In terms of cost of an ad to earnings, and how well, even a targeted ad, can hold a viewer’s attention. Have we just become numb to ads? Does targeted advertising actually yield better results?
For me not at all. I’m old enough to research & shop for what I need rather than impulse buy. Tech wise I
dontvery rarely see any ads at all thanks to strong ad blocking & general privacy consciousness. I try to stick to open source only & fediverse is the only social media I use. For YouTube I never sign in to so I’m not affected by the algorithm & never see ads on it ever (channels I like are in a Joplin note synced between devices). Broadcast TV is recorded via HTPC & ads stripped before episodes are fed into Jellyfin.I dont “get” influencers. Even back in the day I used to ask why celebrities always put their name to perfume/aftershave as I’d only buy what I liked the smell of regardless of the brand/name.
Yeah, I know I’m an outlier, even my mates take the piss.
I mean, you’re not alone. I got so fed up with ads because it was always junk I needed but couldn’t afford, or shit I already knew existed and had otherwise already acquired with satisfactory results. Not to mention ads following me around. I hated being haunted by a pair of sneakers across four websites.
It’s not paranoia if you’re right, dammit.
For the average person immensely. Especially when you’re not familiar with a field and just need something, you’ll probably buy something you saw before. For example if you see Makita ads for power tools and you suddenly need to buy a power tool.
Not really. I have most of what I want and need. Now I just need to zero my debt, which ain’t gonna happen soon. So I don’t need new shit. I’m just hitting yard sales.
And none of that shit ever got me laid like they said it would.
Have we just become numb to ads?
Online I use multiple browser extensions and settings to avoid showing ads. In the offline world there is no way to avoid them but I think I pretty much can ignore them.
I also intentionally do not buy anything I remember seeing an ad for.
I’m the same way, but I end up buying something similar. Show me Wendy’s and I’ll eventually go to Burger King
I think ads are super effective for some demographics. Children are probably the best target market. Teenagers, particularly those who seek external validation or align to external norms are a sweet spot. Old guys like me? No effect whatsoever.
Given that Google generated more than 250 billion U.S. dollars in ad revenue in 2024, I’d say they must be pretty effective.
I believe that the revenue comes more from advertisers paying to advertise on Google than from people paying for the advertised products or services.
Those people wouldn’t keep paying if they didn’t find those ads effective. Not to mention there are methods to measure the efficacy of ads so they do know how well they work.
Ads are effective at communicating how other people will view your purchase
