Anyone irritated by those commercials that pop up on movie screens may want to invest in a home theater. They may well be seeing even more of them.

As it turns out, contrary to a widely held perception, most movie-goers don't particularly mind onscreen commercials before the feature movie. Many actually enjoy watching them.

That's the conclusion of a new study by Arbitron after surveying than 1,000 people over the age of 12. It found that 63 percent of moviegoers do not mind onscreen commercials.

One reason is the improved quality over the static flip-card ads of old.

About three years ago, theater chains began installing equipment enabling them to screen digitally transmitted animated commercials. That opened the way for better technical quality, as well as more engaging content. The new technology is also capable targeting ads demographically.

The initial reaction was not positive, with some moviegoers actually filing lawsuits, arguing that their rights were violated because the new commercial formats meant that the main features were airing later than advertised by the movie theaters.

But movie-goers have since allowed the new ad formats to grow on them, or so it appears.

"The ads themselves are better than they have been, and I think they will continue to get better,” says Robert Martin, president and COO of cinema advertising vendor UniqueScreen and a board member of the Cinema Advertising Council.

“We’ve tried to share our thoughts with the advertising creative community that this is an entertainment environment, therefore they should make their ads entertaining with the idea in mind that we have an audience that has come out to see a movie.”

Also working in favor of movie-theater ads is that they air before the feature, rather than interrupting the content in the manner of so much advertising.

In fact, Arbitron found that movie-goers consider the ads less annoying than other media advertising. Arbitron looked at two groups, frequent movie-goers and all movie-goers.

Among frequent movie-goers-- people who’ve gone to more than five movies in the past three months--about 53 percent of say onscreen commercials are acceptable but only 46 percent say the same about commercials on TV, and just 38 percent say the same for ads on DVDs. Online ads and video game ads score even lower, 18 percent for each.

Among all moviegoers, cinema advertising did not do as well but still rated better than ads on other media. Arbitron found that 36 percent of respondents say onscreen ads are acceptable, compared to 29 percent for DVDs, 20 percent for the internet and only 12 percent for ads embedded in videogames.

Young moviegoers find onscreen ads more acceptable than older moviegoers. Among teenagers, 49 percent say onscreen ads are acceptable, compared to only 24 percent of people older than 50.

“The younger audience has been exposed to commercial content in all forms of media. They’ve grown up with it,” says Martin. “I’m not surprised the younger members of the audience are receptive to this.”

Movie-goers will likely see more ads for two reasons, and one is the wider acceptance pointed out by the Arbitron study, which runs against a widely held perception, based on earlier studies. But the other reason is that the ads appear to work. People recall them.

Onscreen ads are potentially reaching 124 million people in one month. Of that, 59 percent or 73 million people recall seeing ads. About 79 percent of movie theaters now run these commercials.

Moreover, 21 percent of moviegoers say seeing a product advertised on a movie screen makes them more inclined to buy it.

The Cinema Advertising Council last June reported that cinema advertising, including onscreen ads and in-theater advertising, increased 20.6 percent on a year-to-year basis in 2005, surpassing $527 million. These dollars are considered out-of-home advertising and is partly behind a surge in outdoor expenditures.

Arbitron, citing information from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, expects cinema advertising to reach $1 billion next year.

“The advertising in theaters is engaging, provocative and entertaining,” says Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer at the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. “When you present advertising to a captive audience that has those qualities, they will have a positive response.”