system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are pop up ads such a big thing when the vast majority of the time they're immediately closed?
gpt
Pop up ads have somewhat died down over the past 10 years or so. This is because most people now understand exactly what a pop up ad is and why they didn’t actually win 1,000,000 or whatever.

You will notice now that the most recent try of ad is the ‘FBI Virus’ or similar. This ad claims your computer is broken or you did some bad thing and must call this number and pay lots of $$$$ or you will be arrested etc.

There is also the ‘browser hijack’ style where some ad seems to appear as an error message, something to the effect of “you need adobe flash player to view this” and then you click on it to supposedly download adobe flash. You’re actually not. Your downloading a very stingy piece of software called a PUP, or Potentially Unwanted Program. These will change your homepage, search engine, even cause more pop ups.

But basically, to answer your question, these ads preyed on the lack of knowledge the general public has towards computers and cyber security. Because we now pretty much all know what a pop up ad is, we close it, but back when they first started they were just as successful as today’s fake Microsoft support technicians from India. The reason they are still around is some people still don’t get it, and the people running these ads like to cling to their old ways haha.

Hope this helps!