Why Do Contextual Ads Fail? 249
minstrelmike writes If we give up all our privacy on-line for contextual ads, then how come so many of them are so far off the mark? Personal data harvesting for contextual ads and content should be a beautiful thing. They do it privately and securely, and it's all automated so that no human being actually learns anything about you. And then the online world becomes customized, just for you. The real problem with this scenario is that is we're paying for contextual ads and content with our personal data, but we're not getting what we pay for. Facebook advertising is off target and almost completely irrelevant. The question is: Why? Facebook has a database of our explicitly stated interests, which many users fill out voluntarily. Facebook sees what we post about. It knows who we interact with. It counts our likes, monitors our comments and even follows us around the Web. Yet, while the degree of personal data collection is extreme, the advertising seems totally random.
Duh (Score:5, Insightful)
Because there's always going to be a disproportionate amount of ads delivered for those willing to spend the most money on them. If there's 30,000 users who actually like fast food, and McDonalds pays for 5 million impressions per day, people who don't like McDonalds are going to have some golden arches shoved in their face.
Re:Duh (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep, some other reasons:
1) Too many ads are annoying
2) If ads are too well-targeted then they become creepy
3) They often show you ads for things you've just bought. If I get a new laptop why do I want to see more laptop ads?
4) The products may well be out of your price range (a lot of Facebookers are young and broke) & this is more likely to depress the shit out of you than anything else. Just because you chat about Tahiti doesn't mean you can afford to go there.
5) Real-world advertising has increased massively - more TV ads, infomercials, free catalogs, pull-outs in the newspapers, 'sponsored' articles - it all gets a bit too much, so you go online to escape and get blasted with even more of the damn things.
6) Targeting only works sometimes. Example: I look for something on Ebay when logged on & get an email the day after 'Are you still looking for this?' If the answer is yes then cool. On the other hand if I've bought that particular article somewhere else or was just browsing aimlessly then Ebay is wasting my time and bandwidth.
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[...]is just wasting my time[...]
Advertising only makes genuine economic sense in a world in which my time and attention is nearly worthless.
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What? Not at all. This isn't about your perspective, but that of the advertiser. I see no reason why it should make little sense to advertise to the rich.
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The way people act you'd assume that they assess the value of their time accordingly.
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Not true. TV commercials have an exact value. You're paying with your time/attention to watch the show.
So there is an exact value greater than zero for your time/attention. This is even more applicable where there
is a place you can buy a commercial free version of the same show. Facebook only makes about 50cents
per user so if they wanted to they could in theory make more money by offering a $1/month buyout for a
no ad version of their website. Pandora and several other companies do exactly this.
Also ther
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1) Adblock
2) I have the opposite problem. They're not targeted for me at all. Especially on Hulu...where I can say "Yes, I like this ad" or "No, this is stupid". I get ads for TJ Maxx, feminine products and travel. I'm a man, with a complete indifference towards fashion, and have remained quite stationary over the last few years. Nothing about me screams "Woman, clothing, and travel" yet that's what I get most. I say "Yes" to as many video game ads, technology ads, credit card ads(at least some of the
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2) If ads are too well-targeted then they become creepy
Creepiest ad I ever saw was an ad that keyed off my location and the weather to advertise a tent. (Not sure why they decided I'd want a tent because it was raining, but the ad included my incorrectly detected location and weather based on said location.)
6) Targeting only works sometimes. Example: I look for something on Ebay when logged on & get an email the day after 'Are you still looking for this?' If the answer is yes then cool. On the other hand if I've bought that particular article somewhere else or was just browsing aimlessly then Ebay is wasting my time and bandwidth.
I've learned to always open Amazon.com links in incognito windows. Tons of people link to weird products on Amazon.com and I definitely don't need to have Amazon.com try and sell me the really weird fetish fanfic that someone's seriously trying to sell for $
Re:Duh (Score:5, Interesting)
2) If ads are too well-targeted then they become creepy
Creepiest ad I ever saw was ...
You might be interested in this (9 page) NYT Magazine article from 2012, How Companies Learn Your Secrets [nytimes.com], about Target's targeted advertising algorithms. One case in point were pregnancy-related ads Target sent to a teenage girl, still living at home with her parents, based on some obscure buying habits. The father was outraged and complained to the store manager. Turns out she was actually pregnant.
Hardly surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think that there's any such thing as an advert that I actually want to see.
