[owenversteeg]

I agree with dhimes that targeting people reading about a tragedy would actually work quite well. Certain people read about those kinds of things, and those people are definitely more susceptible to buying certain products. If you're worried about something happening to your child, a security camera advertised within the context of such an article would be great targeting. Remember, even the best ad targeting right now only gives a certain edge over showing random ads. It's not like you need 100% of people that read the article to purchase the product.

And there are plenty of geopolitics books sold, and usually at a high price point, too. Someone commented elsewhere in the thread that $1/person/day is total online ad spend in America, so the bar isn't too high.

Furthermore, I'm responding to someone who was thinking of the _worst possible headlines_ for selling related ads. There are plenty that lend themselves better to ads: "new national park in [place near you]" could have ads for tons of very high value products... I just checked RV rentals, and even a fairly small and old RV went for $300+/night near a national park. Tack on some fees and a family could easily spend $2500, of which a large amount is profit (I imagine) with a small/old RV like that. Perhaps it has another ad too, to catch those interested in ultralight backpacking, people in that community can spend $500+ on one single piece of gear easy. And a third ad, to catch everyone else not interested by the above - an ad for a general camping/wilderness/hunting goods store.

The more I think about it, the more I'm sold that it's actually a great idea.

[cwkoss]

I'm not sure what ad network they use, but the ads on https://www.zerohedge.com/ seem to be a good example of a "financial apocalyptic paranoia" targeting.