So, what are pop-up ads exactly? An online marketing phenomenon that’s been around for almost two decades, yet still a dark horse for many.
In this article by RichAds ad network‘s team you will learn everything worth knowing about pop up advertising!
What is a pop up ad?
Basically, pop-up ads are advertising pages that open to users above all current tabs in a new one. Such web-pages are most likely to contain all the elements to both approach the audience’s interest and push them towards converting right away. In fact, a very simple online marketing tool that usually redirects the users straight to the end-point of a funnel, while demanding only the page itself as the only essential creative.
How do pop-up ads work?
The meaning of ‘pop’ within the ‘pop-up ads’ itself already refers to the basic principle of such advertisements appearing to users. As a website’s owner places the JS-widget on their resource, it will be triggered by a click of a user and initiate opening up a pop-up page in the new tab. The exact advertisement that a pop-up is presenting can be the same all the time, or put into rotation by the online marketing agency or advertising network providing the traffic.
Apart from the regular click-dependent scripts that show ads when a user performs a random click on the site, there are several other triggers by which pop-ups appear to users. While the most common of them are:
- Exit-Intent.
Initiates the opening of a pop-up when a user tries to close the current web page. In most cases, the provided pop-up encourages the potential leads to stay and proceed with exploring the resource. - Timed.
Opens the pop-up advertisement after a fixed period of time the user has spent exploring the website, usually, within 20-30 seconds from the visit. - Inactivity breakers.
If no actions performed by a user on a website has been noticed for a long period of time, this triggers the pop-up advertisement to occur and remind of unfinished business on the page. - Scroll-based.
Triggers the pop-up displaying depending on how far the user has scrolled the website, for example, to time it up for a particular information presented there.
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
The difference between pop-up and pop-under advertising
The specific distinction between pop-up and pop-under ads can be traced even by the definition, clarifying the place where the page will be opened. Meaning, the pop-ups are the ones that appear to the users above all current tabs, and the popunders are the ones that occur below the browser window.
Simply, judging only by the technology different kinds of pop ads reach the audience it’s pretty vivid how the approaching and converting methods might vary.
Pop-up ads’ advantages and disadvantages
Still it’s not a secret that pop-up ads are not flawless as they feature both strong and weak sides regarding their online marketing purposes.
Advantages of pop-up ads
- Impossible to miss.
Pop-up ads lack all the issues related to banner blindness since they appear right before the user. In fact, this is one of the strongest sides of this kind of advertisement that allows easily target and convert impulsive audiences. - Cost-effective.
With a global coverage, pop up ads are still quite affordable, for example, at RichAds the price on launching a campaign on Tier 3 geos would start from $0.5 CPM, and Tier 1 regions targeted would cost from $1 per 1000 views. - Easy to master.
As launching a campaign on pop-up traffic for the first time would demand no more than basic targeting parameters and a landing page, they’re pretty simple to handle for both experienced and new marketers.
Disadvantages of pop-up ads
- Decently intrusive.
The way pop-up advertising works also could be considered quite disturbing by some users. Therefore, there’s a risk of alienating the audiences by sudden occurrence of such pages that is interrupting web-surfing. - To be optimized.
The page loading speed plays a big role in pop-up promotion as no-one will wait for an advertisement to load. The optimal loading speed is less than 1 second, for which it’s recommended to use VPS or CDN, while the lander’s size should be within 200Kb. - Demand traffic control.
Due to wide geo-coverage, pop-up ad campaigns require careful optimization to handle the traffic volumes properly. Otherwise, there’s a risk of overdrawing the budget with pop-up traffic by much lesser leads and unsatisfying results.
Examples of pop-up advertisements in online marketing
In essence, all forms of pop up advertising can be divided by their online marketing purposes, as such pages can be:
Welcome landing page
Redirecting flows of users to a welcoming page with precise and attractive product description is one of the most common ways for utilising the advertising capacity of pop-ups. Such websites are usually specially prepared to be displayed this way, thus to instantly engage the targeted audience and provide with everything required for conversion. The workflow for users is set to put them through every catchy and worthy side of the product, for example, starting with a catchy product representation, moving to user testimonials and subscription plans.
Registration form
The usage of pop-up ads is very efficient to approach impulsive audiences with a specific offer, simply putting the users right to the conversion point, like joining the product. The most common destination in such cases is a registration form that clearly lets potential leads know what they’re about to sign-up for, yet pushes them towards joining right away. Such pages usually feature the most common informational blocks on the product itself, emphasizing the joining process, for example, by providing a time-limited offer.