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Re:Hardly surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
A year ago I bought a Volt. In the month prior I did a bunch of research on electric cars. Six months later I was still getting ads on Leafs and Volts. Those ads seemed fairly pointless as I already owned a Volt. I find it happens a lot that I look for a certain product, then after I buy it, I will get ads for that product. Except for items that I buy regularly, then I never see an ad.
Google, when I buy a bathroom scale, I am no longer interested in hearing about bathrooms scales two weeks later. I buy tea regularly, why do I never see an ad for tea.
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why do I never see an ad for tea.
The tea companies aren't paying google/etc al... for ads, but the bathroom scale people are?
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Awhile back I needed to figure out how to spell "Spanx" (the woman's undergarment) for a true story I was typing up about a TSA experience my wife had. I did what I often do and used Google as a spell-checker. For months afterwards, Google insisted on showing me graphical ads displaying women in Spanx. Lesson learned: Google Spell-Check in Incognito Mode!
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In this world, the advertisers know that you were looking at various info related to electric cars, but they don't actually know that you bought one. They didn't see the financing pull on your credit report, they didn't see the actual transaction, so they are just guessing that you might still be shopping.
I would much rather they keep doing this, because it makes me believe that while my browsing habits are up for grabs, my actually purchasing habit
Re:Hardly surprising (Score:4, Interesting)
Truthfully, the actual purpose of the advertising for cars involves makin recent purchasers feel good about their recent purchase. Purchasers who feel good about their recent purchase are more likely to talk their friends and acquaintances about their car and have a greater influence on them than the direct advertising can do. Listen to someone talk about their newly purchased car and you can hear the tag lines of the advertising coming out of their mouths - people use the advertising to focus their own conversations - whether its the rally tires, or MacPherson strut suspension, lock-up transmission, or a zillion other features that most people even know what they really are. These person's status upgrade depends on their being able to make the case to their friends that they made a good purchase, and didn't buy the kind of cars that social losers buy.
Toyota had a huge problem marketing to young first-time car buyers - they kept coming out with low-cost cars that they'd like to market to that group, but found that older buyers were buying them, and when young people saw old people driving the same car, their interest in them plummeted. They were more successful marketing the Scion than previous attempts because they went out of their way to make the car unattractive to older people, as well as other initiatives, including opening up the specifications early to third-party customizers, to encourage buyers to make the cars even funkier.
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I don't think that there's any such thing as an advert that I actually want to see.
Ads are helpful when it comes time to make a purchasing decision. You aren't going to buy something if you don't know it exists.
When deciding what to buy I seek ads out. What I do not condone is unsolicited ads. Those add nothing of value.
Re:Hardly surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, I use search engines and read review sites.
Ads have never added any benefit to me on the internet, and I simply don't care to provide them with the information they'd need to do a targeted ad.
Because I'm not interested in either the ad, or having these companies know anything about who I am and what I like.
In fact, ads want me to let arbitrary web sites run scripts and other crap which makes things less secure. Think I'd trust the people at DoubleClick to run scripts or Flash? Hell no, the entire domain is blocked at my firewall.
Re:Hardly surprising (Score:4, Interesting)
IMHO, this should be part of your profile. When it comes time for you to purchase something, instead of getting some flashy ad in your face, you would get a pile of specs veted by a third party.
If the product doesn't stand up to comparison in the specs, then they shouldn't bother advertising to you. If the product does stand up, it's an easy sell and well worth the effort for them to send you the ad.
Instead... sadly, they send you crap and you fight to tell them that you're not interested in their jingle, bluster or shiny copy.
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WTF? You mean I should provide the list of things I might be interested in so that a fscking 3rd party can know what to show me? Really? That's your solution?
What does the third party bring to me here? My opinion, is not a damned thing.
This benefits marketers, and whoever this mythical third party I'd be entrustin
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haha, sorry to hit a nerve.
I'm speaking from the marketer's perspective, and totally hypothetically. I'm pretty sure I've got what you're saying: you want nothing to do with them because they've already violated your trust.
They're already keeping a profile on you. It's probably renewing with your IP and cookies and not actually linked to your identity. You're already contributing to your profile by blocking ads. You've said to them that their medium is so offensive and useless to you that you're doi
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They never had my trust. What they've done is confirm the reasons why I never trusted them in the first place.
