People Don't Mind Popups?

from the say-what? dept

I'm not sure if I believe this, but some study says that 72% of online users don't mind pop up ads. Yes, that's scary. If you look a little more at the details, it's not clear that's what the study is really saying. While I still wonder if the study was biased in many ways, I think what this shows is that people have started to accept that popups are a necessary evil. That doesn't mean they like them. That also doesn't mean they'll help your cause by putting pop ups anywhere. I still believe that most people get an instinctual negative reaction anytime an unwanted, unasked for browser window pops open on their screen. However, unfortunately, studies like these are only going to encourage more morons to put popups on their pages.
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  1. identicon
    whit, 15 Mar 2002 @ 4:50am

    No Subject Given

    Perfect -- what occurs as I return to techdirt after reading the eMarketing.com story? A popup ad. :)

    Apparently I forget to disable javascript after upgrading the browser on this machine...and I'm sorry to report that a year of browsing without javascript has caused by popup-killing reflexes to atrophy horribly.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 15 Mar 2002 @ 8:21am

    It's a small price to pay

    If my choice is paying to visit a site vs. killing pop-up ads (which I kill with an automated utility called POW! from Analogx.com. I only have to see a pop-up ad one time and then never again. To me, it's a small price to pay (especially since POW! is free!).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Andrew, 15 Mar 2002 @ 8:46am

    No Subject Given

    Perhaps this "acceptance" of pop-up ads is due to the fact that the people who are annoyed by them are taking steps to kill the pop-ups. I'm happy with Mozilla's built-in pop-up/under blocker and don't mind pop-up ads...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Darren Hewer, 15 Mar 2002 @ 9:36am

    Popups ...

    Of course people don't like popups. That's not exactly a brilliant observation. The fact is that operators of many/most free websites need advertising revenue to survive. There are probably a dozen sites you visit regularly that fit this mold. Subscriptions or tipjars simply won't work for all sites, so webmasters must rely on ads. If popups pay the bills, I'm sure most users would prefer moving their mouse slightly and clicking to having one of their favorite sites close. Remember people, when you use adblocking software you are STEALING MONEY from the hardworking people that provide you with FREE content that need that money to pay their bills!!!

    While I'm ranting I'd just like to add that I have kept popup use to a minimum on my site by using other advertising means ... it sure takes a lot more work now than it used to. ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Mike (profile), 15 Mar 2002 @ 9:57am

    Re: Popups ...

    I honestly don't think adblockers are stealing money from sites. If you chose to put pop ups on your site, I feel as though you are in many ways trespassing on my computer by opening browser windows I didn't ask for.

    How you make money is a business model issue that you need to work out as the owner of your site. You don't have an unalienable right to make money. Even you admit that your users don't like popup ads. What sort of business is it where you want to upset your own users? A creative business figures out a way to make money while not pissing off its users.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 15 Mar 2002 @ 10:44am

    Re: Popups ...

    With the way POW! works, I have to see the ad one time to add it to the list of ads to block. If I am ever going to click on an ad, it's most likely going to be the first time I see it, not the 500th time I see the same X-10 camera ad...
    On a funny note, a co-worker kept one of those X-10 pop-ups on his desktop all day, because he thought the girl in the ad was 'hot'. Is that sad or is it just me?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    miguelita, 15 Mar 2002 @ 11:46am

    Re: No Subject Given

    you are exactly right... i have done some popup research: the people who really hate pop-ups just disable them. the rest of the population puts up with them b/c they feel it helps keep the site free. i've heard a lot of people say popups are more effective; i've found that popups get high click-through rates because people click on them accidentally or because they think the popup is site content. marketers and sales people hear what they want to hear; they seem to pay the most attention to inaccurate studies like this one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Ltlw0lf, 15 Mar 2002 @ 11:56am

    Re: Popups ...

    Stealing, huh? Kinda like spending $18 dollars to buy a DVD disk and then not being able to play it on your Linux DVD player because the industry doesn't support non-Windows OSs. Or how about stealing when it is making a backup copy of an $18 dollar CD so that you can play it in your car without worrying about a car theif stealing the original from you.

    We are now stealing money from folks because *WE AREN'T BUYING THINGS FROM THEM*. Jeesh, and I thought the entertainment industry was going overboard...why not, their customers are willing to blindly spout their own arguments...Maybe we deserve all this...after all, we're more than happy to spend our lives savings on repaying debt in order to keep webmasters, the entertainment industry, and marketeers employed.

    When will people learn, it is not a right or a privilege for a company to succeed, nor is it a right or a privilege for companies to treat their customers like criminals and expect a tax for not using their products or services.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    UIUCisEvil, 15 Mar 2002 @ 12:06pm

    I use adsubtract and never see a pop up

    I assume most savvy internet users are aware of this little gem? http://www.adsubtract.com/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    chicken up!, 15 Mar 2002 @ 7:36pm

    Your call

    You certainly have the right to place popups, unders, overs... whatever on your site, as well as I have the right to block them, hide them, click them or even avoid your site altogether.
    If as a consequence of this, your business fails then the free market society has fulfilled it's promise.
    Nobody owes you anything. If pay for play falls flat, than it was meant to be. We never asked for you to put your 2 bits on the web anyway.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Character Counts, 16 Mar 2002 @ 7:55pm

    No Subject Given

    72% of polls are irrelevant.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    euroman, 18 Mar 2002 @ 4:08am

    Re: No Subject Given

    No. most people are so clueless that they don't know about ad blocking software. Give it to them by default and they won't be rushing to see pop ups. Just like TV ads - people put up with them but if they had an easy way to get rid of them they would.
    I would rather my favourite site went to the wall than I had to put up with *any* form of advertising.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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