actually, as the commenter below indicated, according to jackob nielsen's research, I am absolutely right.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/banner-blindness.html Summary: Users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the four design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks.

The unethical here is tricking people into thinking popups are system dialog boxes.

The economics of the situation are clear. 100,000 magazine readers is a business. 100,000 web readers is lunch money.