Money for nothing

I was browsing away the other day, as you do, when up popped one of those pesky pop-up ads, so beloved of big websites.

But this was no ordinary pop-up. It rapidly moved and shimmied from side to side. In fact, it oscillated so fast I thought my ancient NEC monitor was about to give up the ghost.

Then logic reasserted its grip on my mental processes and I concluded that, as the rest of the web page had behaved itself, I couldn't point the finger of blame for this irregularity at my antique display.

I really should have seen it coming. The same website used to drive me potty with pop-ups that sounded like a mobile phone ringing. It 'got me' every time, as I needlessly reached for my mobile.

Catch me if you can

What I'd witnessed was yet another new genre of web advertising. About every four seconds, the entire pop-up ad made a slight jiggle to the right and then to the left, before returning to its normal position. The cycle happens very quickly, too.

This pop-up had done all that advertising aims to do - that is, catch my eye. The fact that it has probably made me hostile to the product it was selling, is another matter entirely.

The most advanced exponents of the pop-up ad (or worst offenders, depending on your viewpoint) are, of course, porn sites. Make the mistake of clicking on a link in a spammed email and you could spend five minutes trying to shut down the storm of pop-ups that flood your desktop. Or so I'm told...

Stuck in the middle with you

This isn't the only development in the world of web ads. A few websites have started using what I'd term 'in your face' ads. Both CNET News www.news.com and ZDNET news www.zdnet.co.uk started using large, not to say obtrusive, ads in the middle of a page, running the content around it.

It seems there's been a sea change with internet ads. Simple banner ads, the sort that adorn the top of many web pages, don't generate the same click-through rate they used to. According to eMarketeer, 99.5 per cent of banner ads are not clicked on, and 80 per cent of users ignore web ads.

But, according to research organisation Statistical Research, pop-up ads were never going to be the new panacea to replace the failing banner ad. Banner ads may have been unpopular but pop-ups are worse - they're downright annoying!

According to Statistical's research, internet users are 50 per cent more likely to notice pop-up ads than banner ads, but they are 100 per cent more likely to find them intrusive.

Of the people surveyed, 32 per cent said banner ads interfered with their reading or use of the web page, but almost twice as many felt pop-up ads interfered in the same way.

More importantly, it appears that, far from being a great innovation to take advertisers on from banner ads, pop-ups have proved to be more damaging. Statistical Research found that companies who use pop-ups are seen in a less favourable light by internet users and are considered less likely to be industry leaders.

Fairly effective ad-blocking software is available, but resorting to this may ultimately be a shortsighted move. Let's be honest, most websites are businesses that must turn a profit. People who use ad-blocking software reduce the number of impressions ad-supported websites have to sell, thus reducing their revenue.

Free and easy

There's a good argument that we should pay for web content: after all, we pay for all other sorts of content, so why not the web? We'll gladly fork out for a copy of a daily newspaper but we expect their online versions to be free.

In many ways, the internet has been a bad influence on us, conditioning us to expect things for free - free access, free software, free music, free news, free videos.

It's important we don't lose sight of what we should and shouldn't have to pay for. While early attempts to charge for content, like Slate.com, failed, some sites are now having a second go at the charging model. Salon.com is now charging its users $30 (£20) a year to view exclusive content in an attempt to boost its revenue.

It's a sad fact of life, but ads are a necessary evil: if you don't want to stump up for a subscription, then you should be prepared to put up with ads, even the intrusive ones. And if you want to block ads, feel free.

Just don't expect the amount and quality of the free content you enjoy to improve. After all, as anyone knows, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

www.pcw.co.uk

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