System Actually Uses Pop Blockers To Launch Ads, Not Block Them

A California company this week plans to unveil a new way for advertisers and Web publishers to serve an impression to Internet users who have pop-up blockers on their computer.

The so-called "Popstitial' has been developed by FPBA Group, a rich-media technology company whose primary product is COMMFLASH. Popstitial doesn't defeat pop blockers. Instead, a code in the ad determines whether a pop-up or pop-under is being thwarted. Then Popstitial serves up a full-page advertisement that can either be a separate ad - using Flash, video, animation or static images - or the same style as the missed pop-up/pop-under.

The program attempts to steer a middle ground between a Web users' stated displeasure over pop-unders and pop-ups and the publishers' need to pay for content.

"Pop advertising, while it's becoming unpopular, still works, and that's why you see so much," said Byron Biggins, vice president of sales and marketing at FPBA Group.

FPBA's research finds that at least 25 percent of Internet users have some kind of program that blocks pop-ups and pop-unders. FPBA executives, seeing this, figured they might be able to help the publishers that are among its clients to keep from losing impressions due to the blockers. As far as FPBA knows, Popstititial is the only product of its kind.

"From the advertisers' point of view, they can use the same creative that they would use a normal pop ad. The great thing for them is that it's the full-page ad as an alternative to a pop can be as large as they want," Biggins said.

What Popstititial won't do is help pop-ups/pop-unders that are served by adware. Biggins said that the application wasn't created for that purpose and it doesn't work in those cases; the code resides entirely on the Website.

While Biggins understands how Internet users feel about pop-ups, but says that the reason why they get content for free on the Web is that publishers use ads to pay for the content.

"Publishers need advertising on their site, and there's only a certain amount they can put on the content page. That's the reason why they developed pops on the page," Biggins. "We're giving them another solution besides the pop to serve."

While Popstitial won't be announced officially until this week, several publishers are beta-testing it already. Biggins said they're happy with the results but declined to release their names without checking with them first.

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