Pop ads are a great way to advertise because they have proven to send loads of conversions, especially with a straightforward flow, such as with subscriptions and installs. Like in this case study, our partner gained an ROI of 315% with Pops and mobile subscriptions. This ad format is relatively simple to use, so you can take advantage of it even if you’re new to the affiliate marketing industry and advertising.
Now, where can you get good pop traffic? Not just traffic, but converting popunder traffic, which is difficult to come by these days. We compared the ad market’s top players to find the best popunder ad networks. And as a bonus, we added a little guide on how to choose the best pop up ad network.
Why popunder ads remain a powerhouse in 2026
Pop ads are as popular as ever because of their effectiveness. Research shows the average popup ad has an 11% conversion rate. Let’s highlight its powers:
- Many ad networks offer pop ads with detailed targeting.
- The popunder ad format grabs users’ immediate attention and stimulates lead generation.
- Popunder ads have high visibility and high conversion rates.
- A little expense on pop ads can generate a high return on investment.
- Hence, many advertisers prefer using pop ads to reach their target audience.
For example, Adsterra offers pop ads and lets you target ads by location, device type, operating system, browser, language, and much more settings, spurring high conversion rates. Go through a quick signup and have a look at how it works.
What is a pop ad network?
Pop ad networks are platforms that let brands create targeted Popup and Popunder ads. These networks are valuable because they give advertisers a nearly endless supply of pop ad inventory and traffic. Best popunder networks offer more flexibility for content than the giant platforms like Google and Meta.
Pop ads are classified into Popups and Popunders:
- Popups appear when a new window opens on top of the current page.
- Popunders load under the current webpage and are only visible when the current window is closed (banners vs popunders are displayed on the current page). Many top ad networks use these formats because they are very popular and work for many types of offers, including Lead Generation, Pin Submits, Sweepstakes, Mobile Apps, Software, and iGaming.
Pop ads are prevalent with affiliate marketers because it is simple to launch a campaign quickly and get results. Pop traffic also has lower operating costs than other formats and a low entry barrier.
How to choose the right pop ad networks?
We cannot overstate the importance of choosing the right pop ad network before considering what your landing pages should look like. We could have told you to forget your fears, ignore your doubts, and quickly join us here at Adsterra. But we want you to arrive at this decision yourself, after doing your research, so you’ll give yourself some credit when you see positive results. In any case, we’ll review factors to consider when picking a pop ad network.
Check affiliate marketing forums skeptically
On forums, you’ll learn more details about the ad networks you’re investigating from people who use them. Again, some people work for affiliate networks, and others may be irritated if their campaigns did not perform well that week. So, think when considering a review. And also, people on forums have varying budgets, experiences, and approaches. They won’t always discover the full potential of these networks.
You can contact the ad network’s representative via the forums or go directly to customer support. They can tell you what kinds of offers are doing well in their network and other details.
Comparative analysis: which network fits your needs?
Trying out an ad network yourself is often the best way to learn how it works. This is the only way to determine whether an ad network has a niche with a particularly high ROI. Some ad networks let you start with a small budget.
As with any comparison, we recommend listing the pros and cons of what each network has to offer while you’re testing them out.
By traffic volume
We understand that the more traffic volume available, the more opportunities for you to run successful campaigns. That’s because every bit of traffic represents a potential lead that could be converted into a customer and ultimately return some commission to you.
So how much traffic should an ad network provide? When you visit the homepage of any ad network, you’ll see several key statistics highlighting the platform’s traffic volume.
How the ad network combats fraudulent bots
Ad fraud bots are a concern for pop ads networks, which is why some ad platforms try to prevent them from ruining your marketing campaigns with an anti-fraud system.
Best networks use state-of-the-art technology to bypass ad blockers, ensuring ads reach a wider audience.
However, not all ad networks use bot filtering, which means you may be paying more for clicks and ad impressions with no chance of conversions and poor traffic quality. Nobody wants that.
By available GEOs — where do pop ads convert the best?
Each campaign is unique, but there are general trends to follow. If you’re wondering which GEOs work best with Popunder affiliate marketing campaigns, you will first need to check with a classic segmentation.
Tier 1
This is the most expensive zone for buying traffic, but it frequently has high conversion rates. This tier is for seasoned affiliate marketers who understand how to optimize their campaigns and when to stop an underperforming campaign. But that takes time and practice. The most important GEOs regarding the campaign budget are US, UK, IT, DE, CA, AU.
Tier 2
The second tier of GEOs consists of countries that are generally less expensive than Tier 1. Tier 2 countries include AT, BE, CY, CZ, HU, FR, and many others.
Tier 3
When running your campaigns, consider the volume of traffic you this tier because they’ll lose less money during the popunder campaign learning curve. Tier 3 countries include the following: IN, HU, KR, MX, PL, and others.
Please note that every ad network applies its segmentation as traffic is unique, and sometimes Tier-3 traffic is paid even higher than Tier-1. Especially when it comes to social traffic.
By pop traffic prices
Money makes the world go round, and you want to get the most profitable traffic for your money. So it’s crucial to discuss how much you should pay for pop traffic.
