[jokoon]

I genuinely believe that one could make an app where users just knowingly and willingly browse ads that are proposed and tailored to them, based on interests they decide to share or choose. Like an ad store.

One would think "but you're talking about Instagram".

No, users would actually be able to choose the ads, and posters would always be required to pay a minimum amount per ad. The users could like or dislike the ads and never gain anything by watching ads, to avoid bot accounts.

Generally the goal would be to have an honest advertising system where users don't feel harassed by ads, since they would consent to not watch them and decide what to watch.

When I think hard I'm still describing Instagram. But it seems advertising will always have a bad reputation of harassing users. This might change, but it still seems like an impossible problem as long as it's immoral to gather user data.

[mft_]

Not seeing the vision; why would anyone choose to watch ads if there was nothing in it for them?

That seems worse than the current situation (for me) - right now I’m ‘paid’ to watch ads by being able to access services (eg YouTube) which would otherwise come at a direct cost.

[dopidopHN]

Sometime I know I’m about to buy something I need and I’m open to suggestions. I would watch ad at this point.

[username90]

> Not seeing the vision; why would anyone choose to watch ads if there was nothing in it for them?

People do it all the time on Netflix, Steam, Amazon etc. Why do you believe people would stop doing that?

[tomjen3]

It might be worth it to me to see things that I might want to buy.

[libertine]

Hmm, that's kind of what catalogs were created a long time ago - so people could browse product offerings and order them.

IKEA, La Redoute, and many other companies used this approach, and people literally had these in their living rooms so themselves, their family, or even guests would have something to fiddle with.

Catalogs are marketing tools, and usually come out of marketing budget.

[micdr0p]

Instagram?

[swiley]

There is a lot of advertising on Instagram masquerading as normal user posts and "life hacks."