Best Pop Ad Networks (Popunders & Popups)
Why are Pop Ads so Popular in Advertising?
If there’s one ad format you gotta get behind if you wanna make some serious cash, pop ads is it.
Not only can it make money faster than almost any other ad type, but it’s also a format that’s super easy to use and provides a great entry point for affiliate marketing newbies.
With conversion rates up to 9.3% for the top 10% performing popups, with an industry average of 3.1%, they can offer a significant boost to your ROI.
(Image credit: SumoMe)
We’re gonna look at how you can use pop ads to promote your offers and create high-converting, profitable campaigns.
But first, let’s look at what pop ads actually are.
Pop ads are an ad format that you’ve probably seen many times before.
They are split into two categories:
- Popups: You’ll see these when you click a link on a site and you get a new window on top of the page you clicked on.
- Popunders: These are more sneaky and load under the page you are visiting and are usually found when you close the window above it. This is a popular format and is used by many of the top networks.
They are used with lots of different offer types but typically you’ll see them with pin submits, sweepstakes, mobile apps, vouchers, gambling, finance and leadgen offers.
This ad format originally started being used on desktop but has more recently been killing it on mobile, where there are typically higher payouts than in other formats.
One of the reasons it’s so popular among affiliate marketers is because you can get a campaign up and running quick and fast and start seeing results right away.
Pop traffic also tends to run cheaper than some other formats and the entry threshold is low.
With just a few tools and the right knowledge, it’s easy for anyone to run these types of offers.
The downside?
You’re gonna find that pop ads have a lot of competition in almost every niche.
This means you’ll be competing with top affiliates for similar offers to the ones you wanna promote.
The solution?
Get creative with your ads and landing copy, and bid on keywords that may be less competitive in your niche.
Run a few different offers and pick the winners.
Make sure your ads are highly targeted to the audience that will convert for your offer by specifying the location, device, OS and browser you wanna target.
You’ll also need to choose the right cost model for your campaign and set frequency caps to make sure you don’t chase away your audience.
One thing you’re gonna want to stay on is making sure your ad stays relevant.
How so? Let me explain.
The thing to realize about pop ads is that they’re an interruptive type of ad.
This means that a pop ad interrupts the visitors’ journey and gets in their face before they can reach the page they wanna see.
So, visitors won’t necessarily gonna be interested in some pop ad that interrupts them from reaching the page they wanna look at.
For instance, let’s say they’re trying to reach a tech site. In that case, hit them with a pop ad for an iPhone sweepstake offer.
If it’s a health site, then throw out a coupon for a gym membership.
See how that works?
How you deal with this is up to you but you should get creative and give the user a reason to get interested in what you are showing them.
This type of inventory has huge potential for mobile affiliates but it’s up to you to make it work.
Think about what makes the most sense for the user and you’ll be well on your way to a high converting campaign in no time!
What is a Pop Ad Network?
Now, let’s look at pop ad networks and how they work.
This is where you’re going to run your ads.
We’ll look at how to start your own pop campaign further ahead but first let’s get into networks and why you need them.
So, a pop network is basically your traffic source for the campaign.
It’s where you’ll run your ads and pay for your traffic.
There are two types of pop networks to be aware of: those that specialize in pop ads and those that include popup or popunder formats in their platform.
You’ll also find networks that focus on specific niches that also have pop ad formats.
A lot of this is gonna depend on your offer and how you structure your campaign.
You’ll also wanna test your ads on different traffic sources to find the best performing network for your offer and you’ll notice that some will perform better than others, and some are more suited to the offer you wanna run, based on the publishers on their network.
You can start to optimize your campaign by pausing the traffic sources that aren’t converting for you and focus on the ones which are.
All the networks below are great options for mobile pop ads, so make sure you visit them all to get a feel on the differences between them and what sort of traffic you might wanna run to your offer.
You’re also gonna find that some networks are more competitive than others for your niche, so make sure you test and optimize your campaigns before committing to a large ad spend.
Scale in slowly and measure your results to make sure you maintain a healthy ROI across all your campaigns.