My browsers don't accept 3rd party cookies, and I delete any cookie which sneaks in and set a rule to block them. I have cookies set from around 7 domains in my main browser.
They may have info
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Funny, I use search engines and read review sites.
Search results and reviews are ads, Einstein. Ones you solicit and are interested in.
In fact, ads want me to let arbitrary web sites run scripts and other crap which makes things less secure.
Yes, that is a problem. Those are the unsolicited ads I was referring to. I don't allow them either.
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Sometimes I'll search for something and then see ads based on what I was searching for - before having made a purchasing decision. All these ads do, though, is remind me "I was looking for that." They don't convince me to buy that particular item. Reviews weigh into my decision much more than ads do.
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Ads are a negative for me. You show me ads, I'm much LESS likely to buy that product.
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So if I can work out that in the past year you attended seven jazz gigs in your area, I shouldn't presume you might be interested in future jazz gigs in your area?
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Predicting what you want is hard.
So they give it a token amount of effort, such that they can spend the least amount of effort for the most amount of money.
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Predicting what you want is hard.
If not impossible. Why not create a reverse-ebay web site where users tell you what they want to buy and sellers bid to sell it to them?
I'm sure I'm not a genius so it seems likely such a site exists already and I'm just not aware of it . If not, you can have the idea for free. Live long and prosper!
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Nope. I search for the category and then read the reviews. Ads don't enter into it. Over the (many) years, I've developed the ability to not only ignore them if I want, but if they're obnoxious, instill antipathy towards their product. This is probably why they don't work all that well. They have basically no information and they're annoying.
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Ads are supposed to convey useful information, which they don't (understandable given the constraints). The trend from what I gathered, is unfortunately, even from the supposedly unconstrained source (website, package
the overwhelming message is generally : buy my shit! Why? BECAUSE!
that's borderline insulting, as it is saying: "you're an idiot, we know better than you (in the absolute sense) so bu
Hasn't happened to you yet (Score:3)
Let's just get this out of the way: I, for one, am happy that I never get tampon ads online.
Ads are chosen by advertisers, not some personal shopping assistant. The ads I've seen on FB and Youtube (which is where I actually see most of the online ads) tend to be at least tangentially related to my life. Tech stuff that I might actually be interested in. Concerts for genres I like. I know that they're trying to sell me stuff that I don't have* so there will be misses. YT ads normally allow a bypass after 5 s
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The only advertisements that I find useful are billboards on the highway, when I'm doing a long drive and don't want to bother fiddling with the GPS. "Oh good, there's a restaurant in about 20 miles." (And if there's one restaurant at the exit there's probably more.)
they fundamentally don't get it. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Marketers assume that you just got distracted, because at least a couple of percent of people who left the page did.
So your chance of wanting those boots are zero, people who are like you, according to all the metrics the marketers have, are among the most likely to purchase those particular boots.
What I'm saying is marketers are leeches on society.
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No mod points: I came to say this same thing. I had to clear all my cookies because I was sick of seeing the same exact Halloween costume that a group of us are buying. I'm waiting for people to get back to me on sizing, so I don't need the constant reminder! It also reinforced how many sites are using Amazon for ads.
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Or, if I liked those boots or whatever - I already bought them. I don't need another pair!
Relevant contextual ads are those that appear before I've settled on or rejected the product in question. They are also for the same type of products. If I buy no-grain dog food or dandruff shampoo, for example, don't try to sell me the regular shit. Finally, give me a reason to click on the ad instead of buying from a usual source. I already pay Amazon for "free" shipping - you need to match that and beat their p
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But even if they use "smart" (yes, those are sarcastic quotes) keyword matching to anticipate something they think will interest you, they completely fail on the context comprehension because most spoken languages have common words with multiple meanings, not to mention metaphorical use of words.
For a particularly annoying example, when I first set up a Facebook account I filled in some of the interests in order to let folks find me who were searching for others with the same interests. I sing in a barbers
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Worse: I often see ads for the product I just ordered... Why would I want to buy the same boots twice?
yep, timing and related products (Score:2)
That's what I've noticed - I shop for a 16 bay rack mount drive enclosure and for a long time afterward I'll see ads for 16 bay rack mount drive enclosures. Silly, do you think of I bought a rack mount enclosure I might be interested in better cable management for my rack, maybe drives to put in that enclosure, an IP KVM, a good deal on rack screws ... the possibilities are endless. Amazon gets it right on their product pages - people who bought this also bought these things. If I buy this, show my a
Re:yep, timing and related products (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference between Facebook and Amazon, with Facebook, you are the product, not the customer; with Amazon, you are the customer, not the product being sold.
