1006 Lucrative and annoying

I really dislike pop-up ads. They jump in front of what I want to read; they wiggle; they flash; they blink and annoy. Although I have a pop-up blocker on my computer, even it can’t keep up with the clever devices the advertisers invent. More and more I see pop-ups on TV, although I’m sure they have a different moniker there. Here’s more bad news--they are very lucrative and successful, which means there will only be more.

Scott Kirsner writes about my nemesis today: “Now, thanks to Google's clever method of placing pithy and relevant text ads next to your search results, and an array of flashy new ad formats, advertisers are making the Net a serious part of their marketing strategies. Online ad sales totaled $9.6 billion last year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, and are expected to hit $12.7 billion in 2004, based on estimates by the research firm eMarketer. Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, who gave a talk at AdTech, observed that online advertising still represents only 3 percent of total US ad spending, calling the Internet ''the most underutilized advertising medium that's out there." “ Boston.com

It certainly doesn’t look “underutilized” if you’re trying read something on the internet.