al.com Bypasses Ad Blockers, Serves Up Sneaky Pop-Unders
Full disclosure before we begin. I’m a former al.com employee. I don’t have an axe to grind against my former employer, but you can decide that independently after reading this post.
In recent weeks, I’ve noticed in my daily visits to Alabama’s l
argest news website a predictable tone as the second page viewed loads. It’s my browser’s pop-up blocker, alerting me that it has blocked one of those pesky pop-ups. Hooray for Internet Explorer and Firefox as both browser’s alerts claim success. Unfortunately, and perhaps even more irritatingly, the claimed success is false. The ad, always for Netflix, somehow bypasses the blocker and loads anyway.
This post is not written to question al.com’s right to advertise to its audience or earn revenue. Clearly, they have a right to do both. As a frequent reader, I understand that advertisers pay to give me access to that free content. But a pop-under ad engineered specifically to get past ad pop-up blockers has problems all its own.
Initially, browsers have pop-up blocking software for a reason. Quite simply, the marketplace grew irritated with pop-up and pop-under ads a decade ago. Users became so incensed that they began purchasing ad blocking software to avoid the irritation. Pop-ups interfered with the natural browsing experience. Later, ad blocking software became part of the browser itself because web users demanded it.
Secondly, in al.com’s case, only one advertiser is using this ad unit. While Netflix is indeed a mass market product, the tactic feels akin to a carpet bomb. When the same advertiser’s ad pops up for the hundredth time, they’re more like an unwelcome (and uninvited) dinner guest.
Effective ads are relevant and targeted. Google does it by allowing advertisers to bid on specific keywords and phrases. Facebook allows advertisers to segment out its users across multiple demographic traits. When done well, the ads can be nearly as interesting as the site content. When done poorly, the ad, and, by extension, the publication, becomes a nuisance.
For the time being, one browser, Firefox 3.5.1 (latest build) is successfully blocking al.com’s pop-unders. If you’re aware of others, please share in the comments.