Pop-up ads on the decline as advertisers favor branding instead

Pop-up ads on the decline as advertisers favor branding instead

Pop-up ad use is on the decline for the first time in three years and the ad medium is not expected to be profitable this year, according to a survey from Advertising.com. Instead, Web advertisers are turning to traditional branding and more sophisticated ad formats. For example, Web publishers predict that standard banner ads and text links will be the most profitable in 2006. Publishers are also increasingly supporting sophisticated ad formats on their sites. Approximately 67% of Web publishers now support contextual advertising, up from 50% in 2005, according to the report. More than 76% of publishers support rich media formats, up from 69% in 2005; 35% support video, up from 25%; and about 30% use behavior targeting, up from 25%. In addition, more than 43% of publishers support streaming content and 30% plan to add it this year, according to Advertising.com.