MSN Europe to block pop-up ads

LONDON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The Microsoft Corp. will phase out pop-up and pop-under Internet ads on most of its MSN Web sites by the summer, the BBC reported Monday.

The ads will not be allowed on MSN's British, Nordic and Belgian sites, with the ban eventually to include other countries.

"(We have) taken the decision to no longer sell pop-up and pop-under ads," a Microsoft spokesman said. "Local countries will make the change at the best time to suit their local market needs and to meet pre existing arrangements with MSN customers."

MSN, which has about 350 million global visitors to its sites, started to block pop-ups on its U.S. sites late last year.

AOL started blocking them from its U.S. sites earlier last year.

Microsoft has recently been working with Unicase, an online ad developer, to come up with a new kind of advertising, testing 30 second-long television-style ads that appear at random when users click on certain Web sites.