I don't say this to criticize anything you said, but to offer the perspective of a company.

If they produce content for the sake of conversions, does it really matter to them if you hit back as soon as you see the popup? You've self-selected to indicate you aren't interested in doing business with them based on their popup practices.

From their perspective, this could be a bonus. Not that server resources are that scarce, but sales resources can be. Now they don't have to have someone call you, don't have you in their denominator lowering their conversion-to-sales rate, etc.

Perhaps it's just a way for both reader and publisher to see if they're a match.