Re:yep, timing and related products (Score:4, Interesting)
They even make it easy to order groups of items. "Order Drive Enclosure and this hard drive right now." My only gripe is that they present it as if it's a great deal (Buy X and Y for $50). When you look at the individual items, though, there's no discount. It's just the cost of the items added up (e.g. X costs $30 & Y costs $20).
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Perhaps you should look for Motorcycle boots for females? The the adds would be done by sexy models at least!
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So true.
The problem is that Facebook et.al. are trying too hard, and the advertisers think that's the way to go. It's not.
It used to be much simpler. Tech ads go on Slashdot, motorcycle boot ads go on a motorcycling enthusiast site, hand bags go on a fashion accessories site. The mere fact that I'm reading Slashdot means I'm interested in tech. If I'd be reading a motorbike site, I'd likely be interested in motorbikes and related stuff. When visiting a baby site, guess what, good chance I'm expecting one or
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But... but... but...
Just imagine how many people would be out of work if they weren't tracking everything you do and collecting data about you and going 'woo... woo.... wooooo' as they wave their hands over it and exert the Magic 'Fluence that determines the kind of ads you want to see on Slashdot.
THINK OF THE ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES, PEOPLE!
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So, really mess with them ... look for chaps, a gimp mask, and KY jelly.
If you're going to let them have your information, you might as well poison the well.
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Nah, because there's actually a market for those items together.
If you want to poison the well, you need to throw something completely off the wall in there.
Huh (Score:5, Insightful)
Do people really still browse the web without an ad blocker plugin?
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Youtube videos (I know, there are bypasses, but not on most phone browsers), inline ads in social media site feeds, stories on Slashdot. They're out there, even with blockers.
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I use flashblock and noscript to protect against aggressive ads that take over my browsing experience, but I accept that TANSTAAFL and my payment for free content is the presentation of ads within that free content -- just as it was with radio and TV (don't get me started how the main selling point for cable TV in the early days was that paying for it meant you were no longer going to suffer through all those ads).
So... no, I don't use ad blocker per se, and won't until I am paying for that content.
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Yeah, I'll just ignore the flashing, epilepsy-inducing ads surrounding the content I'm trying to read.
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PUNCH. THE. FUCKING. MONKEY.
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Then teach them how to tell it to not block a particular site.
If that's done, it's still going to reduce their risk by having them blocked in general.
Customization? (Score:4, Insightful)
Fuck that, just give me the information. I don't need no customization. There's a reason AdBlock exists.
It's bad enough we have to put up with shitty web sites 'designed' by people trying to show off how shiny, but unusable, things can be, we don't need ads trying to predict what we want adding to the damage.
They fail because they're contextual. (Score:3)
If an ad exists in the same context as that which I'm attempting to read, it's like a gnat buzzing in front of my eyes. It's a distraction, and an annoyance. Annoying those you want to reach isn't the way to communicate your message,
Whaa?? (Score:5, Insightful)
I could not disagree with this more. There is nothing "beautiful" about harvesting personal data to serve contextual ads. I doesn't matter how well-targeted the ads are -- ads are not a benefit to me at all. The real problem with this scenario is that my personal data gets harvested in the first place.
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A few years ago I stopped watching cable. I literally cancelled my cable and went to totally online tv viewing. I don't watch sports so it really wasn't a tough transition. However I do find that I miss new movies coming out, I'm unaware of the hot new car, or what the latest bestseller is. I used to get all this info in the advertising I'd watch on TV. In some ways I do miss it. I think OP is saying that contextual adds should be doing a better job of informing us as to what we would enjoy spending our money on, instead of showing us ads for stuff we will never buy. Since advertising is how both tv and web are essentially "paid for" why isn't the advertising better?
Yes, I understand the OP's point. I just think it's based on a faulty premise: that targeted ads are a "beautiful thing". I think ads, targeted or not, are an obnoxious nuisance. Targeted ads mean that I'm being tracked by ad companies, which elevates them above "nuisance".
