Pop-up ads OK for Tripod
Posted by Webhost - 22/12/97 at 02:12 amPop-up ads, the much-maligned Internet advertising phenomenon, have found a
safe haven on Web hosting service Tripod.
Companies such as America Online, Prodigy, and GeoCities, which have all
experimented with the Java-script ads, have come under heavy fire from their
members for the intrusiveness of the ads, which literally “pop up” in a
separate window.
But Tripod, which has been using pop-up ads since November, has encountered
little of the same opposition. Tripod chief executive Bo Peabody attributes the
lack of controversy to Tripod’s inclusion of its community members in the
decision-making process.
“We’re careful to include the members in all these types of decisions,” Peabody
said.
Additionally, Tripod tested the ads thoroughly to avoid some of the technical
glitches such as browser crashes and caching errors that pop-up ads have caused
on other sites.
Sites that offer free services, such as Tripod and GeoCities, are becoming more
aggressive about their advertising programs as they attempt to transform their
membership bases into revenue generators. According to Peabody, Tripod told its
members that “this community needs to be profitable to survive, and that means
either paying fees for service or allowing advertising on member sites.”
While he concedes that there were some complaints from members about the ads
during the testing period, in general, the response has been positive, he said.
In addition, the pop-ups have a click-through rate of between 3 and 5
percent–compared to the 1 percent click-through rate of the more ubiquitous
banner ads.
“They [advertisers] think it’s brilliant,” Peabody said. “The ad is affiliated
with the page, but not on the page. It distances the ad and the editorial
content a little bit.”
Despite the bad rap the ads have gotten so far, Peabody sees them as the future
of advertising on the Net. “Our plan is this will be an industry standard for
user-created content.”
