Companies track us with cookies[1] [1]https://www.makonea.com/en-US/blog/how-cookies-became-the-we...

the horrible performance of targeted ads in the op for both consumers and advertisers is why many advertisers are now going for connected tv, or native ads in market places (e.g you're shopping for detergent - then you see a sponsored listing for another detergent brand)

coz targeted ads as in op - only one party has benefited so far - people running the ad exchanges.

Like it really much. Very valid points!

The ad-example with the ovens/AEG appliances could also be designed for someone who recently moved in to a new home. But nevertheless, point of the OP is still valid.

My favorite waste of ad money I see is google maps constantly putting "Dollar Tree" as a suggested/sponsored search. Problem is the closest dollar tree is 100KM away.

This is so true - my favorite is when I have hard time to buy something and after I buy my dream thing, the flood of adds with better deals kill my happiness for getting it cheaply:-)

This is like saying "If I have to eat the shit sandwich, then it should at least have the mustard I like on it."

The answer to this is not better information for better ads. It's a Pi-hole or other DNS level ad blocking + uBlock origin.

I think that in theory, advertising based monetization is fine, but practically speaking, the incentives are so terrible that it invariably leads to bad outcomes. The reality of our ad-supported web is unsustainable and unacceptable and it needs to die. This does mean that lots of things will go away, and that we will be paying for a lot more things, but that's far preferable to the current state of the internet.

it's not just third-party ads, the worst is even on companies' own websites. i.e., I'll be signed into an airline for which I have the airline CC and I'll be hit with a bunch of suggestions to sign up for their credit card. That's information they already have.

I tend to agree, if you have my information, use it to make my experience better!