Pop ads are very popular in affiliate marketing because they deliver high volume at low cost. They work especially well for gambling, betting, dating and sweepstakes offers that need a quick response and a broad reach.
While popup ads and popunder ads remain effective and deliver high visibility, they work very differently. The choice between these two formats can impact user experience, engagement, and conversion rates, so you have to choose wisely.
In this guide, ROIads advertising network experts will break down how each format works, their pros and cons, and where pop ads perform best to help you make an informed decision. Let’s begin the battle of popup vs popunder!
What are Popup Ads?
A popup (or pop-up) ad is a new browser window or tab that opens on top of the page a user is viewing. It appears instantly when someone visits a website, or clicks on something, or scrolls to some point on the page. The popup ad covers the content underneath, so the user is forced to see your offer and engage before they can continue browsing.
Popups are considered intrusive and annoying by many users, but still deliver great results in affiliate marketing. They immediately capture attention and work well for direct-click conversions.
Pros and Cons of Popup Ads
Popup ads are a very popular and effective marketing tool, yet they aren’t perfect. Like other pop ad formats, they have their strengths and weaknesses, knowing which will help you maximize your profits.
Popup Ads Advantages
Popup Ads Disadvantages
- High visibility: Users see your popup ads right away because they literally pop up in front of them and cover the open page. There’s no chance they’ll miss your offer.
- Immediate attention grabber: Users must interact with the popup ads either by clicking on them or closing them. This forced engagement often leads to more clicks (higher CTR) than other ad formats, such as banners or native ads.
- Fast testing: Popup ads are easy to launch, and they generate fast responses, allowing you to test offers and creatives quickly. You’ll get the first results within hours, and with analysis, you can figure out whether a campaign is profitable.
- Flexibility: Pop-ups work well on desktop and mobile, can be triggered by various actions (scroll, click, exit intent), and offer flexibility in targeting. Your popup ad campaign will reach the right audience and bring more conversions.
- Low cost per impression: Popup traffic typically costs less than banners or push ads, so you can reach a larger audience with the same budget.
- Intrusiveness: Many people find popup ads annoying because they interrupt browsing.
- High bounce rates: Some users close popup ads without even reading the offer because they didn’t expect to see them and were interested in the content they viewed.
- Blocking possibility: Many people now use ad blockers, which can hide popup ads. Part of your audience will never see your ads because their browser automatically blocks them.
- Traffic quality concerns: Popup traffic is often affected by bots and false clicks. You should choose a reliable popup ad network to ensure high quality and fraud protection.
What are Popunder Ads?
A popunder ad is a landing page (a window or tab) that opens behind the main page a user is viewing in a browser. When someone visits a website, the ad loads in the background and remains hidden until the user closes or minimizes their current window.
The delay makes popunder ads less disruptive than popups. Users can finish reading an article or watching a video, and the ad just waits until they’re ready to see it.
Pros and Cons of Popunder Ads
Popunder ads are less intrusive than popups, but also have their own benefits and challenges.
Popunder Ads Advantages
Popunder Ads Disadvantages
- Cost-efficient: Popunder CPMs are some of the lowest in the industry, often starting around $0.5. You can test new offers on budget and scale only the traffic that proves profitable.
- Massive reach: Popunder ads deliver billions of impressions daily and are simple to scale across almost any GEO.
- Blocker resistance: Many ad-blocking tools that target popups don’t detect popunders. Your ads will reach a wider audience, even if they use blockers.
- High performance: With smart targeting, frequency caps, and quality landings, popunder traffic can convert extremely well. It works great on desktops and in Tier 2 and Tier 3 geos, delivering high conversion rates.
- Easy to launch: popunder advertising doesn’t need creatives, which saves you time and money. All you need is a strong landing page or pre-lander.
- Delayed visibility: Users might not see your ad for several minutes or even hours. Some people close all their tabs at once without ever viewing the popunder ad.