CPM and CPA are the two most popular pricing models when purchasing pop traffic. Still, not everyone knows how much to pay for pop traffic. Depending on your targeting options, you can find minimal bids for your Popunder CPM campaign, but some ad networks will charge you more than others.
Traffic that costs around $0.2 per view could be considered normal. Still, there is no guarantee that more expensive traffic will perform better. It might only imply that you are aiming for pricey Tier 1 GEOs or popular specific keywords. So if you want to see a return on your investment, include that in your campaign budget.
The average bid can differ by GEOs, so confirming that your bid is appropriate is essential. You can always use the recommended bid that the ad network suggests (if they have such a feature).
Go to the network’s traffic calculator (or Traffic Estimator when on the Adsterra platform). You should be able to customize it for each country, source, device type, and ad format, like Social Bar, Interstitials, In-Page Push (push notifications), Native ads, Banner ads, Display banners (in our case, Popunder). You can then tailor your campaigns to a particular audience. Your chances of success with your campaigns increase with campaign optimization.
Additionally, be careful when signing up for some ad networks, as some require minimum deposits of up to $1000.
With its high traffic quality and widest global reach, Adsterra is known for its Partner Care approach. It offers pop ads and popunder ad formats with small minimum bids and detailed targeting to reach the perfect audience. Sign up today and achieve more conversions with your ad spending.
By pop traffic targeting methods
The audience you’ll reach is determined by the advanced targeting options offered by an ad network. The likelihood of a positive ROI increases with the level of targeting. But overly specific targeting can result in a tiny member base in a niche, which is also unprofitable.
Therefore, it all comes down to balance. You should pick a popunder advertising network that enables you to identify a target market for your affiliate campaigns.
What targeting and filtering options check for? Device and OS targeting, GEO targeting, Frequency filtering, Day-parting, and other options are also available.
By optimization options
Some ad networks will help you optimize your affiliate campaigns more than others. While some self-serve ad networks take the self-serve part literally and provide little assistance to their clients, others go out of their way to help in any way they can.
So, consider that when selecting your ad network based on how much assistance you anticipate needing. You might need help finding an affiliate ad tracker or simply want to learn more about the optimization choices that would work best for you. You can find the solution with a good pop ad network.
By scaling opportunities
Consider this: you created great creatives, established and fine-tuned targeting, devised a payout, and added whitelists. It goes well, and you get 30-40 leads per day with a 100% ROI. It’s time to increase your profits! You decide to increase your advertising budget or add more creatives to entice those who did not click on your ads. Done!
However, you will receive the same 30 leads the following day and 20 leads and a 50% ROI the next day. The challenge is to scale up your CPA campaign while achieving better results and avoiding performance drops.
But what if your ad network can’t help you accomplish this? A good pop ad network should be able to give you the information you need to scale up your CPA campaigns rapidly.
By optimization methods
Check the ad network’s optimization tools to help you run your campaigns more efficiently and affordably. You can earn money with less effort by automating some of your affiliate marketing campaigns, just like other affiliates.
Some of these tools can be:
- Custom bidding or smart bidding options: when you selectively increase or decrease a bid for best-performing and underperforming placement. As an outcome: you distribute budgets to attract maximum conversions from robust traffic sources and leave a little money for average performers just in case they hit one day.
- Pricing tokens. These helpful tokens added to a landing page URL help avoid overspending and react to sudden traffic drops faster.
By affiliate ad tracking options
Affiliate ad tracking shows you if your marketing efforts are profitable. However, do all pop ad networks allow it? The majority of ad networks do permit affiliate ad tracking software. One way to get the best tracking for your campaigns is to invest in a tracker. Some ad networks have basic tracking built in, while others outsource it to a third party. Here’s a guide to S2S tracking on our blog.
By campaign approval time
We know you want to see your new campaigns perform as soon as possible to be able to tweak and adjust them to perform even better. Therefore, picking an ad network that approves your campaign quickly is crucial.
However, the fun would also end if a campaign that had been approved and was earning a good ROI suddenly got flagged for a compliance issue or an issue with your account. But Adsterra offers a quick campaign approval process, making it easier for you to return to campaign optimization.
By onboarding procedure
Even if you are an experienced affiliate marketer or advertiser, there may be some ad networks you haven’t tried yet. A good onboarding process is crucial. After all, when you are just starting out, things like being able to get help with all the new acronyms or metrics can make or break your experience. Learn how Adsterra onboarding works: advertising hacks in one video tour.
Everybody has different business needs, and those needs should be respected. So look for a pop ad network that has a special onboarding procedure.
By customer support efficiency
An ad network with strong support staff is better than any without one. For this reason, we recommend reviewing this list of qualities a top-notch customer support team should have:
- Knowledge of affiliate marketing,
- Rapid reaction time,
- Live support staff.
You want a quick response from customer service and to be able to trust them. Consider your support needs when choosing a pop ad network.
