[001sky]

This is an interesting post. The attraction of advertising is two fold: (1) its passive income; (2) its highly scalable. One of the problems with it as a source of "innovation" is that it is primarily an accelerant. It can either accelerate the adoption (a) of non-ad-tech; or (b) the accumulation of debt. Both of these can be "productive", but only up to a point.

[mdakin]

I think you're right about the "attraction of advertising." But the real attraction there is that (1)+(2)=(money pump). And these companies don't seem to know what to do with the type of money pump they are capable of building. It just sort of piles up. :)