So let’s take a look at some of the best pop networks you can use as traffic sources for your popup and popunder ads.
How to Choose Offers for a Pop Ad Campaign?
So, there you have it!
Your success depends not only on your offer but also on your landing pages, competitive research, and tracking solution.
It’s about how well you optimize your campaign for a profitable ROI, as much as what offer you choose to run.
But even before you choose your offer there’s something you need to be aware of.
You need to think about what type of traffic you wanna attract.
If you get this part wrong you may end up using the wrong offer for the ad format.
Let me break it down for you.
Just because an offer is popular doesn’t mean it’s the right one to use as a pop ad.
You first wanna think about your visitors and if this offer is likely to convert for the sites they are on.
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The best approach is always to match the traffic source to the offer and market it accordingly.
Learn about the types of publishers you’re gonna find on different pop networks and think about the types of visitors you wanna attract.
What niche are you in?
How will the offer connect with your target audience?
Is the offer gonna work with a popup or popunder format?
Then, once you’ve chosen your offer, you’ll find an angle that makes sense in the context of the visitor’s journey.
Sounds simple, right?
Get this part right and you’ll be well on your way to making oodles of cash!
As we’ve mentioned above the top converting offers for pop campaigns are:
- PIN submits
- Sweepstakes
- Coupons & Vouchers
- App installs
- Gambling
- Finance
- Leadgen
You’ll find all these offer types can work well for pop ads and can lead to high converting campaigns at Mobidea.
Once you’ve chosen your offer, you’re gonna need all the other tools at your disposal as an affiliate marketer to make your campaign a success.
If you haven’t already done so, now’s a good time to head over to our CPA marketing guide for a complete look at how to make it in the business.
Remember to always track your performance across different traffic sources with ad tracking software like Voluum to optimize your campaigns and then scale up accordingly!
See also: Recommended Affiliate Marketing Tools
Now, let’s check the list of ad networks!
List of the Best Pop Ad Networks
1. Adcash
Cost Model(s) – CPA, CPC, CPM
GEOs – Lots of GEOs and targeting options but you may find yourself pushed for traffic from some GEOs
Adcash is a self-serve DSP with over 300 RTB publishers and 2 million ad requests a day. It’s is a popular favorite with mainstream affiliates specializing in desktop and mobile popunder traffic.
The pop ad network has a great amount of traffic with worldwide coverage, you’ll just need to find the sweet spot to get the best performance.
There’s a good range of optimization and tracking tools, including user interest targeting – which matches your ad to the people most likely to click.
The pop ad network features competitive pricing and unique performance goals to make sure that your campaign stays on track.
Tracking is by Global Postback URL (S2S) and there’s a bunch of available tokens you can use to identify top-performing ads.
Adcash has lots of GEOs and targeting options, but you may find yourself pushed for mobile traffic from some GEOs for which you may wanna use the connected SSPs.
Advertisers can use the platform’s CPA target to lower their bids and improve their ROI.
Pros
- Connects to most popular SSPs
- Powerful CPATarget
- Very responsive support
Cons
- ISP targeting can be difficult to get right
Read our full Adcash review here.
2. RichPops
Cost Model(s) – CPC, CPM
GEOs – Global reach with over 220 countries
RichAds offers premium pop traffic from $0.3 CPM and a global inventory of high converting publishers.
Advertisers can benefit from improved targeting and kick-ass automation that makes setting up and optimizing campaigns a breeze.
Bids are highly customizable using the platform’s microbid technology, while the advanced automated rules and the TargetCPA and SmartCPC ad-tech makes for an exceptional ROI.
You can even sample traffic sources to evaluate performance and volume, making scaling your campaigns as easy as ABC.
There’s also pre-built whitelists to give you a head start in all verticals including Gambling, Betting, Software & Utilities, and Dating.
You can fund your account using various payment methods from just $100 which includes full support from the RichPops team.