By knowledge base availability
Not knowing the workarounds of a platform or its tips to ensure you run a successful campaign can be an early disappointment. The lack of an adequate knowledge base and user guides can halt a campaign in its tracks. However, picking an advertising network with well-documented Help can save you time and money. You won’t have to rely on a dedicated account manager or the help team to tune your campaigns.
By individualized solutions
Every affiliate marketing campaign is unique. It can be shaped by everything from very general considerations like the niche you select to minute adjustments that make your campaigns uniquely yours.
Your recipe for success is the specific targeting options you decide on. Again, contact the dedicated account manager for assistance with your campaigns. They might be able to provide you with a solution that is specially designed to increase the revenue from your campaigns. This could take the form of whitelists, adjustments to the targeting options for your campaign, or even advice on a different direction to take your campaign to reach more customers.
What verticals work with Popunders?
Popunder ads are most effective in the iGaming, E-commerce, and Utilities niches. These verticals will most likely produce conversions when you use Popunders to advertise to your target audience.
Popunder ads let you reach the widest possible audience because they work well with PCs and mobile traffic. iGaming is one of the biggest online sectors, which makes it a perfect fit for Popunder ads’ wide reach. Popunders are an interactive advertising format, making it suited for E-commerce and software Utilities, especially when you’re advertising discounts.
Top 14 popunder ad networks for 2026: in-depth reviews
1. Adsterra
Pros:
- Broad targeting options;
- High-quality traffic;
- Works well for multiple niches;
- Seamless integration for tracking software;
- On-time interactive reporting.
Cons:
- No demographic targeting.
Adsterra is a global advertising network that spans over 248 GEOs and displays up to 11.9 billion pop ad impressions monthly. With over 36K high-quality publishers on this network, you can create targeted Popups and Popunders for any desired audience.
Advertisers and affiliates can apply 20+ targeting settings to fine-tune traffic segments. The platform is truly versatile, opening opportunities for scaling and optimizing campaigns. It is integrated with the most robust trackers, so it’ll be easier to monitor spending and campaigns’ efficiency.
Adsterra’s top verticals for pop ads include Utilities and Software, iGaming, Sweepstakes, Ecommerce and Sales, Browser Extensions, Social & Dating and others. Under the hood, advertisers can use AI-powered tools like Traffic Estimator to assess the current traffic competition and help pick the optimal bid. Transparency is key to a good partnership. Thus, Adsterra displays its current traffic amounts (the Traffic Chart tab) and gives helpful clues on which offers are trending (the Offers Wishlist tab).
By focusing on desktop and mobile users and supporting more than 36,000 direct publishers, Adsterra can provide coverage for almost all countries, helping you reach farther than your rivals. In addition, this popunder advertising network offers a robust pop inventory: many ad formats deliver CTRs up to 30X higher than industry alternatives, including Social Bar, Interstitials, In-Page Push (push notifications), etc.
2. Reacheffect
Pros:
- High-converting in-house offers;
- Advanced targeting capabilities;
- Multiple ad formats, including Video pre rolls and Telegram ads;
- Flexible payment options;
Cons:
- No demographic targeting;
- It may require verification for specific verticals;
- No real-time bidding.
Reacheffect is a comprehensive global advertising network. The platform stands out for its extensive reach and work with Sports, Utilities, VPNs, E-commerce, and other high-converting verticals. Advertisers appreciate flexible pricing models (CPM, CPC, CPI, CPT, CPA, CPL) and access exclusive in-house offers directly from the dashboard. The popunder ad network provides over 100 million ad impressions daily for 195+ countries.
3. Adcash
Pros:
- Automated ad campaign optimization;
- Real-time analytics;
- Intuitive interface.
Cons:
- Limited targeting options;
- $100 minimum deposit.
Adcash works with 100 RTB partners and receives 10 billion ad requests daily. It’s one of the top Popunder ad networks with heavy traffic.
The Popunder ad network tracks competitive pricing and unique performance outcomes to ensure your ad campaign generates significant revenue. This ad network uses Global Postback URL (S2S) to track top-performing ads by token count. Advertisers can use the CPA target to improve ROI.
4. Zeropark
Pros:
- User-friendly interface;
- A high volume of premium publishers;
- Rule-based (automated and manual) ad optimization.
Cons:
- High minimum campaign spend;
- Stringent rules for getting approved as an advertiser.
Since 2011, affiliate and performance marketers have turned to Zeropark as one of the preferred advertising platforms. Zeropark is used by thousands of advertisers because of its vast inventory size and user-friendly interface.
They offer 60+ billion pop ad impressions per month from all over the world. Every niche and vertical can be targeted, but the most popular options are Downloads, E-commerce, iGaming & Sports, Surveys & Sweepstakes, and Finance.
5. PropellerAds
Pros:
- Real-time conversion reporting;
- Supports various payment methods;
- High-quality traffic for advertisers.
Cons:
- High minimum deposit ($100);
- No real-time bidding.
PropellerAds works with Finance, E-commerce, Betting, Nutra, Sweepstakes, Games, Finance, iGaming, etc. Desktop, mobile, in-app, and display ads are available. It’s a credible platform for advertisers, but only Platinum advertisers get account managers.