Smartlinks
This kind of page aims to gather as much information as possible on the users by making them click and exchange a part of openly accessible data for determining the best product to display further. It’s like an additional filter potential leads are forced to pass that collects more accurate intel on their geographical and technical attributes, by which evaluates what offer would be the most relevant. Smartlinks may present various ways of encouraging users, for example, CAPTCHA-alike check-boxes.
Lead magnet
A very popular online marketing method to gather up as many potential leads by offering personal data exchange for a service. The requested data might be email, phone number, social networks, or even agreeing to receiving push-notification as another way of adding new leads to the user base for further approach. In case with pop-up ads, the lead magnets might present users with a direct form for leaving contacts to proceed with the current action, or even afterwards, for example, as a part of the activation process.
Interactive pre-landings
Pre-landing pages are an extremely efficient solution for a variety of online marketing needs, intended to warm-up the potential leads and engage them with interactive experience. This is a preceding part of a marketing funnel leading to a landing page, where users can finally perform a conversion action. In fact, pop-up advertising makes such pages somewhat essential for promotion, since the active offer exploration starts from this very point.
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
How much are pop-up ads effective in 2025?
Despite the fact that pop-up advertising has been around for so long that it’s considered either a classic or an out-dated tool, the traffic source is actually thriving in 2025. Only at RichAds ad network, the pop ads accumulate over 200 million impressions on a monthly basis with a global coverage and quality lead generation for most of the popular categories.
Countries with the highest response to pop up advertising
Basically, pop-up advertisements’ coverage exceeds the limits of a particular geo, or even a region, and is operative worldwide — from Tier 3 to Tier 1. Recently, the most responsive to pop ads countries were from all over the places:
- USA;
- Vietnam;
- Indonesia;
- Bangladesh;
- Mexico;
- Great Britain.
It’s worth mentioning that pop-up ads might show inconsistency regarding the peaking performance, so that the list of currently top geos also varies from month to month. In fact, just recently among the counties that engaged with pop advertising the most were also India, France, China, Türkiye, Japan and Brazil.
Affiliate marketing categories that profit the most from pop-up promotion
Popup ads are very efficient at promoting a variety of products of quite diverse categories of products, including the affiliate marketing niches. In essence, since popups are not that strict on moderation policies, they’re the online marketing instrument that many use to advertise the services a lot of other platforms decline. For example, at RichAds the most competitive verticals that are regularly promoted via pop-up ads are:
- Casinos;
- Sports betting;
- Dating platforms;
- Cars retail;
- Media blogs;
- Business services;
- Software;
- Travelling;
- Mobile carriers;
- Trading apps.
Conclusion
Though popups might have not that much of a good reputation on the internet, it’s a powerful tool for online marketing purposes across various demands. The pop-up advertisements are widely used as for commercial as for retention and engagement increasing goals, also not estranged from purely informational utilisation. In fact, overlooking their affordable prices on promotion at advertising networks combined with global coverage and impressive traffic volumes well-performing for almost any type of product, pop-up ads are a go-to solution in 2025, just like they were ages ago.
At RichAds ad network we have been working with pop-traffic for years now, carefully exploring the means to make it as clean and performing as possible for any marketing purpose. Now our platform gives the opportunity to launch a pop advertising campaigns in over 220 geos with access to in-house and unique optimization features as well as tracking functionality. Start earning on pops with RichAds!
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
Frequently asked questions about popup advertising
What is the purpose of pop-up ads?
Pop-ups might serve a variety of purposes, starting from intentional lead generation for a variety of products and moving to the activity boosting on website visitors with reminders. The main purpose there is still catching the users’ attention with a sudden and intense approach, but even that goes with a broad range of possible adjustments and convenient multi-functionality.
Are pop-up ads effective for online marketing?
Yes, they sure are! Pop-up advertisements are still quite prominent, regardless of the fact they’ve been on the market for over 20 years. For example, only at RichAds ad network the pops averagely deliver over 200 million ad impressions montly, and are operated with in 220+ worldwide.
What are the pros and cons of pop-up ads?
Despite the overall satisfying performance of pop-ups, there are distinctive advantages and disadvantages the ad format features:
Advantages of pop-up ads:
- Overcome banner-blindness – popups are impossible to miss as they strike users with a direct approach.
- Affordable – with the global coverage, launching pop-up ads campaigns would cost from $0.5 in Tier 3, and from $1 in Tier 1.
- Simple to start with – requiring a landing page as the only essential creative and basic targeting parameters to launch a campaign, pop-up ads are suitable for both beginners and experts.
Disadvantages of pop-up ads:
- Intrusive – unlike popunders, pop-ups are more likely to interrupt users’ experience due to their way of appearance.
- Optimization-dependent – to get decent performance with popup they demand optimization means on page size and loading speed.
- Extreme traffic volumes – without proper optimization tools the pop-up ads are a risk of overdrawing budget with getting not enough results.
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