I used to think just like you – I hated popups – I NEVER used them – then one day not that long ago (maynbe 3 months) I thought what the hell Im gonna put up a popup.
Within that popup there are 5 “last chance banners” as I call them. To keep the story short and oh so sweet – each of the banners displayed in that popup have received well over 150 clicks each or over 750 clicks for the last three months.
Today as you have stated people have an option – if they dont want to see the popups they can “try” (many have scripting to bypass the blockers) to stop the popups. In that case I lose nothin, but if they do see it and click on it – great!