Pros
- Excellent targeting
- Easy to scale
- Advanced bidding functionality
Cons
- Unable to block sources from reporting tab
3. Adsterra
Cost Model(s) – CPM, CPA, CPL, CPO, CPI (PPI)
GEOs – 190 GEOs targeted, mobile & desktop, advanced targeting
Adsterra is a global advertising network with 1 billion ad impressions daily and 8 years of experience behind it.
They offer various ad formats, but the Popunders had always been the most prominent — providing the most significant amounts of traffic and profit.
All pop traffic has RTB (Real Time Bidding), and you can bid on impressions, thus lowering your costs while targeting only the users you are most likely to see your ads.
With worldwide coverage in over 248 GEOs targeting mobile & desktop users and a network of 18K+ direct publishers, you’ll find there’s plenty of high converting traffic for your offers.
Malware, along with redirects, unsolicited downloads, and alerts, is strictly prohibited at Adsterra.
Pros
- Easy to get started
- Performs well with AdsTerra in-house CPA offers
- Excellent targeting options
Cons
Check out our full Adsterra review here.
4. TrafficStars
Cost Model(s) – CPM, CPC, CPMV and DCPM
GEOs – Global inventory of high quality adult traffic
TrafficStars is a self-serve, adult ad network with a global inventory of high converting adult traffic. It focuses on exclusive members area traffic and has high-quality ad placements that are perfect for dating affiliates.
There’s a high-volume of traffic in Tier 1 Geos, but advertisers can also get good results in low-payout countries.
TrafficStars has a great audience targeting algorithm which allows you to create lookalike audiences to find top performing ad spots with the best potential.
You can also use the ad network’s Dynamic CPM cost model which will adjust your bids on-the-fly.
There’s decent tracking and reporting tools but regs can be tough for newbies.
Pros
- Perfect for dating affiliates
- Excellent audience targeting capabilities
Cons
- Traffic estimator can be inaccurate
Read our TrafficStars review here.
5. PopAds
Cost Model(s) – CPM
GEOs – 40 countries including North America, Southern Asia, India, Western Europe and Australia
PopAds was established back in 2010 and continues to be a leader in pop traffic to this day.
The ad network exclusively focuses on pop ads and allows you to set your budget, target your visitors, control your rates while giving you full control over your traffic quality and speed of delivery.
You can create ads for both Adult and Mainstream offers and choose from a range of pop ad formats. These include Popunder, Popup, Tabunder, and Tabup.
There’s traffic in over 100 countries including many Tier 1 Geos such as North America, Western Europe, and Australia.
PopAds is bot-free, has category and keyword targeting options, and converts like crazy in popular verticals.
Pros
- Huge volume of traffic
- Can target traffic by quality rating
Cons
- No personal account manager
- Works best with desktop targeting
6. TwinRed
Cost Model(s) – CPM, CPC
GEOs – Worldwide inventory. Performs well in Tier 1 & Tier 2 GEOs
TwinRed is a self-serve adult popunder network that has global inventory and an abundance of exclusive dating traffic. You’ll discover a high click-through rate in top tier Geos, along with high converting premium traffic.
The platform has excellent tracking, and easy-to-use custom tools that make fine-tuning your campaign performance pain-free.
TwinRed also offers the Interstitial ad format, which share a lot of features with pop ads and may be preferable for advertisers in some cases.
The network has good performance in top Geos and you can target RON or choose specific placements for your ads.
It’s easy to edit your zones and bids and use the advanced targeting options to take control over every variable used in your campaigns.
Pros
- Offers the Interstitial ad format
- High volume of traffic
- Converts well with adult, VOD, and games offers
Cons
- May not be the best all-rounder
Check out our TwinRed review here.
7. PropellerAds
Cost Model(s) – CPM
GEOs – Over 150 Geos in tiers 1-4
PropellerAds was founded in 2011 and still has a reputation of being the king of pop.
The ad network has over 3 billion daily ad impressions in 195 Geos, and works with all popular verticals including finance, forex, e-commerce, mainstream dating, nutra, sweepstakes, betting, games, gambling, and crypto.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the amount of advanced targeting options you can use with your campaigns, and the low minimum deposit and cheap bids makes PropellerAds a great ad network for pros and newbies alike.