I cut off my cable years ago and watch no broadcast television. And yet, I remain aware of the things that I'm interested in. Ads don't inform me of anything that I care about because I'm already actively checking out the things I care ab
The Ads are too late. (Score:2)
I frequent a blog HomeBrew Finds which is nothing more than a listing of sales around the internet. I saw a fermentor last month and ordered it. After I ordered it, I saw adds for ferment
there's a fine line... (Score:2)
They do it privately and securely... ? (Score:2)
Well that's news to me, and I work in (the IT department of) one of those agencies... Which shall remain nameless because work.
Are you going to tell us next that the NSA really is respecting the law and protecting us from dangerous terrorists?!?
I don't know what you are smoking, but I definitely want some of it...
Why? (Score:3)
Because the advertisers overreach and try to push stuff that their audience is unlikely to want. Advertising is full of wishful thinking about how powerful adverts are etc - many advertisers seem to believe that it is simply a matter of "targeting" their adverts and then people will invariably buy, no matter whether they like, need or can afford the product. The reality, meanwhile, is probably that by far the largest part of adverts are unwelcome, simply because people were not looking to buy and they feel affronted, when they are being slapped in the face with some irrelevant distraction. If you want to sell a product, you have to persuade your customer to like you, but nobody likes SPAM, whether it comes in emails, inserted into your favourite tv-program or through your letter box, and all that kind of advertising achieves is to alienate huge numbers of potential customers.
and they do it backwards ... (Score:2)
One of my common experiences is that when I buy something online, for weeks after I get lots of ads for the thing that I just bought. In most cases, my reaction is "Why are you trying to sell this to me? I just bought one, and I won't be buying another for years."
If the folks writing the ad software can't figure out why (for durable rather than consumable goods) this doesn't make sales, it should be no surprise that all the rest of their software's decisions are equally goofy.
Marketting (Score:5, Insightful)
I know and deal with a lot of marketing people every day. People get very confused about what marketing really is... to the point that most don't really know. Marketing primary product is: Marketing
They spend about 95% of their time proving they are worth keeping around. They do things like send free gifts to 100 targets considered to be "Leads" Then, later, when a salesman makes a sale to that person they claim "See? We made that happen!" But if you ask the salesman about the deal he says "I call everyone... every month. They launched a marketing campaign for winter coats in October. Of course they bought one. The free pen had nothing to do with it."
So what did the free pen really do? Allowed marketing to run a report showing a correlation between the pen and the sale, then suggest to management that is was a CAUSE not a correlation.
So now we're going down the same rabbit hole with the internet. Want to fix it? Disprove their nonsense data. Show that this garbage doesn't work. It shouldn't be that hard given the amount of data captured. Pop-up adds generate clicks... but do they generate sales? No... and it took a while for the industry to realize that, but they did.
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You had me at "free pen". You should lead with that next time.
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Hey, who's to say they didn't buy YOUR company's coat because your name was in their head because of that pen?
That's the beauty of marketing -- it can't be disproven. :D
Hmmm ... (Score:4)
So, are you shilling for the ad industry, or do you really believe this is supposed to be a good thing?
Sorry, but I'm not interested in your ads of any form, I'm not interested in targeted ads at all, and I don't trust the entities gathering this information with any of it, or that they won't abuse it.
So, screw your contextual advertising. I will continue to block every ad tracking site I can identify, block your ads, your web bugs, and everything else I can.
If you think letting unknown third parties collect information about you, put cookies on your machine so they can know everywhere else you go, run scripts, run Flash ... or pretty much anything else ... is a good idea, then you're either clueless, or getting paid from this.
I think your entire premise is flawed, or dishonest.
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So, are you shilling for the ad industry, or do you really believe this is supposed to be a good thing?
Sorry, but I'm not interested in your ads of any form, I'm not interested in targeted ads at all, and I don't trust the entities gathering this information with any of it, or that they won't abuse it.
So, screw your contextual advertising. I will continue to block every ad tracking site I can identify, block your ads, your web bugs, and everything else I can.
If you think letting unknown third parties collect information about you, put cookies on your machine so they can know everywhere else you go, run scripts, run Flash ... or pretty much anything else ... is a good idea, then you're either clueless, or getting paid from this.
I think your entire premise is flawed, or dishonest.
It could be a good thing. But usually it is abused. The ideal scenario is using targeting advertising to push someone over the edge when there was a 70+% chance of buying something anyway. If I go to Home Depot on a hot saturday morning, getting a text message coupon for the Dunkin Donuts on my way home would be great. Sadly, many advertising people are still stuck in 1960s and don't understand how to do unobtrusive advertising.
