The show's pioneering use of pop-up bubbles to provide additional information about what is happening onscreen has seen many imitators and parodies, as well as some official licensed spinoffs, including Pop Up Video UK.

[1] The "random" information presented in bubbles frequently included statistics and demographics, medical, scientific, and historical trivia, definitions, and lists of a wide range of subjects.

[3] Gary Burns, in the Journal of Popular Film and Television, also notes as a recurring theme "the producers' attempt to turn practically every popped-up video into a dirty joke.

"[1] Often the film crew for the video in question would be interviewed in the research process; everyone from the director to make-up artists, choreographers, models, and extras might be used as sources.

[4] In addition, the producers solicited information by means of a phone line (displayed during the closing credits) and web site page.

[1] Thompson and Low previously worked together on Brandon Tartikoff's late night talk show Last Call, before it was cancelled in 1994.

[6] 1997 saw Pop Up Video's profile expand as popular news publications such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and Entertainment Weekly all produced articles about the show.

The 1996 VH1 Fashion Awards, Divas Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show (aired in syndication), several episodes of the Brady Bunch (aired on Nick at Nite in 2001, effectively named "Pop Up Brady"),[1] ABC's Original TGIF 1998 and 1999 line-up's season premieres and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (December 2000)[1] also got the Pop Up treatment.

This version featured music videos by British artists such as Robbie Williams, Spice Girls, and Elvis Costello.

[11] The 25th anniversary DVD release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show features a Pop Up video clip of one of the film's musical numbers, "Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul", as an extra on the second disc.

Artists such as Billy Joel, Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers, and The Police, as well as others such as director Mark Pellington and Sony Music Entertainment president Tommy Mottola complained about what they perceived as harsh treatment on the show and the videos in which they were featured were pulled.

"[14] In contrast, some artists, including Joan Osborne and Paula Abdul, made appearances on the show to provide further information on their popped videos.

[18][19] In addition to the traditional music video format, five of the most popular episodes from season one of Jersey Shore were given the pop-up treatment in spring of 2012.

Disney Channel occasionally uses Pop-Up styled videos during special airings of DCOMs, such as High School Musical 2 and Jump In!.