop-up ads are a small part of the online marketing spectrum. According to a recent study from Nielsen//NetRatings, only 9.2% of all companies advertising online use pop-ups. Of the more than 11.3 billion ad impressions during the January to July 2002 period for both pop-ups and its polar sibling, the pop-under, the bulk came from five industries. The impression total adds up to only 2% of the online advertising market. And that thin slice came from a small segment of advertisers, with 63 companies launching 80% of all pop-ups; 2,145 advertisers split the remaining 20%.

    Top US Industries Using Pop-Up Ads (Jan-Jul Impressions in millions)

    Financial Services 1,785
    Hardware and Electronics 1,581
    Web Media 1,543
    Travel 1,387
    Entertainment 1,273
    Retail Goods and Services 913
    Consumer Goods 666
    Software 666
    Telecommunications634
    B2B439
    Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Ad Relevance, August 2002

    You can find out more here at eMarketer.

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    About the Author

    Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.