Because they are really dumb (Score:2)
Oh, look, this guy just bought a new fridge. Let's show him lots of fridge ads. Oh, look he clicked one of the fridge ads! Wow, this guy is really into fridges.
Meanwhile in guy's home...
Guy: "Hmm, this fridge looks about as good as the one I bought and the price is about the same. Yeah, I feel good about my purchase. Not going to return it. See you in 15 years, fridge sellers."
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...but that would be actually thinking and these guys went into marketing so they wouldn't have to. OK that's not fair but honestly these concepts aren't new in the sales world. I worked for Best Buy as a retail computer salesman for 4 years. The computers we sold were mostly losing money but we made *gobs on the accessories SO that's where our sales skill were directed. Cool the guy bought a machine from us BUT you get the pat on the back for the guy walking out with Computer + Monitor + Printer + Cable
Bad Timing? (Score:3)
How many contextual ads are for things the user just bought? These people are probably the *least* likely future customers.
I recently reinstalled my OS and started Chrome without AdBlock for the first time in a while. God, the internet is like walking through Times Square on an acid trip without AdBlock. It would be sadly funny if it didn't bring my browser to a crawl.
Online advertising is a waste of money as it often irritates the very people it is intended to draw in as customers. Actually searching online for something is terrible as the results you get are invariably based on page rank, not on the suitability of the product for the customer.
Fuck You (Score:2)
Noone is getting tracking information from me. I don't care if the ads are not personalized then because I don't see them anyway.
Fuck off and get a real job, marketing scum.
Except NewEgg (Score:3)
Lots and lots of NewEgg.
All of the time.
Forever.
You can never get away...
Because people advertise things no one wants (Score:2)
If you are selling cat toys, it's not that hard to select people that own/are interested in cats.
Same thing with baby food.
But those companies don't need to advertise on the internet that much, because there are much better ways and places to advertise them.
If however, you are selling a dating service, that is much harder to advertise for. Same for boner pills, etc.
Frankly, there simply are not enough people doing web searches for bon
Targeted ads counterproductive? (Score:2)
I've always maintained that a large part of advertising's influence extends way beyond the purchase of specific products. It creates a context and a culture of expectation, desire, and need, such that an advertisement for one product may in fact sub-consciously prompt you to buy another, entirely different kind of product. If advertisers are pissing off buyers with targeted ads for items already purchased, aren't they poisoning the entire advertising ecosystem, both for themselves and for other advertisers?
The plural of anecdote is not data. (Score:2)
I crowdsourced some questions about contextual advertising and contextual content on Google+. It was an unscientific survey, of course. But several strong consensuses formed that perfectly matched my own observations.
How un-surprising.
The geek preens himself for his rigorous logic and mathematical literacy ---
but will swallow an utterly worthless blog spam post like this without a second thought,
Not Beautiful In Economic Terms (Score:2)
Personal data harvesting for contextual ads and content should be a beautiful thing. They do it privately and securely, and it's all automated so that no human being actually learns anything about you.
Leaving the "privately and securely" bit to other commenters who will roundly correct you, I'm sure.
I've done personalized targeting of ads, and it is not necessarily a beautiful thing. The problem is a mismatch in the objectives of the advertiser, the objectives of the consumer, and the GDP maximizing outcome
Ads for stuff I've bought already (Score:2)
Is everyone really that confused? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't understand all the comments expressing bafflement as to why you get ads for something you already purchased. The contextual advertising company has no access to your purchase history... if they are going to serve an ad, guessing that you might have already not made a purchase is not a bad start. Is it usually wrong? Sure! Most ads are ineffective. But it's way better than showing the same ad to some random schmuck.
And why do you see Amazon ads after you've already purchased something from Amazon? Well, if you did ANY web browsing at all about it prior to the purchase, it likely got picked up by a contextual advertising company, which, again, has no access to your purchase history, and therefore has no idea they are serving an Amazon ad for something you already bought. The ad may not even be paid for by Amazon; it could just as easily be an affiliate marketer.
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I don't understand all the comments expressing bafflement as to why you get ads for something you already purchased. The contextual advertising company has no access to your purchase history...
You may be correctly stating the reason why targeted ads are useless, but that doesn't change the fact that they _are_ indeed useless. Now my wife and I use the same eBay account... Can you imagine how that f***s up any targeted advertisement?