Pros
- Good source of quality traffic
- Performs well in most of the verticals
Cons
- Account manager only for Platinum advertisers
Read our PropellerAds review here.
8. Zeropark
Cost Model: CPM
GEOs – 60+ Billion impressions worldwide available monthly, quality traffic from all T1-T2-T3 Geos
Zeropark has been one of the go-to advertising platform for performance and affiliate marketers since 2011.
What makes Zeropark the number one traffic source for thousands of advertisers is the unmatched inventory size that comes with quality, competitive pricing and the platform’s ease of use.
On a monthly basis, Zeropark offers 60+ billion pop ad impressions from all around the world, available from just $0.0001 per view. You can find traffic for every niche and vertical, while the most popular choices include downloads, ecommerce, betting & gambling, surveys & sweeps, as well as finance.
Thanks to the customer-favorite UI, dedicated support and account management, integrations with popular trackers, and clever optimization tools, Zeropark makes it really easy to find success with your campaigns.
The minimum first deposit is $200, which, aside from the advertising credit, gets you access to live one-on-one onboarding sessions with Zeropark’s professionals.
Upon reaching a certain spend level, Zeropark also provides you with a dedicated Account Management service.
Pros
- Huge inventory size
- Clean UI
- great bidding algorithm
Cons
- Sue to the inventory size, some optimization work is required
- No AI-based optimization towards an eCPA goal
Read our full Zeropark review here.
9. ExoClick
Cost Model(s) – CPM
GEOs – Plenty of quality Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 GEOs with accurate IP ranges
ExoClick is a huge ad network has a ton of features for creating highly profitable ad campaigns. These include RTB, cost control, behavioral targeting, and advanced traffic targeting.
You can buy pop inventory for both mobile and desktop traffic, and use the detailed reporting stats to optimize your campaigns.
Exoclick helps you reach a global audience and boasts more than 182 billion impressions per month – making it an ideal choice for high volume ad campaigns.
There’s a wealth of high-quality pubs, huge volume, and high-converting ad spots in all Geos.
Don’t forget to use the SmartCPM feature to maximize your profit potential!
Pros
- Huge volumes
- High converting ad spots
- Detailed reporting stats
Cons
- Not the ideal platform for beginners
Read our full ExoClick Review here.
10. TrafficJunky
Cost Model(s) – CPM
GEOs – Search for country or ISP to target your traffic GEO location
Expect a high volume of quality adult traffic at competitive rates and choose from high performing ad spots with this leading ad network.
This self-serve platform converts like crazy in popular niches including adult dating, adult pay sites, gambling & entertainment, health & beauty, sexual wellness, and gaming.
There’s considerable volume in tier 1 Geos, with 150 million daily visits and 3 billion impressions per day.
They’re also one of the few pop ad networks that offer full account manager support, so they’re well worth a closer look.
Advertisers can get super cheap traffic, along with powerful TJ Analytics that can help to send your profits through the roof!
It’s also one of the few platforms that you can promote sweet weed products via marijuana campaigns in permitted Geos.
TrafficJunky’s powerful algorithm can also automate your bids, targeting, and budget, to give you more bang for your buck.
The in-built optimization tools and reporting stats work to help you make informed decisions and identify the top performing ad spots for your offers.
Pros
- Huge volume of high quality traffic
- Converts well in competitive niches
Cons
- Bids can be difficult to understand
Check out our full TrafficJunky review here.
Conclusion
Pop ad networks are a powerful resource that’s available to you as an affiliate marketer.
They’re easy to use, can be a cheap source of traffic and will do wonders for increasing your conversion rates.
Just remember you’ll need to plan your campaign in detail before you rush in head first if you wanna see the best results.
So what now?
First, choose an affiliate network to register with, like Mobidea, and get yourself an account at any of the pop ad networks mentioned above.
Then it’s time to get approved for some offers that you can use in your pop ad campaigns.
You’ll have taken the first steps towards a new lifestyle and, armed with the rest of the information available at our affiliate academy, be well on your way to becoming the super affiliate you know you are destined to be
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