[andreygrehov]

You don't have to buy the hard drive that is being advertised to you. At the end of the day, it's your decision. If ads were not targeted, you'd see a milk shake ad instead. How's that better?

Edit: my milk shaker example is not even that great. If targeting was killed, you'd most likely see ads from massive corporations only - those who have a lot of cash to spend on ads. Little players (small business owners, startup owners) would have zero chance to compete against those corporations. They'd lose every single ad auction.

[cmroanirgo]

> Little players... would have zero chance

This is not entirely correct. It comes back to CTR (click thru ratio) and with the loss of 'targeting' then the CTR will plummet unless the platform reverts back to 'market targeting'. That is, websites will need to choose the class of ads on their websites, and the more irrelevant they choose, the less they'll get paid (because CTR will drop). So, from a small advertiser's perspective, they'll need to make sure their ads only appear on relevant websites (eg. tech on tech sites, milk shakes on food sites).

A one-man-show (eg a plumber's business) already knows that social ads work better for them anyhow. Maybe billboards and local classified ads will make a resurgence as a result.

Edit: I should add that Goog is already ahead of the targeting ads for the small local business, with their "my business" product, which allows you to search locally for businesses.

[opensmtpd]

I think you're right that it would be bad for small businesses. But for users(I meant users as viewers of the ads), I still don't think it adds much value. If getting information wasn't easy like the old days, I can understand how targeted ads are beneficial. But I can look for hard drive info and reviews easily these days. And the information I find will likely be a lot better than ads. Personalized ads and non-personalized ads don't look a lot different in terms of benefits they bring to the viewer.

[deltron3030]

>If targeting was killed, you'd most likely see ads from massive corporations only - those who have a lot of cash to spend on ads.

Why? If I run a niche site with ads I'd want to pick ads that fit my site and audience, similar to picking affiliate programs. Picking relevant ads should be my job a as a site owner.

[andreygrehov]

Because most businesses run their ads through exchanges, where supply and demand meets each other. An exchange runs an auction. The winning bidder is the one whose ad your users will see. If small businesses won't be able to target their niche users, corporations will increase their bid price and swallow smaller auction participants.

[dabbledash]

“How's that better?”

Because it doesn’t require invasive surveillance.