- Less suitable for urgent offers: Time-sensitive promotions may not perform well on popunders, because the ad doesn’t demand instant attention.
- Low performance on mobile: Popunder ads convert less effectively on mobile devices because users often don’t notice background tabs opening.
The Difference Between Pop-up and Pop-under: Uses and Examples
Both pop ad formats work well in affiliate marketing, but they shine in different settings. The key is matching the format to your offer and user behavior.
When to Use Popup Ads: Best Verticals
Popup ads excel when you need immediate action from users who make impulsive decisions. The instant visibility creates urgency that drives quick conversions. Let’s see some popup examples by verticals:
- Sweepstakes
When users see a message like “Congratulations! You can get a super bonus!” they react emotionally. The format works well because these offers don’t require research or consideration. A user sees the popup, gets excited, and clicks right away.
- Software & Utilities
Gaming apps, utility tools like VPN services, and antivirus offers convert well on popup ads because they create a sense of urgency. For example, someone watches a tech video blog and sees a popup offering a free VPN app to continue watching. Because the user is already interested in the content, they will likely click on the ad and download the app.
- Dating
Dating offers work well with interactive popup ad designs. For example, a friendly chat message pops up saying, “Let me help you find an amazing date tonight!” The design looks like a real conversation interface, and the whole interaction feels natural, even though it’s completely automated. When the user clicks their answer, they land directly on a targeted dating offer page matching their selection.
- Gambling and Betting
Popup ads are great for promoting gambling and betting offers, especially with limited offers or countdown deals. When someone reads sports news and a popup ad appears offering “150% Bonus”, this interruption immediately captures attention and forces impulse clicks.
When to Use Popunder Ads: Best Verticals
Popunders work best when users need time to consider an offer:
- Finance
Finance advertising on popunders focuses on building trust. The ads can promote investment platforms or financial software, using a neat, professional landing page with a benefits description and social proof to increase engagement and conversions.
- Software
Popunder ads work well for promoting productivity tools and security software. The ads capture users’ attention due to their bold design, creating a sense of urgency or offering a good discount.
- Media
Content subscription offers, including newsletters, premium memberships, or course enrollments, also perform well with popunder ads. The format gives users time to check the value of free content before seeing the paid upgrade or subscription offer.
- Gambling
Since the main purpose of gambling promotions is to get users to deposit, popunder ads provide more info and time to make the decision. The ad can offer a bonus, provide an overview of all games available on the platform, describe possible payment methods and have a registration form – all on one landing page.
Where to Buy Popup and Popunder Traffic
Choosing the right popunder or popup ad network makes all the difference in the profitability of your campaigns. You need a platform that specializes in these formats and offers high-quality traffic sources. Generic ad networks often mix poor-quality traffic with legitimate users, wasting your budget on bots and false clicks. But not ROIads. This popunder ad network focuses specifically on pop ad formats, giving you access to premium traffic and advanced optimization tools so you can achieve maximum ROI.
ROIads Benefits for Buying Pop Traffic
ROIads is a modern advertising platform built for pro affiliate marketers. It focuses on high-quality, high-volume pop and push traffic and gives affiliates the targeting flexibility and automation tools they need to scale profitably.
What makes ROIads the best pop ad network:
- Massive Global Traffic: ROIads delivers more than 900 million daily impressions, covering a wide range of Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 GEOs.
- Advanced Targeting: You can filter your audience by operating system, browser, device type, connection type, ISP, mobile carrier, and even time of day. This precision helps you reach the right users who are most likely to convert.
- Quick Start: With a minimum deposit of $250, affiliates can access a self-serve platform and launch campaigns to test offers and creatives.
- Micro Bidding: ROIads allows you to adjust bids at the source level, so you can increase investment in profitable placements and minimize spend on weaker ones.
- AI Bidding Technology: the real-time AI bidding system analyzes performance and automatically shifts traffic toward the best-performing sources. It helps reduce wasted spend and increase ROI.