Missing the mark... (Score:2)
And that doesn't even get into the multi-faceted view of the human psyche - we where different hats at different times for different activities, and those don't always jive well tog
Fail? Not on Steam ... (Score:2)
Steam shows me ads for _games_ when I log in. Some look interesting so I'll add them to my wishlist for when they go on sale.
I'll tolerate the ads on Steam because they show ONE THING that I'm interested in: Games.
If they started showing ads for other shit there would be a huge uproar.
So fail? It depends on the
a) Audience
b) The *type* of ads -- HOW relevant are they?
They fail for a very simple reason. (Score:3)
Facebook is not trying to accurately place adverts only to the people who would want to buy the advertised good.
Facebook is trying to sell adverts.
If they can say 'targeted ads have a 30% higher click-rate' - then that may be enough to get people to buy them.
Even if it's off-topic for 95% of the people it's shown to.
bad companies use targeted marketing (Score:2)
yes i'm 46 and single but none of the dating sites marketed to me on facebook were credible organizations capable of helping me to find a mate. and no, my penis works fine so spam offering me pills for my dick is just bothersome noise which i tune out.
Who writes this? (Score:2)
Personal data harvesting for contextual ads and content should be a beautiful thing.
Who writes this? Personalized ads are creep-tatstic they scream to their victim ... **WE'RE STALKING YOU**
They do it privately and securely, and it's all automated so that no human being actually learns anything about you.
Except of course the next person who uses the computer.
Huh? (Score:2)
You must be insane. Nobody thinks contextual ads are a good thing or a benefit except advertisers and those who sell advertising. Advertising sucks, contextual advertising sucks even more because they are gathering and harvesting my data.
Whole problem - TMI (Score:2)
"Facebook sees what we post about" - You have your answer right there.
Do you more often post:
"Hey, check out my new iPhone", after which you'll receive a delug
Because Ads, by their nature can't be personalized (Score:2)
Ads, by their very nature cannot be personalized. Unless they are being generated on the fly by some very clever AI, all you're getting is an ad that targets you as part of a group. And you can be lumped into that group pretty much willy-nilly, because of ONE data-point.
For example. I am on Facebook. My status is SINGLE. Yet, I have made very clear on my posts, and me NOT liking "match.com" and other dating sites ads, that dating sites are all scams. I've tried at least 75% of them and they all suck. In fac
The deal we made (Score:2)
I've seen some really cool ads that were right on target - like the time I played a James May video on YouTube and the ad that popped up was for an electron microscope. I couldn't begin to afford the one the advertiser wanted me to buy, but I actually did poke around eBay to see if there were any old ones out there I might be able to afford. I've hit paydirt many times when Amazon and others pointed out "people who bought this also bought..."
That's the way it's supposed to work.
Then there are the way of
Re: (Score:2)
Even Amazon, who knows what you purchase, sends advertisement about products you've already purchased.
One would think they'd check such a thing.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, awhile back I was researching cars, and bought one. For a long time, I kept getting ads for the same model I already bought. Sorry, but I have no intention of buying ANOTHER car anytime soon.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not like it's that hard to use past sales to predict relevant purchases; most advertisers are just too oblivious/stupid to figure this out. You might want to order a case of oil or some wax or maybe new insurance, right?
Re: (Score:2)
A coworker almost snarfed his coffee when he was getting ads for underwear while browsing tech sites.
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Yup! After my mom fell, I researched those "I've fallen and can't get up" things, and for a long time was getting ads for them.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, exactly! I bought a truck and later got an ad to... buy a truck. I've actually tried searching facebook (before I closed my acct.) for products I'm interested in buying and it didn't turn up anything useful. So, back I went to the individual store websites to look for a bargain. I was frustrated because hey, I know what I want, I just _told_ you what I want and you aren't showing me useful products. Facebook would rather track me covertly over time and suggest things I *might* need than listen to
Re: (Score:2)
they're going to higher-priced since they're having to pay for snake oi-- er I mean-- ads.
So marketing is always a waste of money? Keep the day job, I doubt you'd fare well with a start-up.
I work in advertising
But you haven't thought through its position in a company's strategy, clearly.
Re:Speak for yourself (Score:4, Insightful)
Facebook sees what we post about. It knows who we interact with. It counts our likes, monitors our comments and even follows us around the Web.
Facebook is banned here, precisely for trying that shit. Facebook domains don't resolve.
Same here