As far as TGP / MGP is concerned, you can run into hassles linking to tours or sites with pops. Now whether or not this has an impact on a submitter, depends on where they are submitting to and where they are getting traffic from. Some sites don't produce squat for some people, so it becomes "not worth the hassle" to submit to them and their no pops rule. TGP / MGP is forever changing. Sites that once accepted pops are no longer accepting them and vice versa. This decision, and many others, seem to change weekly in the volitile TGP / MGP world.
Sponsors offer pops, affiliates continue to use them, because they sell. If they suddenly stopped producing or the numbers began to majorly drop over a period of time, then people take a step back and try and determine the cause.
The only issue I have with pops, is excessive use of pops. Nothing pisses me off more, and most likely surfers, than pop-up hell. Where a pop loads, you close it, and bingo... more and more pops keep loading.
The pops a sponsor offers is a consideration when choosing to sign on or not. Sponsors should have the option to choose no pop vs. pop to compliment different marketing methods. I prefer up to 3 pops and not pop-up hell. It might just be my personal pet peeve, but I'm not the only surfer who gets pissed at pops.
I personally always wondered though what the actual numbers are of conversions through pops compared to what they once were before pop blockers? Have savvy surfers also become a little more immune to pop ads? If they have, it's all that much harder to catch their attention.
For me personally, I ignore the majority of pops. Sometimes because I wasn't looking to buy and sometimes they just simply go unnoticed because the quick glance just didn't catch my attention. Other times, it's intentional ignore, because I don't want to lose focus on what I'm doing at the moment.
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