- CPA Goal: If you prefer performance-focused automation, the CPA Goal feature helps keep your campaigns profitable. It automatically adjusts bids, choosing traffic sources with conversions within a target cost-per-action price.
- Optimization Rules: You can create custom rules to automate tasks like pausing low-performing creatives, blacklisting weak sources, cutting spend on ineffective campaigns and so on. This feature saves you hours of manual work and ensures consistent performance.
- Dedicated Manager Support: Advertisers who deposit $500 or more get access to a personal account manager. Our experts help with campaign strategy and bidding, provide GEO recommendations, and can even deliver a free creatives pack and whitelists made specifically for your offer.
Best Geos for Pop Ads Formats in ROIads
Popup and popunder ads perform best in regions where internet users are less experienced with ad blockers and where mobile browsing dominates. Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil, China and Ukraine deliver strong results.
Best Verticals for Pop Ads in ROIads
Popup ads excel with offers that need immediate action or impulse decisions, while popunder ads work well with content-heavy offers that require explanation or consideration. At ROIads ad network, affiliates often use pop ad formats in Gambling, Betting, Dating, Finance and Software verticals.
Everyday advertisers launch thousands pop campaigns on ROIads and get their top ROI. Check our guides and cases to start earning on pops, too:
Popup vs Popunder: Ad Format Comparison Table
Now you know a lot about popunder and popup ads, including their pros and cons, best uses, top geos and verticals, and suitable popup and popunder ad networks. To help you learn the key differences and choose the right pop ad format for your campaigns, we created a complete comparison table:
| Feature | Popup | Popunder |
| Visibility | Seen instantly on page load or action | Seen later when user switches tabs |
| User experience | Risks annoyance and high bounce | Delayed and subtle, preserves site experience |
| Cost & scale | Low CPM, huge scale | Low CPM, huge scale |
| Engagement level | Very high | High |
| CTR | Higher CTR | Lower immediate CTR |
| Device Performance | Strong on mobile devices | Versatile, better on desktop |
| Conversion Speed | Fast results for testing | Slower but steadier conversions |
| Best used for | Aggressive funnels, Gambling, Betting, Dating, Sweepstakes | Long funnels or direct-click conversions, Utilities, Finance, Gambling, Media |
FAQ: Popup vs Popunder
What’s the difference between popup and popunder ads?
Popup ads open in front of the user’s current browser window. They’re visible immediately, but can feel intrusive. Popunder ads open a new browser tab or window behind the current one. The user only sees them when they close or minimize their active window.
Which ad format converts better for affiliate campaigns?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer since conversion depends heavily on your offer, GEO, and targeting. Popunders often convert well in Finance, Gambling, Betting and Software verticals. Popup ads can work great for time-sensitive or urgent campaigns, like in Sweepstakes, Gambling, Betting, and VPN niches.
When should I use popunder instead of popup ads?
You might prefer popunder ads when you’re scaling traffic broadly, because this format gives you massive reach. It also works well in verticals like Gambling, Betting, Media, and Utilities, offering high-volume and relatively low-cost traffic.
Are pop ads effective for high-traffic campaigns?
Yes, pop ads are very effective for high-traffic affiliate campaigns because they are cost-efficient, perform well in various niches, require minimal preparation (no creatives needed), and scale very well, delivering huge traffic volumes at low CPMs.
Conclusion
The choice between popup and popunder ads depends on your campaign goals, offer type, and budget. Popup ads work best when you need immediate attention and fast results with impulse-driven offers. Popunder ads excel when you want less intrusive delivery and more room to display information.
So when it comes to popup vs popunder, the smartest approach is to test both pop ad formats. Run test campaigns with each, monitor the metrics, and optimize based on performance data. Different offers respond differently, and only testing reveals what works for your specific situation.
Ready to start earning money from popup and popunder traffic? Sign up for the ROIads ad network today and get access to premium traffic sources that convert. Our platform gives you the ad formats, optimization tools, and quality support you need to scale your affiliate campaigns for greater ROI.
